Log Entry No 15 - 16th Jan 08. (Discoverer)

FROM THE CAPTAINS CABIN

It’s an odd place this Antarctic. An hour ago, we were ghosting along in almost no wind when, suddenly, we had a 40 knots blow for the best part of half an hour and, now, we have nothing. So, once again, it was “all hands on deck” to throw in reefs and take down the jib as we rocketed around playing maritime pin ball with the surrounding bergy bits.

After recovering the mountain party on the 10th, we spent 3 days at anchor at Port Lockroy, to give the mountaineers the chance to recover, eat (and how!) and repair their equipment. Meanwhile, because we can’t accommodate 16 on board unless we’re at sea, 7 lodged in the Lockroy rescue hut, using it as a base to try to climb Mount Luigi (4708 ft). Geordie and Jamie recount their exploits below.?

During that 3 days, we hatched the plan for the remainder of the expedition, which is to put 3 ropes onto the Reclus Peninsular: 2 of which will try to climb Mt Johnston (7580 ft): Rope 1 – Clem, James, Rob D; Rope 2 – Sam, Steve, Chris; whilst the final rope, Rope 3 – Dick, Doc, Conor, will collect geological samples from a lower altitude. They will stay there for 10 days whilst we the 7 sailors will try to sail down to 67 deg S.

Heading for 67 deg S.

We plan to recover the shore party on the 24th, and then head across to Paradise Harbour to carry out further scientific and climbing projects. I’ll then be on the look out for a suitable weather window to sail back across the Drake Passage to reach the Falklands by the 8th February.

Andy Mills

RIFLEMAN JAMIE DOY SPEAKS OUT.

After careful risk assessment by the skipper, it was decided that in the interest of public health we, the yachties, should be put ashore whilst the mountaineers carried out a thorough decontamination. So on the evening of the 10th we clambered into the inflatable on our way to freedom hut, kindly lent to us by the guardians of Port Lockroy. After waving the yacht goodbye it dawned on us that we had left all the rations and half the mountaineering equipment behind. After lots off accusations of foul play and the Duke suggesting that lunches can come in 2foot high black and white packages (penguins) we radioed the yacht for re-supply.

After exploring the local area (apparently the world isn’t 67foot small!) and tucking into the army’s finest grub we finished the night by telling tall stories and toasting the land party. We were up early the next morning to practice mountaineering techniques such as ice axe breaking and crevasse rescue, before heading off on skis to Mt Luigi. We split into 2 ropes: Rope 1 - James, Sam and Jamie; Rope 2 - Conor, Rob D and the Doc This left Geordie running base camp, who knows what he got up to…!

Setting off.

GEORDIE – ON REFLECTION...

As I have a swollen knee, I wasn’t able to climb the hill so, after waving bye to the lads I was left alone to man the hut. Did I say ‘alone’? Well, the first visitors were a group from a passing yacht then, a few hours later, Meryon the Mate, then, the next morning, I threw open the door to find a queue of some 150 tourists from the MS Andreas all dying to see what I was up to! So much for a little peace and quiet.

Geordie Thompson

OF MICE AND RIFLEMEN:

Should anyone wish to traverse Mt Jabet on skis, roped together and dragging pulks, first you should learn to ski, take lots of shin padding and then pray to the god of sleds that yours doesn’t break halfway across! Even so, you are guaranteed a fun few hours with amazing views (the rest of the team returning from a cruise ship). On the far side of Jabet we had to cross the heavily crevassed Thunder Glacier, then take the higher pass round Mt Wheat to avoid the worst of the ground. This proved effective as we plodded slowly up until we reached a particularly steep section that lead to a nasty drop-off. Eventually as we decided to take the lower route Doc fell over backwards on the downhill side of the slope. After much effort from the members of the rope he managed to return to his feet only for him to fall straight back down once again. We skied off on the final part of our approach to the mountain. We then set up a small camp from where we would start to climb at about midnight.

Overnight camp!

The next few hours when something like this; 2300-wake up, bad clouds, back to sleep. 0030-wake up, bad clouds, back to sleep. 0200-wake up, bad clouds, avalanche next to preferred climbing route, bad climbing ju ju, back to sleep! During breakfast later that morning we decided thought the age old procedure or shouting from one tent to another that we would stick around for the day and make another attempt that night. the weather seemed to be on our side during the day with glorious sun shine and the occasional avalanche, which would hopefully mean that our route was clear and avalanche free by midnight. So along came 2330 where we rose to find more bad weather and another avalanche. Enough was enough, so a weary though happy team started its long return to base.

Jamie Doy