Training in the Lake District

Perhaps the least favourite part of mountaineering for me is the actual climbing - vertigo being a longstanding friend of mine! Quite fortunately there is not that much actual climbing on most of the expeditions apart from the Carstenz Pyramid. So this week is spent in the Lake District under the expert guidance of Paddy Cave - one of the UK's leading climbers.

We started out doing some normal climbing however this was complicated by the fact that it was raining and that we were wearing winter mountaineering boots rather than rock climbing shoes. We started on a routes that were graded as 'difficult' and then moved onto 'v. diff' routes.

We also practised techniques for upcoming expeditions:

 jumarring; climbing using an ascender

Tyrolean traverse (using a length of rope across a large drop between two high points);and

abseiling.

A lot of fun and we did make some good progress - just hope I can avoid a relapse before the expedition in August.

Training in Thailand

After the rather cool temperatures at the North Pole it is off to Thailand for a coupe of weeks to warm up and do some training at the Tiger Muay Thai camp (link).

One piece of advice that is often given before an expedition is to eat a lot as people always lose weight on long trips. It sounds sensible and so I have followed it. In fact, I found that I put on weight as well as losing muscle mass! Thailand is an opportunity to reverse this!

A typical day starts with an hour of fairly physical yoga at 7am with circuit training / cross fitness from 08:30 until about 10. Bit of a break during the heat of the middle of the day before more circuit training / cross fitness at 14:45 followed by a session in the gym and then a run or night yoga before an early night to get ready to start all over again on the following day.

The morning circuit training / cross fitness takes place on the beach or on a long, steep hill on Tuesdays and Thursdays just in case the sessions at the camp are not strenuous enough.

Comments

Apparently it is pretty tricky to post comments on this blog - it is not just that no one can be bothered to which is a great relief!
You need to get a google identity apparently - this can be done by chosing the google line from the profile box and then following the onscreen instructions.
Sorry about this and the delay in posts from the North Pole - just need to find some time - but they should be coming soon.

North Pole

Despite my best efforts it has just been to cold and too damp in the tent to dry my liners properly but they are at least warm so I decide to chance them - they should be fine as long as we don't spend too much time standing around!

We make good time for the first few hours and then spot some tents up ahead. They seem too close to be at the pole or to have drifted away overnight but so near to it as to make no sense stopping there so something must be up. It turns out that one of the Chinese team was fiddling with their bindings whilst standing on a frozen over lead - not always the best of ideas! The inevitable happened and he too took a dip and so they had to stop to get him dry and warm.
We greet the Chinese team and then shoot on for the last two nautical miles and get to the pole. It turns out to be a pretty comical finish as it is difficult to find an exact spot via GPS and so there was a few minutes of walking in circles over a 10m squared patch of ice until the coordinates converged to cheers and photographs.

 

 

Very shortly after, and this is a matter of minutes, we started getting cold and then a couple of minutes later really cold and it only got worse whilst we put the tents up. This was a mixture of the temperature dropping down to -35c, a strong icy wind that had built up and the number of stops we had over the last hour or so.
I tried to light our stove but needed to refill the fuel which was neither fun nor easy with my hands in such a state and managed to get a couple of ice burns for my troubles. It also took quite a time to get my boots off as given all the stops, my liners has started to freeze solid. Just a couple of examples of how tough things can suddenly get in this environment when you switch off!

Even once we were all in our tents it was still so cold that some people ended up getting into their sleeping bags. Finally, this and a hot dinner did the trick and some life came back to the camp and we went outside to celebrate when the Chinese team arrived - a crate with some wine and vodka had been dropped nearby by a helicopter from Barneo!

From then on it was back to our tent for Usukhu's birthday party and further celebrations with a wide range of drinks, music and conversations. Guy excelled yet again by whipping up pizza bagels and tortillas for everyone. We had the whole of our group and various guests in our tent which meant lying on top of each other but that just made it more convivial and perhaps more importantly warm!

