On the 9^th June, the boats arrived, initiating a big rush to don waders and stand by.  Amazingly we managed to load both of them up in around 20 minutes and actually seemed to spend more time trying to yank off Clem’s waders.  We waved Ade and Jackie off in their fetching neon orange survival suits and then we were alone, but ready for the great walk out.  During our walk to Deltaneset, Ed sank thigh deep in quick mud and then spent the rest of the day trying various ways to clean and dry himself, at one point a curious harbour seal came within a whiskers breadth away from him.  After a brief altercation about whether to take advantage of the stunning weather and climb Janusfjellet that night we ended up having a peaceful evening playing werewolf by the fire.

Louis, Will, Fraser and Clem raising the flag.

The next morning began with ‘Happy Birthday’ sung to Clem through the tent walls.  Then we knocked off Janusfjellet and Konusen, returned back to camp, packed up and set off for Carolinedalen.  Deciding on a campsite proved difficult, as none seemed habitable to any degree but eventually we settled on a lovely bog overlooking the col of doom.  To cheer ourselves up we made the bear flares hilariously but unnecessarily huge, so we had a back garden.  Alysa and the leaders created a ration pack ‘cake’ for Clem, consisting of scrounged choc chip flapjack and mars bar base, then a crème choc chip pudding, hot chocolate and raisin topping with writing icing that Hazel had been carting around all expedition, and MOD issue sweets to decorate.  The general concensus was that it was delicious.

The next day we surprised ourselves by actually being ready to leave early, and set off to tackle the col of doom.  It was near vertical, with just a tiny gap in the cornice, but Alison somehow discovered a route for us to follow.  We set up camp on the col with stunning sea views from both tent porches and Rosey met an exceedingly tame ptarmigan on her trip to the loo, watching her. All of us took on Louisfjellet next and the weather was so astounding we spent lots of time at the peak taking photographs, James using his awesome camera to get a 360degree panaorama with the entire Fire in, jumping.  Some Fire members continued on to Carolinefjellet, revelling in the beauty of the the mountainous landscape in the sunshine.  We returned via the col of doom again and had a right old giggle at Calum’s sock drying on a guy line at right angles as it was so filth encrusted. The evening was spent sunbathing to James’ ipod and Sophie kindly and most generously shared out her emergency Dairy Milk.  As most of us turned in for the night, Clem, bivi master convinced Sophie to bivi out for the first time while she still had the chance.

Saturday began with a slightly sleep-deprived Sophie but even so we were really early again despite Alysa’s harrowing ordeal of falling into a shoulder deep pit at the top of the col of doom on her way to the loo.  We began our final full expedition day by ascending Forknastings with all our gear on our backs and then strolled down the ridge to meet Polarrev III at the coast, sharing stories and walking together to Hiorrthamn to set up camp on the shore.

NB. We would like to thank Ade and Jackie for the popcorn they made and shared with us at our last night in Base Camp

After an action packed week of intense river studies and glaciology, team Isbjørn set off for a week of mountain skills.  What a week it would turn out to be….

Led by Matt ‘the Bossman’ Frear and Kath ‘Kathattack’ Rosedale, the Isbjørn dream team YEs consisted of James ‘Jim’ll fix it’ Hutchings, Ant ‘Anton’ Sahota, Ankur ‘Anchorman’ Gupta, Flora ‘Flørø’ Olcott, Fraser ‘Mad Dog’ Simpson and honorary guest member Matt ‘Farmer tan’ Hay. The objective was to head south to climb Mount Doom, known as Helvetiafjellet before heading east of Basecamp 2 to an area rife with criss-crossing summits and glaciers. On their trek south and down De Geerdalen the team witnessed the first river melt, only a couple of feet wide and advancing towards the sea at a steady pace.  That said, this trickle would soon develop into a flood, which would have serious repercussions on their return journey.

