Hollinger in Antarctica

After several frustrating science days where I have struggled to find any cryoconite holes today has also been one of the most successful science days we have had since we set foot in Antarctica 19 days ago. We are now into the second half of the expedition and so it is somewhat of a relief to have finally found some cryoconite holes and to be able to start measuring and sampling them. Last night we had decided that today we would move camp further up the Canyon to see if that would help in our search for cryoconite holes and lichen. Unfortunately the weather had different plans and the wind was too strong this morning to attempt a move. Rather than sit in our tents again, we decided to go for a walk and amazingly found an area of blue ice that had been uncovered by the high winds. On it were lots of cryoconite holes- exactly what I have been looking for (for days) and only about 300m from camp. There was suddenly a lot of frenzied activity and everybody joined in together helping to sweep the snow off the ice to make the holes more visible to enable the sampling to take place. So what exactly am I researching (thanks to Rebecca in Y10 for doing th Tapton update this week and asking the question about my research). I am looking at two things; firstly what is the ecological footprint of the expedition, in other words what is our environmental impact of coming here? Secondly I am looking for (and have now found!) cryoconite holes which are dark patches on or near the surface of the glacier. It is a bit like if you go outside on a hot day with a black t-shirt on – you will feel much warmer than if you have a light coloured t-shirt on. The dark rock attracts extra solar radiation and causes the ice around the rock to melt much more quickly than the white surfaces. The theory is that as more rock becomes exposed, then there are more dark surfaces which causes the ice to melt much more quickly and the glaciers may disappear faster. Click on the link to the right of this blog entry entitled ‘Ruth’s Project’ for more detail and have a look (on previous pages) at a blog entry posted at the end of August following a training expedition in Norway where I measured and sampled several cryoconite holes. Happy birthday today to Chris 12WN, Kassim 10RH and Liam 9AB.

Today has been a frustrating day. Phil and I spent several hours skiing over slippery, slidey, rock hard blue ice in search of the elusive cryoconite holes. Normally you wouldn’t ski over such a surface, you would put your crampons on, but we were faced with crevasses every metre or so, in fact we have crossed hundreds today. Luckily the crevasses were big enough to swallow a foot, but not a ski, therefore we were much safer with planks on our feet. Yesterday I posted a photo of Phil sweeping the snow off the ice – well today here (top right) is a photo of me doing my share of the sweeping! Amy and Ian hunting for lichens had much more success, after a long search of a nearby valley they were rewarded with some samples and a lichen not previously encountered – it was green and rubbery apparently!.

Lots of birthdays today so happy birthday to Alex 13BB, Sadaf 11JI, Nicola 9WO, Joe 8RG, Charlotte 8NM, Erica 8JM and Oliver 7CC. I hope the exams are going well for all the Y11’s at Tapton. I am looking forward to next week when I will be speaking to a Tapton class during a live video link up. In the meantime, over the next couple of days, I am hoping to get some of the weather data we have been recording onto the blog so make sure you keep logging on and compare it to the weather you have had back home.

This was the view I woke up to this morning! A view from Connell Canyon looking out towards the vast expanse of Union Glacier and the mountains beyond, over 15kms away. We moved camp last night at 9pm as conditions were perfect to see where we were going! The contrast had been exceptionally poor throughout the day and I found it difficult to distinguish much more than my arm from my elbow. The crevasse risk was high – slots hidden by newly fallen snow, so we moved with care. I have spent today on the hunt for cryoconite holes, a difficult activity when what you are looking for is hidden under five centimetres of snow. While Ian and Amy went to hunt out more lichens, Phil and I, armed with a brush each, set off down the glacier to do a bit of sweeping. We swept the ice off the surface of the blue ice to see if any cryoconite holes revealed themselves (the photo opposite is Phil sweeping away the snow). It was quite frustrating as almost every sweep revealed nothing more than blue ice and more blue ice. However, our science days are growing fewer as time seems to be marching on so we have to make use of every available opportunity and I suppose uncovering nothing is a result in itself. Still, the high temperatures made a pleasant change and we were able to do research in nothing more than our thermals. We returned to camp to find the lichen hunters had uncovered more lichens. They were really chuffed with their findings as it was their first lichen find in Connell Canyon! They had also completed a reconnaissance mission to find out more about the route out of the canyon and reported it to be ‘steep’!