A cracking night was had by all but judging by the state of our tent (I am impressed it is still standing given the number of less than graceful entrances and exits it suffered during the course of the evening) and the silence from the rest of the camp given that I am writing this at 10am on the morning after, today could be a low key affair.

The plan is to head back to Barneo once the dog sled team arrives and then back to Longyearbyen if the plane is available or stay another night there if not and back tomorrow for our last night before heading home.

We take a few photos on short forays from the warmth of the tents and play a bit of frisbee

but the afternoon brings on the same cold spell as yesterday and we retreat to sleeping bags to keep warm.

The dog team finally come in at about 6pm and so the choppers are to come at about 8 to take us to Barneo.

Good fun loading the chopper with the dogs and then sharing the cramped space with them again. All sorts of drinks being passed round on the trip back - especially Aquavit. It turns out that Barneo has been pretty much dismantled so no food, mess tent or sleeping tents await us. However, even though we are about 80miles from the pole it is significantly warmer here so spirits are raised. Have a quick drink with the Russian pilots in the only tent remaining.

Obviously, next am a large storm has come in and although it is not that cold (only -25 or so) it is very windy so there is concern as to whether the plane will be able to land or not. However all the Russians are heading out today - quite a few will be on our plane - so they are almost certain to land and take off. Not too sure if that is a good thing!

Nevertheless we pack up to make sure that we are ready to go - especially if there is only a short weather window. The wind has abated a bit by the time the plane comes in and many of us lend a hand to the packing effort of getting 20 sledges, 3 large dog sleds, 18 dogs and a whole heap of Barneo kit into the plane as quickly as possible. Almost typically, just as we have finished one of the Russians turns up with a tractor pulling a large amount of stuff which he wants loaded - a large row breaks out as he is both insistent and also unconcerned by the fact that the plane is already full. Eventually we are asked to get on and so it is not quite clear what happened...
There aren't enough seats on the plans but from somewhere a couple of camp chairs appear and then a few of Barneo staff join us in the back of the plane as the cockpit and tiny passage to the main door are full of people and gear. With all of this the crew don't even bother with the cursory and comical safety instructions as on the way up.
Back to Longyearbyen for a last group meal and then off to the airport in the morning to catch flights home.

Penultimte Day

We have been making very good progress and will hopefully get to the pole (tomorrow) a day early including making up for the lost day at the beginning. This will also be in time for Osuuku's birthday at the pole - although we have not been able to bring much drink with us as you need a boarding pass to but and in Longyerarbyen.

We are very close to the international date line now and it is quite amusing to think that a few hundred metres that way lies yesterday. I think that Douglas Adams would have enjoyed the space / time conundrum possibilities arising from that thought - and the ability to travel through time zones when you get close to the pole.

Had a go at leading today - very enjoyable and with clear blue skies it is not difficult to navigate using the sun and some larger than ordinary blocks of ice. Best part is finding a way through the pressure ridges, leading the clamber over blocks and leads.

All going well until we come to a wide lead with ice too fresh to cross. We follow it for a while and come across some tracks going in (and coming out the other side!) but these are from a day or two ago when the led was narrower and the ice more solid. We then follow it for another couple of km but there is no sign of it narrowing. We find a large chunk of ice in the middle and contemplate whether we can use this or not.

Eventually we have a plan to step onto it over the short gap on our side and then jump over the longer gap on the far side and then fill in that larger gap with the large chunks of ice on the far side - our fearless leader Keith and I are the keenest to go. He goes first and lands majestically / in a heap on the far side. I go to jump and just as I do, the part I am standing on crumbles and my jump doesn't take me quite as far as I anticipated and so land on the very edge of the far side. This doesn't take my weight and I slide into the water up to my waist before scrambling out. Bloody global warming!!