Camping at Kreklingpasset in sleet and rain the team woke up to decent conditions and decided to attempt Mt Doom.  As this peak had already been attempted twice from different ridges by Fire Team Rein, Isbjørn tried skiing up the 850m glacier that lay 200m below the summit.  Unfortunately, once off the glacier and on the final leg of the summit ridge climb visibility dipped to zero, a storm set in and the avalanche risk grew significantly.  All these factors sadly forced the team down the mountain, though they practised abseiling off snow bollards and downhill glacier skiing on the return journey.

With clouds and wind greeting them in the morning, Isbjørn decided to give Mt Doom a miss and crack on to Flowerbreen.  This was easier said than done, as it entailed a 6km climb up to a col that was only just ‘pulkable’.  That said the views were stunning as Flowerskaret col stands at the confluence of three different glaciers and offers a beautiful vista down to the sea ice and mountain ranges across the fjord.

The team taking a quick break before the Flowerskaret col ascent. Photo: F. Simpson

The next day consisted of summit bagging interesting tops like Lusitaniafjellet, Ile de Francecollen and Gattytoppen with technical mountain skills being used on the way up. The views of Sassenfjord and Telebreen were awe inspiring. The squad also had a tremendous view of Templet, a mountain of rock and ice in the shape of a cathedral that is famous in climbing circles for its impenetrability.

Sadly the god of thunder was not impressed as the barometer continued to plummet and the 750m camp was buffeted throughout the night and following day by 60km gusts.  This turn of events putting climbing out of the question, the boys began constructing an 8 man multiple chambered snow hole while the girls worked on their knots and later joined the boys.

Stunning view down from Flowerskaret with James and Ankur  Photo F. Simpson

Despite the heavy winds, the team wanted to move on to bigger and better things in their final two days of mountain skills.  The overall plan was to pulk over Botneheia, a high mountain plateau, and dropping the pulks before going down to a beach at Vindodden for a final evening. In 65km gusts they broke camp in record time, with 4 man teams dismantling tents so as not to let them blow away.  Walking off the glacier was also an experience as the winds combined with the incline were strong enough to capsize pulks and topple people.  The traverse up to the plateau was an interesting challenge as it was covered in knee deep ‘pow pow’ and inclined in such a way that required the person behind to hold a sling attached to the pulk in front. Despite making it to the top, there were casualties however as Fraser’s thermos hurtled into a crevasse.

James, Ant and Fraser tucked up in the snowhole  Photo F. Simpson

Atop Botneheia, the team made a several kilometre detour to inspect the ‘nipple’, a ragged promontory of flaking rock that was visible from Science Camp as well as Basecamp 2.  Ditching the pulks at 8:00pm, the team made a 6km evening dash down a gulley to Vindodden for bonfires and Peperami roasting.

Despite being in bed around 2:00AM the team awoke at 8:30am for the final slog back to Basecamp 2.  It’s opening stages involved climbing a steep 500m scree/mud/snow slope requiring ice axes, crampons etc in heavy winds before breakfast at the pulks on Botneheia. This was followed by a steep gully descent requiring belays, teamwork and determination as the snow becomes ever more slushy and wet.

Once back in De Geerdalen, the team soon realised that the small stream they had crossed just 6 days before had developed into an extensive river with many exciting geographical features (see Ant and Flora for more details).

The squad found a formidable stretch near Tobredalen that was only 1-2 feet deep and about 15m across. Taking out boot liners and replacing them with socks and plastic bags, the team ferried the pulks singing inspirational tunes to counterbalance the gradual loss of feeling in their feet as a result of the glacial melt waters.

Once across, the team pulked down the valley and met with Rein, when they said a sad goodbye to Matt ‘Farmer tan’ Hay. The day was not over yet, as they had to pulk to a final col, Grønsteinfjellet, before a steep yet peaceful descent involving several stream crossings down to BC2 and Biology Camp. As the walked into camp at midnight, the team was exhausted though feeling extremely satisfied with their epic ‘strength and honour’ mountaineering/pulking adventure.

