30 January 2006

A raising the awareness day

Today was spent making sure as many folk as possible knew of our trip so that they could subscribe to the blog, with the main aim of raising as much as possible for our charity. The photo here has Alan on the left and Chris on the right, with some of our expedition gear.

We probably sent emails to about 1000 folk between us; to friends, family and work colleagues. So, having done all this we really need to deliver on a riviting and moving blog. Ok that might be too much to expect... so I will at least try to make it entertaining... - Alan Posted by Picasa

29 January 2006

Training day on Ben Nevis (Friday)

Alan here- On Friday I Climbed a route called Number 3 Gully Butress on Ben Nevis with Davie, my old climbing partner. If you look closely at the photo in the very bottom, just right of center is a climber and directly above him is another. That is the start of the route. It was nice and icy low down but with winter not really getting going in Scotland, it became a rock climb at the top. Which was nice... well not really in crampons and ice axe!!

Last night was a fund raising/send off dinner at Chris and Fiona's. An excellent night with much wine consumed. So with a combination of the booze and a 9 hour day on Ben Nevis, I am knackered. Must be getting old or something... Posted by Picasa

27 January 2006

Less than a week to go

Less than a week to go before our departure for Ushuaia and now that I’ve finished work I can start my contribution to our blog. Since New Year, work has been incredibly busy and Alan being a man of leisure for the past few weeks has been doing most of the IT stuff. I can also start worrying about all those last minute things like having enough socks and how will all the kit fit in the bags.

Our adventure begins on the 2nd February when we fly via London, Madrid and Buenos Aires to Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego. After a day of checking kit and briefings from the expedition leader, we sail across the Southern Ocean in the Evohe (an 82’ ketch) bound for Antarctica. The crossing should take 3 or 4 days and our first land fall is planned to be Deception Island. The Evohe will be our main base camp as we sail up and down the Antarctic Peninsula climbing “whatever looks on” to quote Guy Cotter who is leading the expedition. The plan is to achieve some first ascents on the peninsula. We’ll be climbing, ski touring and carrying out two or three day mini expeditions. Just over 3 weeks will be spent on the peninsula and then we’ll sail back to Ushuaia passing round Cape Horn. We both have a good stock of seasickness tablets as there aren’t many pharmacist shops on our route.

Many of you reading this will know both Alan and myself but there will be plenty who will know only one of us. Therefore I thought you might be interested in a few facts about each of us.

I am 43 years old, married to Fiona with three children Tom (11), Rosie (8) and Cate (5). We have lived in a small village just to the north of Glasgow for the past 6 years. I am a pilot with Thomas Cook Airlines, based at Glasgow.

Alan is 39 years old and married to Amanda with two boys, Iain (8) and Cameron (6). They live in the same village as Fiona and I and have done for about 8 years. Alan works for IBM selling large computer systems, although since 1st January he has been on sabbatical leave which lasts until January next year.

We hope to have one more chance to get into the mountains before departing and will keep you updated on that.

Finally, a big thanks to those of you who have responded already with donations and pledges for Clic Sargent.
Chris



26 January 2006

Planning and preparation - so much fun....

You just could not believe how much is involved in going on a wee holiday. OK, so Antarctica is not your usual Thomas Cook destination but what a mammoth effort, especially considering that we are going with an expedition company that is doing all the hard work. So far this week I have spent almost 2 whole days just trying to automate the sending of my blog to a friend's PC so that it can then be forwarded to an automatically updated subscription list of the people who want to get daily emails about this trip. Not sure what that says about my computing skills but is not the sort of preparation I had in mind. I was really expecting to spend January skiing and climbing, getting fit and raising my rope work skills etc.

Also on the list has been to get sponsorship for our means of communication with you back home, an Iridium satellite phone, and to arrange the rental of that. Then I will need to test that is works with email, blog software etc.... Thanks to Cairn Properties for their sponsporship there.

So if I was to include a photo of the last three days, it would be me stuck in front of a laptop. Any video would capture me swearing at Microsoft Outlook which keeps offering the hope of features but fails to deliver on them.... sorry bit of a rant going there.

