Gerwyn's birthday on Tueasday & the following from his call home:
Monday night very promising, nice weather so spent time planning what he wanted to climb on his birthday the next day. Unfortunately Tuesday brought really bad storm winds, not much spindrift but bitterly cold so they spent the entire day stuck in the tent. Not the best birthday he has ever had but certainly one he will never forget. Weather started to ease off towards evening & a better day looking likely for Wed, so plan to move camp again.
Thursday, 31 May 2007
Tuesday, 29 May 2007
Hauling Sledges
This received on the answer phone from Tim on Sunday, a very bad line so some details lost:
Sunday
A very very long day pulling heavy sledges, 4/5 hours seemed to go on for ever but made camp now & everyone fine. Not able to do anything yesterday due to a blizzard ( not sure about the word blizzard as the line so bad at this point. Tim & Gerwyn climbed another peak ( day indecipherable). Plan to go meteorite hunting tomorrow.
A quick message from Russ on Monday evening:
Not far from the pick-up point now with still a week in hand. No-one has seen any polar bears. The satellite phone batteries are getting low now so may not be any more messages.
Sunday
A very very long day pulling heavy sledges, 4/5 hours seemed to go on for ever but made camp now & everyone fine. Not able to do anything yesterday due to a blizzard ( not sure about the word blizzard as the line so bad at this point. Tim & Gerwyn climbed another peak ( day indecipherable). Plan to go meteorite hunting tomorrow.
A quick message from Russ on Monday evening:
Not far from the pick-up point now with still a week in hand. No-one has seen any polar bears. The satellite phone batteries are getting low now so may not be any more messages.
Sunday, 27 May 2007
"Brilliant"
Sorry for the delay posting this, these details recieved from Gerwyn on Thursday 24th:
It is absolutely freezing cold, -40, & the wind-chill is very bad. Despite this they are all well & having a "brilliant" ( this particular word featured more than once ) time. They have climbed a few more mountains & seen lots of sedimentary, volcanic & metamorphic rock. At one point they could see the seabed which had been pushed up thousands of feet, millions of years ago. They are very impressed by the sheer scale of the geography, their camp looks like a tiny dot, lost in the huge expanse.
They built an igloo ( bet that was Tim's idea ) & were having supper in it on Thurday, very warm & cosy apparantly. Plan to climb some more on Friday & move on to another camp, then keep on moving North.
It is absolutely freezing cold, -40, & the wind-chill is very bad. Despite this they are all well & having a "brilliant" ( this particular word featured more than once ) time. They have climbed a few more mountains & seen lots of sedimentary, volcanic & metamorphic rock. At one point they could see the seabed which had been pushed up thousands of feet, millions of years ago. They are very impressed by the sheer scale of the geography, their camp looks like a tiny dot, lost in the huge expanse.
They built an igloo ( bet that was Tim's idea ) & were having supper in it on Thurday, very warm & cosy apparantly. Plan to climb some more on Friday & move on to another camp, then keep on moving North.
Monday, 21 May 2007
More Peaks
A quick phone call from Tim on Sunday imparted the following:
Now at the third camp, had to stop & make emergency camp ( camp 2 ) a couple of days ago as it was getting too cold to keep going. Have climbed two more peaks which they have named 'Copa Rosyn' & 'Lliwedd'. Still very cold & windy but everyone ok. Tim & Gerwyn went out today to scout out more potential peaks to climb. No sign of any meteorites, too much blown snow.
Now at the third camp, had to stop & make emergency camp ( camp 2 ) a couple of days ago as it was getting too cold to keep going. Have climbed two more peaks which they have named 'Copa Rosyn' & 'Lliwedd'. Still very cold & windy but everyone ok. Tim & Gerwyn went out today to scout out more potential peaks to climb. No sign of any meteorites, too much blown snow.
Friday, 18 May 2007
Weather Everywhere
A very quick message on Friday night gave the following:
Thursday
Very bad weather, not able to do anything.
Friday
Good weather, visibility excellent, did lots ( but no details as to what 'lots' might be).
I will add details to these two days if any are received, Tim, Russ & Gerwyn are taking it in turns to phone so sketchy messages are being passed around.
Thursday
Very bad weather, not able to do anything.
Friday
Good weather, visibility excellent, did lots ( but no details as to what 'lots' might be).
I will add details to these two days if any are received, Tim, Russ & Gerwyn are taking it in turns to phone so sketchy messages are being passed around.
So cold
Saturday
All went well with flights, transfers etc.
Sunday
Plane to Greenland, landed at 5pm - 36km west of where they should have been as the ground at the original site was too dangerous. Very cold, exposed & windy so made camp straight away, building snow walls to protect themselves.
Monday
Lots of spindrift. Reinforced camp & built a kitchen out of snow. Tested skis, after 10 mins Gerwyn's bindings broke so turned back.
Tuesday
Russ's birthday. Ski to apparantly nearby peak. Arrive one & a half hours later! Climbed very broken ridge to the summit which they named "Birthday Peak". Saw lots of fossilised ferns. Gerwyn's crampons broke ( detecting a theme here ). The ski back was uphill & arduous, had a whiskey toast for Russ's birthday on return to camp.
Wednesday
Planning day. Lovely weather. Checked guns, skis & sleds; changed route as original one far too icy & cravasse- filled. Everyone ok, Gerwyns breakages fixed, got far too much food.
All went well with flights, transfers etc.
Sunday
Plane to Greenland, landed at 5pm - 36km west of where they should have been as the ground at the original site was too dangerous. Very cold, exposed & windy so made camp straight away, building snow walls to protect themselves.
Monday
Lots of spindrift. Reinforced camp & built a kitchen out of snow. Tested skis, after 10 mins Gerwyn's bindings broke so turned back.
Tuesday
Russ's birthday. Ski to apparantly nearby peak. Arrive one & a half hours later! Climbed very broken ridge to the summit which they named "Birthday Peak". Saw lots of fossilised ferns. Gerwyn's crampons broke ( detecting a theme here ). The ski back was uphill & arduous, had a whiskey toast for Russ's birthday on return to camp.
Wednesday
Planning day. Lovely weather. Checked guns, skis & sleds; changed route as original one far too icy & cravasse- filled. Everyone ok, Gerwyns breakages fixed, got far too much food.
Friday, 11 May 2007
Nearly Off
Today is the last day of preparations before we leave.
My back is better, bags are almost packed and mild panic is settling in.
Tomorrow at 05:30 Gerwyn and I will begin our journey to Heathrow and on to Reykjavik where we will met up with Russ. We then fly to Akureyri whre we will stay the night before flying to Greenland to meet our equipment in Constable Pynt. Once we have sorted our kit we fly North into the unknown...
Tim
My back is better, bags are almost packed and mild panic is settling in.
Tomorrow at 05:30 Gerwyn and I will begin our journey to Heathrow and on to Reykjavik where we will met up with Russ. We then fly to Akureyri whre we will stay the night before flying to Greenland to meet our equipment in Constable Pynt. Once we have sorted our kit we fly North into the unknown...
Tim
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