Isbjørn on the slopes of Botneheia, steadying the next persons pulk with a sling with Sassenfjorden in the distance  Photo J. Hutchings

Today all the Fires return to Longyearbyen, and Ade (Chief Leader) and I (Jackie Harris – Base Camp Manager) were delighted to be invited to dinner with Isbjorn Fire in Endalen. We arrived early and took a stroll up the valley where we met Isbjorn on their walk back down mountain; we spotted Fraser a mile off as he was carrying the BSES and Norwegian flags high on his rucksack. The Fire were extremely pleased to see us, and I even got kissed on the cheek by several YEs – I think that the high level of excitement was however directly related to the extra food items (raisins, nuts and flapjacks) that we had carried out for them! They had previously thinned out their rations in an attempt to cut down on weight before their ‘Long Walk’, needless to say the new food items disappeared almost instantly. At their camp they made us so very welcome with a dinning table (old crate they had found) complete with chefs and waiters. Hors d’oeufs were brought out (crackers with primula cheese) followed by a wide choice of mains (remnants of ration packs): after much deliberation Ade and I went for the vegetable casserole, followed by a unique pudding made and probably invented by Fraser – choc chip flapjacks with creme choc chip on top. The following day the Fire continued on their long walk, but interestingly did not ask us to take any of their kit off their hands, as they were determined to carry skis and pulks all the way back to Longyearbyen. This ‘expedition spirit’ was fantastic to see and says a lot for the group.

The YEs had asked during dinner what was our highlight of the expedition, at the time I had replied that it was the overwhelming enthusiam of the YEs to get involved in all aspects of the expedition: from pulking to mounainineering through glaciology and biology etc. Now I think I will have to change my decision to an evening sat in a Svalbard valley being fed and entertained by a Fire who had chosen to invite us to share their last night.

Following on from the expedition meeting, Calum, Clem, Alysa and James, decided to stay at Biology Camp and continue meteorological observations twice a day and also tidal surveys. Their predictions were extremely useful, and were used by the other groups in order to safely traverse the cliffs at low tide, as well as determining precisely high tide on the 9th June in order to find the opportune moment in which to load the boats with excess gear before they returned to Longyearbyen.

Additionally, members of Biology Camp also manned the goose hide, collecting valuable data for the science report. This involved counting pink-foot and barnacle geese on gruelling 7-11pm and 7-11am shifts, there was however the occasional sighting of the elusive polarrev (arctic fox). By far Biology Camp’s hardest task has been observing the Automatic Weather Station at 9am and 9pm every day. Recordings included: Max, Min and current temperatures, windspeed and direction, cloud cover and type, humidity and pressure and finally visibility. All if these help to predict weather trends in the Arctic Wasteland. During low tide, we have also conducted Shoreline Bird Survey.

On the 3rd June, having just waved goodbye to the other groups, Bio Camp was struck by a violent blizzard…

“I (Calum) used all my storm gear for the first time, but soon we had retreated to the fibreglass and wooden shack of the science hut to play monopoly. The game was in variety of Scandinavian languages which made ‘Chance’ and ‘Community Chest’ rather tricky to decipher thus adding a whole new dimension to the game.

 

 

Alysa, Clem and Calum on the summit of Knerton  (Photo J. Hutching)

The YEs have had a while to think over how they would like to spend their last full week. The choices were; Glaciology, Biology, and/or their own project in either one of these areas, or mountain skills. To do their own project they had to decide and submit a proposal to the Chief Leader on 31/5/2010 by 1800hrs. Once all the proposals were submitted they were then discussed amongst the leader team, and leaders volunteered for the different activities.

The resulting fires are as follows;

Isbjørn: ‘The Long Walk’
Pete, Kath; Fraser, Harry, Ankur, Ant, Flora, Matt, Jamie,
Their proposal to walk back to Longyearbyen via Sassendalen and Base Camp 1, arriving in Longyearbyen at the boat dock for 1100hrs on the 13th June.