Happy birthday to Ruth 13EW, Bella 12BF, Natasha 11LB, Ellie 10PJ and Nathaniel 8JM. I hope you are all well back in the UK. As you will have noticed I have not managed to answer as many questions and things have been a bit quieter on the emailing front. This is due to battery life and a huge sat phone bill so now all messages are going through a UK contact for filtering. Quite a few of you have asked about the things that I am missing from home. At the moment I am missing my family, friends, a decent wash…..oh and of course my form class 10RH! – I hope you are behaving for Ms Henderson and Mr Spick. As far as washing is concerned it is simply non existent! It sounds a bit disgusting but I have been in the same clothes now for 18 days and I think one of the things that this trip has taught me is about appreciating simple things. The food has been ok but it is turning a little monotonous and, despite what you might think, there are only so many Mars bars and Haribo that you can eat each day. I am really looking forward to some good home cooked food back in Northern Ireland at Christmas (thanks mum!). Thanks to Simon for his question – the Ordnance Survey don’t do Landranger Maps for Antarctica but maybe you could suggest that you could be a cartographer and make maps for them on the understanding that they send you here and pay for you to make the maps! Thanks to Rebecca Butler for updating the Tapton School website this week. Finally, congratulations to the Green Team who raised around £27 from Saturday’s ‘Where’s Miss Hollinger’ competition.

Over the past few days we have been experiencing some very unusual weather for Antarctica. This is the driest and coldest continent in the world and it is rare for it to actually snow. However the temperatures are relitively warm (for Antarctica) at the moment. Yesterday it was only -10⁰C and today it has been only a mere -2.9⁰C and along with the warmer weather we have been experiencing snowfalls, in fact we have had quite a lot of the white stuff falling overnight and continuing through into this morning. The unusual weather has made travelling and finding suitable sites for carrying out our research very difficult. This has at times been frustrating and we have been trying to work out the best course of action for us to take. Earlier today Carl and Carolyn surveyed a safe route down into the valley of Connell Canyon but as the visibility improved they also discovered several unwelcome crevasses waiting for us on the way down. Having been stuck in the tents most of the morning we used the improved afternoon weather to help Ian and Amy look for lichens and practice our winter mountineering techniques. Opposite the area where we had been lichen hunting there was an irresistable huge ice cliff, the climbing of which was not only good training but also a welcome bit of excercise. The photo is me just about to climb out the top.

Happy birthday today to Caroline 13AS, Elliot 10DN and Ellie 9JB.

Following a frustrtating day lying in our tents listening to the wind, it was fantastic to wake up and find that the wind had eased and the weather improved enough for us to move on. Even with improved weather we are still wrapped up in lots of layers as this photo of Amy today shows! We are in the middle of relocating ourselves from the Henderson Glacier over to Connell Canyon so that we can carry out some more science work (and hopfully find more cryoconite holes) in a different area. Moving sites is a serious mission involving the dismantling of tents, packing everything into the pulks (sledges) and then hauling it all up a slippery slope with skies on. Having already hauled two sledges up here two days ago we knew what to expect but it was still a difficult morning dragging the pulks upwards when with every step forwards we seemed to slide further backwards! The crevasse field had become even more trecherous as the fresh snowfall had covered many of the crevasses making them difficult to spot. Some of the crevasses are so deep that you can’t see the bottom and one wrong foot could result in someone crashing through into an icy crack in the ground. 

We finaly made it safely to the col and dug out the other two pulks of food, clothing and poo that we had stashed two days ago. After thinking all the hard work was done in getting to the top we soon realised the difficulties involved with lowering the pulks down the steep slope on the otherside of the col. We roped all six pulks together with a pully system and then Ian, Phil, Amy and I, all roped to the pulks, attempted to control the them on their decent. The pulks had a mind of their own – similar to walking six disobedient dogs! Halfway down the weather closed in again and the poor light conditions and snow make it extremely difficult to distinguish between the sky and the ground. With the ever present danger of crevasses it was too dangerous to continue so we have put the tents up and are now camped half way down towards the valley of Connell Canyon. We hope to continue the decent and reach the valley tomorrow and then spend a few days in Connell Canyon collecting more science data. It is really exciting to be moving to a new location and seeing more of Antarctica. It was frustrating having to spend yesterday in the tent but everything in Antarctica takes so much longer than you expect. 

Happy birthday today to Alex 12KB, Luke 12WN, Jane 11JA, Ella 9AB and Wagdi 8RG. 