But the damage is done, both to our plan as the ice block isn't stable enough and to my boots which are not full of water. I jump back onto the block and then back to the original side to whip of my boots and socks and put on new socks and boot liners before my feet freeze. In fact, and with significant thanks to Keith again for the assistance, in no time at all my feet are dry and warm and I am ready to travel again. Most fun of the trip so far!!

Below is how one of my trip mates described the event - see his updates for some amusing commentary on the expedition (Carl Roland's NP diary).

"Luckily the incident today with Sebastian falling through the ice turned out OK, thanks to him being so tough!!! We had to cross a number of ice bergs today. One of the bergs collapsed under Sebastian and he went through the ice. He was submerged about three quarters before he managed to get out. We had to roll him around in the snow to help him get dry...which sounds pretty bizarre, but actually it is the best thing to do because the snow is "dry" here in the North Pole and this helps to soak up all the wet. We replaced Sebastian's boot liners with a spare pair of fresh dry liners to prevent his feet getting frost bite, and it was important to get him moving again as quickly as possible so that his body would generate heat and disperse all the moisture away from his body and dry out his clothing. Sebastian was up and trekking again in no time and it was business as usual for him - the guy is as hard as nails!"

We spend about another hour following the lead to find and get over a new crossing. But this is really not much of a crossing and we end up using a couple of the sleds to provide some added security!

From there it is another power hour or two to leave us just 6 miles south of the pole - very doable on the morrow. The main consequence of my little dip is that my socks and good boot liners are frozen solid. Much of the evening is spent trying to thaw and then dry these out.

Some Highlights

Pressure Ridges
We have to deal with these on a very frequent basis. In fact, they are good fun and break up be monotony of just skiing on the ice. Some are easy with just a small amount of manoeuvering round football size blocks of ice, others are much more challenging requiring us to take off our skiis to clamber through or over the ice. 

Navigating
I became pretty uneasy shortly after we started skiing at the pole as we seemed to be walking towards the sun in general. When you are in the Northern hemispere, the sun is always to the South of you swinging from East to West during the course of the day and pretty much due South at midday. I was therefore expecting that we would have the sun at our backs as we were walking showing that we were heading North.
It turns out that in fact the helicopter drop off had not only taken us South but also around the world as we were now on the same longtitude as Australia and so we were actually walking at night local time but seeing the daytime sun over Europe - ie looking North up to the Pole and then past it South to see the sun.

Tough Day
Day 3 was a much colder and windier day and despite us all putting an extra layer on we were all struggling with the cold. The best way to deal with the cold is to simply keep walking and so we had a long day covering 12 nautical miles. It later turns out that Keith, our guide who has skied to the North Pole 11 times, put this in his toughest 5 days ever at the Pole.

The downside of layering up is the risk of sweating whilst dragging the sleds and warming up from the exercise and quite a few of the guys had problems with wet gear by the end of the day. Part of the evening is spent drying gear over the cooker - makes the whole tent pretty warm and a bit like a sauna!


Landscape
The polar landscape is at times beautiful and at others apocalyptical. There is broken ice everwhere with the larger pieces looking like collapsed buildings.

A decent sun dog

Food
Perhaps nowhere is it truer that we eat to live rather than eat to live than on expedtions - calorie count rather than flavour is the key attribute. But at the same time, a treat can make a big difference. Guy proved himself to be an excellent polar chef and prodeced superb tortillas and bagels and made excellent use of your dried meats to boost those dishes further for tough days.

Keiths' mum made a superb banana cake which weighed a ton whilst frozen (this provided stability for the sled) but came to life when heated with a bit of butter in a pan. The sugar caramelised, the flavour was released - ah, happy memories from cold, dark nights. Actually, the nights were very bright but very cold; at least you get my drift.
However, best of all was the tiffin that I brought along. Basically, chocolate with bisuits, dried fruit and brown sugar mixed in. Delicious and just what you need after cold day when smelly, wet gear is drying close to your head! Thank you very much Mumple for taking the time to make these for us!

