Hollinger in Antarctica

Yesterday evening we were standing in glorious sunshine eating specially saved biscuits and drinking a small bottle of red wine that we had secretly brought with us from Chile as a special treat. The sun lit up the mountains and the spectacular expanse of the Union Glacier below us and there was hardly a breath of wind. The weather was so wonderful that, even at minus 12 degrees all the men had a big wash out on the glacier in turn! We woke this morning to a slightly different scene as the wind had increased. It still seemed relatively mild and so we decided to strike camp around lunchtime and set off pulling our pulks laden with all our gear, fuel and food up the glacier of Connell canyon. At this point the wind kicked up bigtime and the ice was treacherous forcing us to stop and fit high altitude boots and crampons to continue. Parts of the glacier were so steep that we had to pair up to tow the pulks up to the crest of the glacier. The haul along the top was very cold and windy and tiring but finally, after about three and a half hours of gruelling work, we were able to pitch our tents on this windy spot half way up Connell Canyon. Soon we will have to haul our pulks up a stretch of the glacier that is even steeper than the bit we did today. I can’t say that I am looking forward to it, but once we pass the top of the col leaving the Canyon, our long walk to Patriot Hills begins. Fortunately this will be almost entirely down hill.

Many of you have been asking about the weather so I have put some of the data we have collected on the wether comparison page (see the link on the right). The coldest day we have experienced was actually not long after we arrived in Antarctica when the temperature was -20⁰C and we had gusts of wind up to 68.2mph making it actually a lot colder! Lots of you have also asked about the food we have been eating. Essentially itthe main meals are essentially melted snow, eated up in a pan and poured into a bag of dyhydrated food (my favourite is sweet and sour chicken). It may not sound very appertising but after a day hauling the pulks uphill in the cold it is one of the things we look forward to. We all agree on the worst - Chile Con Carne,  it is grim. On days we pull it out of our food bags we can’t face it and put it back in the sledge. This could mean that we end up eating it for a week straight at the end of the expedition but it is worth the risk. We are carrying six day of extra rations so we are hoping we will get away with it.

Thanks to Rachel Coiley at Ballyclare High School for her question ‘why did I want to come on the expedition?’  after all who in their right mind would want to wear the same clothes, eat the same food, live in a tent and not wash (hair or body) for over a month.  As most of you know I am Geography teacher at Tapton School in Sheffield, but I am a former pupil of Ballyclare High School in Northern Ireland. Geography is all about people and places and what better way to learn about these things than go and see and experience them for yourself. In addition to these experiences I am also getting the opportunity to conduct research. When I was at Ballyclare High Scool I was taught by Mr Dougan and Mr Whincup for A level Geography! I did my A Level project on the wind farm just outside Ballyclare, on the Collin, and I found this small piece of research was a great way to find out about an issue that was important to me and to other people in the area. By having the opportunity to carry out research in Antarctica I’m hoping to gain a better understanding of some of the important issues that are related to climate change. I have got a lot better at putting up my tent as I get very cold very quickly! It takes about 10 minutes to put the tent up and then about another 20 minutes to ‘dig in’. Due to the strong winds in Antarctica we have to weigh the tent down around the edges with lots of snow and inevitably that involves a lot of digging with snow shovels. It is tiring work but worth it when you hear the wind whistling past your tent in the middle of the night!   

Thanks to Franziska for your question. We are currently in the Connel Canyon. Our exact position (measured with a GPS) is South 79⁰ 49′ West 83⁰ 20′ at an altitude of 866m above sea level. The local time is 5 hours 20 minutes behind the UK time. However as there are 24 hours of daylight we are actually using the same time as Chile which is only 3 hours behind the UK time. This is easier for us as we set off from Chile and the sun never setting means that there is no real need for us to adjust to a different time zone. Happy birthday today to James 13SP, Alicia 13CM, Stephanie 13BW, Josh 10JH and Petrina 8NM. Hope is all well with you all back in the UK.