The weather has taken a turn for the worse again today with gusty winds and snowfall. After hauling two of our pulks loaded with kit up to the col yesterday today is a bit frustrating as we were hoping to be over the col today. Still the break from being a human husky will give me the opportunity to reply to some more of your questions. The number of days since I last……

Watched TV   – 29

Switched on a light   – 14

Switched off a light   – 14

Washed my hair   – 15

Heard the sound of traffic   – 14

Ate Haribo   – 0

Used my mobile phone   – 21

Thanks to Karen for her email and I am glad to hear that the lower school arts project went well and that you were able to incorporate some information from the blog. Thanks to Simon for his question and thanks for writing the update for Tapton School. There are no fires allowed in Antarctica because of a thing called the Antarctica Treaty – it is a bit like a set of laws that govern the use of Antarctica. For navigation we use a map but have a couple of GPS’ so we can record where we are and also when we find lichens and cryoconite holes it is good to mark that acurately too. Each day we have to report in to Patriot Hills to let them know we are safe and we use the GPS to give our coordinates. Bob – the winds seem to be coming from different directions. We are in a glaciated valley – the Henderson Glacier, so the wind tends to be funnelled down the valley. I think we can count ourselves lucky here as at Patriot Hills, some 60kms away, they experienced a gust of almost 80 miles per hour yesterday. I hope you enjoyed the ice! Thanks to Debbie for her message too. All the Totley training was of great use in helping me to be fit for the expedition. Good luck to those in Totley taking part in the Wingerworth Wobble or Clowne 10km today. I would be more than happy to come and talk to your students at Ecclesall Infant School when I get back. It has been good to hear the news from NI and I am looking forward to getting some more messages and questions from the students at Ballyclare High School as they start the topic of Antarctica! Good luck to all the Y11’s at Tapton for their forthcoming exams! Happy birthday today to Tom 13AS and George 9AB.

We woke this morning with a rather large hill looming ahead of us. We decided (or rather the weight of our pulks determined) that we would have to ‘triple head’ up the glacier. This means that rather than having one person pull a pulk (or sledge), three people pull one between them. The plan was to cache the two pulks at the col and then pull the remaining pulks up the incline tomorrow. Our skis are fitted with skins which allow you to move forwards without sliding back and the heels of the boot are free to allow you to get the necessary push forward. After several false starts (as it is surprisingly easy to become entangled with one another) we set off up the hill. The four teachers plus Carolyn and Carl pulling two pulks between us. Our pulk, pulled by Amy, Phil and myself was loaded with 90 days worth of food and some spare clothing. Carl, Carolyn and Ian’s was loaded with enough fuel for the remainder of the expedition as well as some spare clothing. They also had the good fortune to pull all the poo that we have generated since we were dropped off by the twin Otter on the Henderson Glacier 6 days ago.

Rather soon our pulk came to an abrupt halt as it overturned. The weight was unevenly distributed as too much of the food was near the top. After another overturning we decided that it would need to be fixed so we quickly repacked and set off once again. It’s much more difficult pulling a pulk with other people as you have to watch what the others are doing. If you don’t your poles clang together and your skis get too close and cross! After a 20 minute haul we paused to examine the terrain and Carolyn warned us of unseen dangers (crevasses). Indeed, on closer inspection, one crevasse would have been able to hide a London bus or two so we had to be extremely careful! Carolyn, Carl and Ian went ahead cautiously, prodding the ice with ski poles and looking at the pettern of the snow on the ice. The skis were swapped for our crampons as we had to cross over some blue ice. Ian and Carl pulled as Carolyn steered the pulk – it skidded on the ice with the ease of a curling stone but not quite in the intended direction. Once safe on the other side of the crevasses, Carolyn and Carl returned and granted us safe passage to the other side too. We then had one final haul to the col…….. and was it worth it? Most definately. The sight that awaited us was spectacular and although exhausted from the haul we stood listening to the wind and the sound of our breathing while taking in the view. I was extremely happy that we would have to do it all again tomorrow and we would get to experience the view all over again.

Happy birthday today to Bethany 8NM and good luck to my dad in the trailquest in NI tomorrow!   

We have been receiving lots of fantastic emails, many of which include great questions so please keep them coming. However, sometimes the emails come with attachments and the files take much too long to download. Sadly we are also getting some spam messages as well. You can appreciate that with only limited battery life this is using up valuable satellite phone time. As a result all emails will need to go via:

 stevebull@bullexpeditions.com

The emails and messages will then be read and filtered therefore saving our batteries! This may mean that it will take a little longer to respond to your questions but please be patient.

