17th February - "Earn the turns"

Chris here. (Prospect Point, within spitting distance of the Antarctic
Circle)

We have just returned from an excellent day of ski touring which included first ascents of peaks close to Prospect Point. After breakfast we loaded up the dinghy and set off for our first landing on the Antarctic mainland.
Up to now all our climbing and skiing has been on the islands off the coast of the peninsula. We were welcomed ashore by an Adelie penguin which came over from its group of friends about a hundred yards away and investigated our pile of skis and rucksacks. Fortunately it decided not to leave the
distinctive and very smelly mark of penguin poo. A crabeater seal swam up to the shore, and a Blue Eyed Shag landed nearby to supervise the bright coloured array of fleece and Gore-Tex readying itself for a day in the mountains.

Alan went with Guy Cotter and, Andrew and Rewa Nolan whilst I went with Luis Benitez, Mark Bryan and Dan Jones. After skiing up through a very crevassed area with huge drops on either side, we split up to explore different sides of a 2 mile wide glaciated valley. Our team skied up the valley and then up a couloir to a peak which we believe was another first ascent this time on
skis. Skiing up the couloir Luis was leading, with his inbuilt guide standard crevasse radar on full power. At one point he tapped a snow bridge to test whether it was safe to cross and a 2 foot by 4 foot block of snow fell into the blue depths with a thump. Last night there had been fresh snow
and a little bit of wind which had covered up these potentially lethal obstacles. Luis' experience served us well as he led us across safe snow bridges to the summit. We decided to name the peak Archies Peak after Mark Bryan's new nephew who was born last night. Our stay at the summit was brief due to a howling wind and snow. Very reminiscent of an average day
at Glenshee!!

Descending from the summit we had to ski with all four of us roped together - to say the least this was a challenge and being completely honest it was one of the worst skiing experiences in a long time. Once below the crevasse danger we unroped and skied down to the valley through a mix of fresh powder and beautiful spring snow. Moving from a bad skiing experience to one of
the most fun descents was bizarre. A couple of us were whooping and yelling as we made tracks through virgin snow on the first descent of this slope in Antarctica. After skiing up almost 3000 feet we certainly felt that we had earned the turns.

Skiing back down gentle slopes towards the landing site we roped up again.
This time as the slope was not so steep we started getting the hang of skiing together until Dan at the end of the rope managed to get tangled up and fell over with the rope wrapped around him several times. This brought the three of us below him to a grinding halt with the rope tight. The only problem being that Mark was stopped with the tips of his skis on one side of a crevasse and the tails on the other side - not very comfortable for a couple of moments until we managed to move back up the hill. The rest of the descent to the coast was damp as the rain came in. The crevasses looked even more menacing than during the climb this morning. Whether this was due to the weather, fatigue or a different aspect is yet to be decided. It was great to see the yacht crew waiting for us with the dinghy for a quick transfer back to the yacht. The penguin which had been so sociable this morning returned with several friends to supervise us boarding the dinghy.
These little creatures are so inquisitive and unafraid that they capture everyone's heart.

The weather seems to have changed so we will have to wait until tomorrow to see what activities are possible.

Alan here: well it was a day of contrasts and madness. How many ski trips end by taking your skis off at the shore and climbing in to a RIB, which then zooms full pelt through ice bergs back to an 82 foot yacht? How many ski trips involve two first ascents in Antarctica. How many trips start in glorious sun and end in a blizzard. Ok the last one is a bit more common but the rest just madness of the best kind. I am completely worn out from ski touring for 8 hours and covering at least 15km. Before the weather closed in the skiing the was fantastic, over huge crevasse and down sweet crisp snow.
Things started to turn for me about 2 km after out second summit when the cloud dropped and the snow started. We put our skins on our skis, which make it much easier to head up hill. Guy, our super guide, took us higher and then tried to find a way across a really long crevasse. After feeling several snow bridges he decided on one that had a bit of a jump and a drop.
He zoomed over it and I was next on the rope. I jumped but landed in a pile of deep soft snow. I completely head planted with my head buried and my bum up in the air. After recovering, it was Andrew's turn and he did likewise but also managed to get twisted in the rope. Rewa jumped cleanly. From then on, I got grumpier and grumpier. We were skiing downhill, roped up with our skins on. This was for legitimate reasons. We were on a glacier that no one had ever stood on, we could only see 40 yards because of the snow and there could be yawning crevasses anywhere. However, skiing with 4 people all roped up, heading downhill is a complete nightmare. You cant help but trip up over the rope. The guys in front speed up and slow down tugging the rope,
disturbing your balance, pulling you over. Anyway, enough said on that I was getting really grumpy and had decided it was the worst skiing experience I had ever had. The contrast with that, fortunately, when we eventually dropped out of the cloud but still in the snow blowing, was that we finally unroped, took our skins off and could ski properly. The freedom was fantastic as we picked our way down the end of the glacier and between the gaping crevasses. Once back to the shore the grumpiness was just a memory on what was the most incredible day skiing every. I could hardly imagine skiing up two peaks that no one had climbed before and descending a glacier that no one had stood on. Totally awesome...