Day 10: our first Antarctic Peak

Alan here: Still at Port Lockroy.

Almost too much happened today... don't know where to start... probably about 3 am when we were all woken up with the boat shaking wildly. I could hear pots and plates crashing onto the galley floor. About five minutes later when I looked out my port hole I could see the cause of all the waves. It was a freshly calved iceberg just fallen from the glacier in the bay we are anchored. It was about twice the size of the boat.

Up at 7am in preparation for our climb of Mount Jansen. Its an odd way to start a climbing trip; getting into a rubber inflatable boat and heading across ice strewn sea to make land in a penguin colony. Chris and I were going to climb with Guy Cotter, internationally renowned mountain guide and super relaxed Kiwi. The rest of the folks were off to another island to do a ski tour, so it was really good to be just ourselves. Our climb commenced with a long snow shoe trip over gently inclining slopes with several crevasses, caused by the glacier tumbling in to the bay. At one point on our traverse we heard what seemed to be a roll of thunder and then watched big waves rolling out across the bay as another large piece of ice
calved off the glacier. The weather had a real Scottish flavour with a bit of everything thrown in. Believe it or not it is warm here, actually too warm. Five degrees this morning but when the sun came out much hotter.
Probably even warmer than in Scotland right now! So as we snow shoed up the steeper slope and stripped off a layer, the wind came in and the cold started to gnaw. It comes straight of the sea which is around 2 degrees, so really cold. One third of the way up we left the snow shoes behind. The slope steepened but the quality of the snow was really poor. It was like walking up knee deep mini sugar lumps. Guy took a snow stake belay and headed up around the corner.

When Chris and I arrived at the belay we could not believe that he was standing in a crevasse that ran right across the face with a cornice just hanging precariously. It was unclear what Guy was planning so I don't mind saying I felt really nervous as I could only see the big drop on one side and nothing over the other. It was just at this point that the wind and hail descended. Always seems to be that way, just when you are considering your sanity. Even Guy said we might not get much further. But in true fluky Antarctic style, by the time Guy had ran out the length of the rope the clouds started to part causing fantastic visual patterns on the sea.

Alan is off to bed fighting off the start of a cold so Chris here to continue today's log. We climbed up a steep slope with deep snow with to Guy who had belayed with a snow stake. After that we moved across easier ground to the base of the final pitch to the summit. We moved up some steeper ice with big drops on both sides. I had to admit to feeling nervous about this and was glad when Guy belayed us up to the start of a rocky scramble (bare and loose rock being careful not to kick it down on Alan) which we climbed in crampons. Just a few more yards along the ridge and we
were at the summit. The wind had dropped and we enjoyed the views and our well earned sandwiches.

Down climbing from the summit was a little nerve racking but once on the snowy slopes we moved quickly but carefully to avoid setting off avalanches. Arriving at the belay by the crevasse and cornice this felt much more comfortable than on the way up. After that we descended to where we had left the snow shoes. As we were removing crampons and fitting snow shoes another couple of climbers from the UK arrived and had a brief chat about the conditions and continued their climb. What would seem quite normal in the Cairngorms was a completely surreal experience in the wilds of Antarctica.

Another hour of snowshoeing in warm sunshine across the glacier, brought us back to the beach and a zodiac which brought us back to the yacht through brash ice with a chance to view where we had climbed for today. The whole experience was everything we could have expected from mountaineering in Antarctica - fantastic views, a challenging route and some weather to cope
with.

We were welcomed back on the yacht with hot tea, cake and the prospect of a delicious lasagne for tea. The crew really look after us well and we appreciate it. After dinner we had a discussion as a group about our day. This was a super way to catch up with the experiences of the snow shoe and ski touring groups who had ascended Mount Lopez on Dormer Island. Everyone
is sitting round with big smiles on their faces having had a great day.

Tomorrow the weather forecast is not so good. We may visit the Post Office in Port Lockroy or get a chance to practice basic skills on some easy slopes. As ever in this area nothing is guaranteed so we may wake up to a glorious Antarctic day - here's hoping.

Chris and Alan