Today we woke just before 8am (Chilean Time) and beagn the elaborate process of packing up the camp. Despite the team finding some fantastic new lichens, I have found very few Cryoconite holes so we have decided to move on. Our brilliant large communal tent (the Cosmos), that does so much to make our lives comfortable here and to provide a sociable base for the whole group, nethertheless required a good bit of effort in taking down as it had become well and truely sunk into the glacier. Several poles needed the warmth of our hands to melt the ice and free them so that they could be packed away. It took us just over two and a half hours from begining our breakfast to complete the dismantling of the camp and load up our pulks with everything we have. We then set off, strung out in a long line, to climb the Henderson Glacier towards the col that will allow us to reach Connell Canyon.

Distances are incredibly hard to judge in the clear air here and although the pass looked quite close, it was only after about four hours of determined hauling that we reached the more steeply rising ground that leads up the col. Here we had to pair up to haul the pulks higher up the pass. After some really hard pulling we stopped below the top of the pass and dug in our three smaller tents for the evening. The wind tugs, pushes and whistles around us but we are begining to feel quite snug and (almost) looking forward to our “instant” expedition hot evening meal! Tomorrow (if the weather allows us) we will go over the top of the pass and see what waits for us in Connel Canyon. We have had reports that it is a spectactular and beautiful place, but that seems to be true of everywhere we’ve been. The twisted strata of the rock faces above us here are incredibly dramatic and a veritable geologists (Angus) paradise.

Happy birthday today to Thomas 13BW, Rebecca 12CL, Bradley 10AK and Fae 7TP.  Alice Dodd and Ian/Anna – Thanks for your messages.

To answer some more of your questions: Mina – Thanks for your questions, it is always great to hear about life back in the UK. Things are going well in Antarctica, if a little cold it has been a bit warmer today (only -10 degrees!) compared to the -20 degrees we experienced a few days ago. The cold is very cold and with wind chill the coldest we have experienced so far is -60 degrees. If you ask Mr Jukes in the science dept, I am sending back some weather data so that you can compare weather in the UK with the weather here in Antarctica. Yes the food I talked about a few days ago in the blog was exciting to start with but it is all getting a bit ’samey’ now. It equates to about 4,000 calories per day which is about double what you need to eat in the UK. I am really glad that I have been able to visit such an amazing place. Although at times it is difficult because it is SO COLD, I am managing! It is much colder than I expected. We have been having lots of chocolate and Haribo which sounds great but we have had so much that I am getting sick of it already and I would kill for some fresh fruit and vegetables. I hope all is well at Tapton School, Good luck to all those taking part in the Autumn Fayre this weekend. Keep encouraging everybody to email me at stevebull@bullexpeditions.com (note the slight change in the email address).

Following two days of strong winds forcing us to temperarily abandon the science work during the day and cross our fingers that our tents will stay up during the night it is good to get back to work. The wind subsided today and so we split into our two teams again to search out lichens and cryoconite holes.  Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be many cryoconite holes here, although I am hoping to find lots more as we move further along the glacier over the next few days. The ones that I have found are relitively small being approximately 20cm in diameter (Thanks to Alice, Emma, Matt and Chris for that question).  The lichen studies get more exciting every day as Amy, Ian and Steve have managed to find a species that we hadn’t found before.

As the weather has been so good this afternoon, the boys are taking it in turns to use a small square of mat to go out and give themselves their first wash of the trip. They even have a small bar of soap that they have bargained off Carolyn. It’s still -8 degrees outside and the girls are safely tucked inside their tents away from the sight. I think we will be content to use our wet wipes for the time being. Amy tried a clothes wash yesterday but drying clothes in Antarctica is quite tricky as within seconds of being outside the wet clothes freeze!

Lots of birthdays today! So happy birthday to Charlotte 13BB, Xin 13CO, Ryan 13CM, Faysal 11VB, Nathaniel 11LB, Jessica 8DY and Charlotte 7PL. 

As always thanks for all your excellent questions and I will now try to answer some sent in by Silvan, Alice, Emma, Matt and Chris: At noon the sun is directly to the north of us (the opposite to you in Sheffield as I am in the southern hemisphere). Although it does not get dark we can actually see the moon throughout the day which is a bit wierd. We are currently 5 hours 20 minutes behind UK time but for practical reasons we are working on the time in Chile which is 3 hours behind UK time.   Every evening we have to phone in to Patriot Hills – the place we flew into when we arrived in Antarctica – and we keep the same time as them.  They use the same time as Chile because that is where the plane takes off from. The highest peak in Antarctica is Mt Vinson which is 4,996m high. The peak is about 100 miles from where we are camped at the moment. Thanks to Adrian Boyes for his message about the Rab gear which is helping to keep me warm – as you say the early polar explorers only had wollen cardigans whcih is pretty awe inspiring!