Daily Routine

The days skiing to the pole are very alike so I will give an overview of the typical day and then some highlights in later posts. Nowhere is it more true that time is relative. You can cross time zones here in a matter of minutes and the sun remains at about the same height in the sky the whole time. Teams therefore stay on the same time as where they were before they enter the pole regardless of what longtitude they are actually at and therefore what the time actually is.

Wake up at about 07:30am and whoever is up first puts on the stove to get the water going for tea, drinking water for the day. While the water is heating and continuing over breakfast we pack our camping gear and load the sleds. Breakfast is a hot drink, serving of oatmeal and a tortilla with cheese - there were also freeze dried 'breakfast skillets' (scrambled egg, onion, bacon etc) - apparently with a few extra steps these can be made to be pretty tasty but without those and especially if you add even slightly too much or too little water, they can be tough to stomach.

Each night mositure from our breath and drying gear condenses and freezes on the inside roof of the tents - this has only a tentative hold and the slightest motion of the material will cause parts to detach and fall (with unnerving accuracy) onto any exposed parts of your skin! Last to come down is the tent which we take in turns to carry each day, before heading off at about 10am.

Despite the cold, the effort of pulling the sleds mean that you generate a lot of body heat and as such wear relativlely light clothes during the day. I generally wore a thick base layer and waterproof shell on my legs; thin base layer, light mid-wight layer and windproof anorak on my top half topped off with a light hat, hood from my mid-weight layer and anorak hood if required. Apart from the head layers this would not be excessive for Winter walking in Scotland. Oddly, the main concern during the day is not getting to hot rather than getting to cold. If you get hot, you sweat and with an outside waterproof layer it is hard for this moisture to escape. You then spend the rest of the day keeping this moisture warm which is a real energy drain and once you stop this layer becomes very cold very quickly which can be dangerous.
On my face, I would alternate between just a buff (thin stretchy layer) or buff plus face mask - rotating depending on weather and the amount of ice that has built up on my face mask:

For the eyes it would be nothing or goggles. The sun is pretty low so there is no real risk of sun blindness but when it is cold or windy some physical protection is helpful. The problem then is that goggles tend to fog up and then freeze up when worn with a face mask.

We would head off at about 10am and walk for 1.5 to 2 hour blocks and have a 10 minute rest for drinks and snacks before the next push. The breaks are short as whilst you can generally keep warm when pulling the sled, the cold hits you very quickly when you stop. The first thing you do when stopping is to put on your down jacket to conserve your body warmth whilst at rest; taking it off and repacking it in the sled is the last thing you do before restarting. Even so, it takes a good 15 mins or more to get warm again after the stops and often longer for hands which aren't working so hard.
For the first few days we did 4 sets of these to ensure that we made good progress into the time that we had to catch up, but later only needed to do 3 given the progress that we had made.

This would get us into camp at around 7 or 8. Again, first action is to put on the down jacket and insulated trousers (if required) to maintain body warmth whilst doing the various chores to get the camp set up. This was mainly erecting the tents, getting our gear stowed inside the tent and stoves started as well as chatting to rest of the team. After that it was supper - hot drink, soup, packet of freeze dried food and bagel with cheese.
Again, simplicity in the freeze dried food tended to give the best results. Mince rehydrates well as does pasta so dishes like Chilli Mac (chilli and macarone) and lasange (small chunks of it) were good. Rice dishes are very dependent on the correct proportion of water which is hard to get right with no equipment (and US measurements required). A crucial additive is a bottle of chilli sauce or tabasco which you can thaw by putting in the kettle for a few minutes. Last thing it to fill water bottles with hot water and pop them into the sleeping bags. This warms the bags up before you get in, keeps your feet warm throughout the night, helps dry out your wet gear and also provides water to go into the kettle the following morning which is much quicker and so uses less gas than having to melt snow or ice
After dinner would be reading, chatting or visiting other tents and then to bed at about 10 to get ready to do it all again the next day.