Polarrev
Zoe, Steve, Liv, Will, Louis, Ellie, Lucy, Steph
Their proposal to have a mixture of mountaineering and walking back to Hiorthhamn to meet the boats on 13th June.

Rein
Alison, Hazel, James, Clement, Alysa, Calum
Their proposal a mixture of biology, botany, meteorology and mountains. After helping to load the boats up with all the excess kit, they then would walk round to meet the boats at Hiorthhamn on 13th June

Hvalross
Rosey, Sophie, Edd
Their proposal was to carry out glacial studies at the head of Wimandalen. They would also then help to load up the boats, before walking round to meet the boats at Hiorthhamn on 13th June.

Rype
Ade, Jackie

P.s. On the radio sitrep (daily radio communication) of 30/5/10 all of Rein wished Matt Hay’s sister Flora a very happy 16th birthday!

Time for a brew…                                                        Ankur Gupta and Fraser Simpson

“Polarrev finished their science week in style with a birthday bash for Zoe. The tentipi was festooned with tin foil decorations, however birthday antics were ruined by putting umlaut on a capital ‘E’ much to Will’s displeasure! Despite this Zoe describes it as the best birthday she has had at 78 degrees north. As a special treat, we used the last of the our ingredients to conjure up a delicious bannock bread breakfast which steeled us for our day on the Blackbreen. The celebrations continued long into the night a particular highlight being the look of delight on Rosey’s face when she produced our ‘After 8 expedition’ mints, consisting of toothpaste spresd thinly on slices of Mars bar.

The next day was far more relaxed (recovering from our jelly hangovers!) so Liv and Steph took the opportunity to wash their hair for the first time in 5 weeks and Edd and Louis took the opportunity to rid their clothes of Droopl Vine* pioneering a song of the same name to the tune of Edelweiss with the uneasy feeling they may have wrecked one of Austria’s best loved songs.

* NB – Droopl vine is the filthy liquid exuded by soggy arctic clothes

We returned to find Rein crashing our camp, however we got over this and had an enjoyable evening to cap off our time at Tobredalen. We left feeling we had got the best of both worlds at both sciences camp having seen both slush flows and beluga whales. We started off our mountain skills week in the Polarrev style pulking where no Fire has pulked before up the Fangenbreen glacier. We endured two arduous climbs to reach the col at the top between the Malarbreen and Fangenbreen where we made camp at 800m, the highest yet achieved.”

As you might have gathered, YEs alternate fires and so the original list is no longer accurate. As soon as we receive the new lists, they will be updated.

We have also had a few requests for more YE photographs and whilst we are aware of desires to see action from the field, in practice it is very difficult to implement due to the climate, environment and technology limitations. BSES has the ability to contact the expedition at all times if needed, but we receive one standard communication from the field per week, therefore some of the information might be a little behind the time. We hope you are enjoying reading about their progress and thank you for your understanding. In the meantime, we will do out best to keep all the information as current and exciting as possible.

I hope this helps to answer some of your questions,

Hugh

‘A holiday on the beach’ was how one of the group members described the week spent at Biology Camp by the sea. Rein Fire breathed a sigh of relief and began planning lie-ins, sock washing and a re-trim of Steve’s beard. These hopes were soon dashed when we found out our ‘holiday’ was to consist of a 5 day trip along the coast carrying excruciatingly heavy backpacks to do a bird count at a fulmar colony at Nøisdalen. The biology leader Alison had us up bright and early for the challenging but very beautiful walk along the boggy, steep coast in high winds. The effort was made more than worth while by Alison’s flora, fauna and meteorology knowledge and fantastic sightings of seals swimming, guillemots courting on the sea ice and reindeer coming up to say hello. We also got the chance to bivvy out on the beach next to our dying campfire and do our first real science of the trip with the fulmar count and a few shifts of monitoring geese upon our return to Base Camp.

Svalbard Ptarmigan – Lagopus mutus hyperboreus