Trip Reports

South Georgia Traverse - 26 February to 21 March 2004

Written by Leader, March 2004

The March South Georgia crossing turned out to be a much tougher outing for the party of 14 (11 climbers and 3 guides) than anticipated, as much of the snow had melted from the galciers since the earlier January crossing. This left vast crevasse fields with no obvious way through. Progress was slow, with much leaping and jumping, made all the more "challenging" by the heavy rucksacks we carried.

Luckily, the weather held good and we won through the crevasse maze after 2 long days of 11 hours and 15 hours. The final descent down the Fortuna Glacier in the dark being illuminated by the searchlight from our waiting ship.

It was two tough days but everyone rose to the challenge and enjoyed the experience of a real adventure in an incredibly beautiful mountain setting.

Extracts from Chris Pearson’s diary:

28 Feb Ushuia. Full kit check before getting on the ship. Sun hats, suncream and a second water bottle being the few gaps, otherwise everyone well equipped.

3 March – a sobering briefing from Tashi Tenzing, our main guide, explaining the seriousness of our proposed undertaking – e.g no readily available outside help and the potential for severe storms.

4 March – the only limited training opportunity as most days were devoted to sailing and or wildlife viewing – we made an ascent of the easy snow summit of Couverville Island (252 m) Group carried 15-20 kgs packs for a bit of a warm up prior to the main event. A brief ice axe arrest session also conducted

9 March 5am breakfast on ship.

5.30am departure from King Haakaon Bay – tiptoe past the sleeping, snorting elephant seals ! Weather mild, plus 2 C light wind, grey low cloud. i.e not that cold. For all the crossing I only wore long sleeve thermal vest, mid-weight fleece, goretex jacket , on legs – powerstretch tights, with goretex saloppettes. Plastic boots and yetigaiters. Fleece hat and light finger gloves backed up with mitts occasionally. Some wore 4 season leather boots – no cold feet reported – although temperatures were never too cold nor did the wind howl, and we had no deep or wet snow to plough through. Plastic or a hybrid leather/ plastic boot were favoured by most. There is a lot of walking (as opposed to climbing on this crossing – about 35 kms over 2 days and some found their trusted plastic climbing boots gave blisters with so much walking involved)

6.15 Begin ascent of easy angled glacier – hard bare ice – rope up in 3 groups. Remain roped up all day . Soon in thick dampish cloud. Tashi leading navigating with GPS with pre-set waypoints.

8.00 Shakelton Col. Still in thick grey cloud, with little visibility. Hint of sun maybe going to burn through?

8.15 Unbelievable. Blue sky and sunshine !! The cloud has gone. We have great views across the Murray snowfield –to the distant Trident col (our objective) 7km away. The Murray snowfield proved to be a long imperceptibly uphill slog in slightly soft snow, but no crevasse problems.

1100 starts to rain very lightly- on and off for the next 3 hours. 1300 the Trident col is reached. We see our proposed camp on the Crean glacier below. It will take us another 4 hours to get there as the descent is horrid. Gone (melted) are the sweeping snow slopes down which Shackleton in May 1916 and our colleagues in Jan 04 bumslid. To avoid crevasses straight below we teetered left down steepish slabby ice and gravel mess. Scree on a rock bluff gives safer progress until mini cliffs force us back out right onto the glacier to clamber in, out and over small awkward crevasses. A rock loosened form above (not by the group) hits Bill hard with a thud (luckily on his rucksack - no damage done).

1600 Water bottles refilled from a deep clear pool in a crevasse.

1700 Camp on west side of Crean Glacier – flat site on ice between crevasses. Safety briefing given re. hazards and toilet arrangements for minimal impact. Ice axes, snow stakes and rocks from nearby used to anchor tents. Normal tent pegs of little use. Climbing ropes also used to tie over tents to rocks as wind was increasing at dusk (and was gusting strongly all night). Takes a long time to get all tents securely pitched. 1800 Dinner – soup, tea, pre-cooked bolognaise & pasta reheated – plenty for all. Tashi took charge of the cooking whilst the tents were being erected. 3 people to a tent.

1900 Dark – full moon and stars.

0100 – wind buffeting tents – one flysheet comes adrift – needs re-securing.

10 March

0300 Wake up, breakfast (prepared centrally by Tashi) – strike camp!)

0500 Deaprt camp in first light hoping to rendezvous with ship at lunchtime at Fortuna Bay (some hope!) Tashi follows same line he took without problems back in January - a high level contouring line approx 50 vertical metres higher than camp. Today this is a badly crevassed dry glacier – Tashi routefinding. 3 rope groups following each other. Numerous crevasses (all open) to hop, skip, jump or balance around on narrow crests. A couple of minor tumbles and bruises by some team members not used to such antics, especially with heavy sacks on back. The importance of efficient rope management to safeguard each other requires constant concentration.

0700 Dejected !– all back at camp having failed to find a way through the crevasses Plan B – we took lower contouring line 300m horizontally(approx) below camp.

0900 Successfully found a way onto the flat easy going middle part of Crean Glacier to a point before it rises up again directly ahead.

1100 Another contorted maze of crevasses – Tashi doing an amazing job out front – until the gaps become to big and the detour options lead nowhere. Cloud descends and it start to snow. Fatigue and frustration building. Will we find a way through? We retrace our steps – a low moment!

1600 approx. Finally after 11 exhausting, uncertain hours of trial and error through the crevasse maze since leaving camp, we reach the skyline col at the far edge of the Crean Glacier and look down on the Fortuna Glacier. Tashi did a superb job of finding a route all could cope with. Although even Tashi was amazed how difficult and demanding the glacier had become since he strolled across easy snow fields just 2 months before in January. 2000 A further 4 hours to descend and weave a way through crevasses of the Fortuna Glacier before reaching the shore and the wonderful sight of the waiting Polar Pioneer. Darkness catches us still on the glacier – Tashi has an idea and radios the ship – on goes its powerful floodlight and illuminates the glacier – problem solved! Step off the ice onto the rocky beach. Penguins and fur seals shuffle out of the way. Zodiac ride back to the ship to applause from the other passengers. An amazing conclusion to a true adventure.

2100 BBQ and beer on deck.

To complete Shakelton's journey to Stromness, the following day we continued on foot from Fortuna Bay up over an easy rocky pass and down grassy slopes to the rusting abandoned "ghost town" of Stromness whaling station. The station masters house is still standing, where in 1916 Shackleton knocked on the same door completing one of the greatest epics of survival in the history of exploration.

Chris Pearson, 19 March 2004« Previous report | Next report »

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