Anyway off to break the mundaneness of computing by painting the garage floor.... such is the life of an adventurer... ; -) - Alan

24 January 2006

Climbing Practice in the Cairngorms

At last a combination of free time and some wintery conditions, without hurricane force winds, allowed Chris and I to do some overdue winter climbing. We headed up to Coire an t Snechda but as we got closer I started to feel rather anxious that the conditions were very lean. This meant the climbing would be much harder than I had intended at this point. After consulting with Chris we opted for a much easier line. This took us over initially broken ground with a combination of frozen snow, ice and turf. With the confidence now boosted, I headed up a steeper line that cut across some overhanging blocks, always seeking the easiest line. Protection was rather thin but I could feel my rusty climbing skills start to return along with my dented confidence. I was really starting to enjoy it now. The picture is from my belay just above the steepest part and shows Chris in action, ice axe placed in a secret Scottish Winter climbing material... frozen turf. It really works a treat. Above this belay Chris set off up easier but more exposed snow to eventually find belay just short of the top. I quickly followed with big handshake at the top and smiles all round. We look forward to much more of that now the old cobwebs have been blown away. Alan Posted by Picasa

18 January 2006

Inspiration 2

This photo is taken high on Mt Jansen by last years Antarctic expedition (thanks to Mike Roberts/Adventure Consultants for the photo).

So back to people's reactions. The other one is one of admiration. Even if the person has no desire to visit Antarctica they can see the trip as one of great adventure, a once in a life time chance to do something really different.

There certainly has been a few folk sating "you lucky bu**er" normally followed by "how did you get that passed your missus?"

I am sure I will say it again, Chris and I are indebted to our wonderful wives for agreeing to let us sneak off for 6 weeks and have our escape... adventure... mid-life crisis or what ever it is. Posted by Picasa

Inspiration 1

Chris and I have enjoyed many different responses when we first talked about our trip to Antarctica but they really fall into two camps, both have similar amount of astonishment. My favourite one is along the lines of...

"Wow, Antarctica eh, won't that be cold...?"

followed by

"Are you having to go with your job or something... what's forcing you to do it?"

Another fairly usual response is "better watch out for the Polar Bears... they can be really nasty".

I guess we must blame children's cartoons for popularising the belief that Penguins and Polar Bears live together in icy places. Well, in case you we wondering... they don't. Polar bears are only in the North i.e. Arctic and Penguins only in the south i.e. Antarctic (although you also get them in South America, South Africa and New Zealand...) and of course more famously Edinburgh zoo. Posted by Picasa

Ski Mountaineering Training in November

Even as I look at this photo I just can't believe how good the conditions were for skiing at the end of November in Scotland. Unfortunately, they have not returned and there has been no real skiing for several weeks.

On this day I was at Cairngorm, skiied up to the top of Cairngorm and then skied up and down the East Lady run. I did a total of 1400m of ascent. At one point I was astounded to be skiing uphill at a steep point on the White Lady run, which I could remember from my learner days being quite terrified with the thought of having to ski down. And here I was skiing up it!!

I really have to say that having skied downhill for 25+ years skiing up hill is really, really bizarre. Posted by Picasa

17 January 2006

When does the story really start?

Its two and a half weeks until we say goodbye to our families and start our adventure. Will that be the start of the story? Or is it now when I create the first blog and let the tale unfold.

Maybe it started 6 years ago when I started to sail and then race high performance sailboats; maybe it was 15 years ago when I started winter climbing; maybe it was when I first skied aged 13, nearly 27 years ago.

Could it be as I enter my 40th year it really is some kind of mid life crisis type thing? I never was into sports cars or I might just have bought one of them (wouldn't involved getting cold, wet and seasick but too late to change my mind now!)

Truth is I don't really know. But as the intro said, the dawning of this trip really took place in a cafe above an outdoor shop in rural Scotland. Before then it was just some kind of fantasy idea bourne of surfing the web too long and dreaming of adventure...

This blog will be created by Alan and Chris as we travel. I hope you enjoy it. I hope the adventure has good tales to tell and most of all I hope you find yourself in a position to donate to our chosen charity CLIC Sargent.

Alan