FinalAnnReport 2004 _artwork - Hugha.co.uk
FinalAnnReport 2004 _artwork - Hugha.co.uk
FinalAnnReport 2004 _artwork - Hugha.co.uk
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Tunabreen glacier<br />
The mountaineering activities were led by Philip West. Here is a brief extract<br />
from Philip’s report on his work with Geomorphology Fire.<br />
"Our intention had been to make an adventurous journey and to take<br />
advantage of whatever the area had to offer for exploration. Although the<br />
mountain Panoramaberget was only 18 km from BC, the journey was<br />
challenging in terms of both terrain and weather/visibility. Fourteen<br />
individuals with varying levels of experience of living outdoors quickly gelled<br />
into a team, and I was pleased to see the high morale and the enthusiasm that<br />
<strong>co</strong>ntinued throughout the period, in spite of sometimes adverse <strong>co</strong>nditions and<br />
resulting frustration. Naturally, mistakes were made and lessons learned but we<br />
were a happy fire, and the drama of the stunning views that we saw, albeit<br />
briefly, was the icing on the cake. Thanks, guys!’"<br />
I was enthusiastic for at least one fire to undertake the walk out from<br />
Base-camp to Longyearbyen, and so I was pleased that Perception Fire were<br />
determined to give it a go. The major obstacle was the river which runs through<br />
Sassendalen. There were two ways to circumnavigate this; one was to trek well<br />
inland, and the other was to portage using the Zodiacs. We opted for the<br />
latter, but even so the group had some tricky moments as they crossed one of<br />
the other rivers on the route.<br />
One of our major <strong>co</strong>ncerns at Base-camp was the ice-floes as they moved<br />
across the bay. The glacier opposite our camp was particularly active and with<br />
the wind in a certain direction the entire length of the shore at Base-camp<br />
would be<strong>co</strong>me clogged with huge ice-floes. Several times we had a real<br />
challenge in getting the Zodiacs into open water. Consequently I decided to<br />
move our Base-camp several kilometres west to escape the ice and ensure the<br />
charter boat, the Lang Oysund, would be able to retrieve us all at the end of<br />
the expedition.<br />
SAFETY<br />
The risk-assessment study we did before the expedition proved to be relevant<br />
and <strong>co</strong>mplete. Expeditions necessarily involve some risks and although we<br />
Loading equipment onto the Lang Oysund Establishing Base Camp<br />
SVALBARD | <strong>2004</strong><br />
‘manage’ them we do not preclude them. An expedition without risk is one<br />
without any adventurous element. We were fortunate in that we had an<br />
adventure-packed expedition, but without incident.<br />
Keith Maslen, our Deputy Chief Leader, had also agreed to be our Safety Officer<br />
and several times his wise <strong>co</strong>unsel prevailed. This almost certainly <strong>co</strong>ntributed<br />
to our doctor remaining largely unemployed (apart, that is, from his other<br />
self-appointed job of repairing stoves). One useful exercise that he and I<br />
undertook early in the expedition when all the fires had deserted us, involved<br />
working our way through various ‘what-if’ scenarios in order to reinforce our<br />
<strong>co</strong>ntingency plans.<br />
A major <strong>co</strong>ncern was the possibility of a close en<strong>co</strong>unter with the local Polar<br />
Bears. The closest we came to one, however, was finding a large and fairly fresh<br />
footprint. At night we surrounded Base-camp with trip wires and miniexplosives,<br />
and carried rifles and flares, and on occasions we even mounted a<br />
night-time bear-watch.<br />
By the end of the expedition we <strong>co</strong>ncluded that the trip wire was of limited use.<br />
On waking we found on more than one occasion that the explosives had gone<br />
off, but we had failed to hear them for the noise of the wind flapping our tents.<br />
We <strong>co</strong>uld have been devoured as we slept!<br />
Finally on the matter of preventing bear-attacks I should mention our ‘bear<br />
dogs’. Before leaving Longyearbyen we were offered a <strong>co</strong>uple of dogs in return<br />
for feeding them. Meteorological Fire opted to take one along with them and<br />
though it was great having it around as a pet, I have yet to be persuaded<br />
that it was an effective deterrent against bears. Then again it was never<br />
really tested.<br />
FIELD WORK PROJECTS<br />
At the time of writing the fieldwork results are still being worked up. I am able<br />
to report, however, that the field work was <strong>co</strong>mpleted successfully and ranged<br />
from geomorphology projects under Dave Youren, to re<strong>co</strong>rding data on the<br />
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