| 18.11.08 - SOUTH GEORGIA
RETURN - Stephen has just returned
from South Georgia

Approach to Breakwind Ridge South Georgia
Each visit to South Georgia seems better than the
one before. This time I was lucky enough to get there on
Skip Novak’s 74 ft yacht Pelagic Australis, setting off
from the Falklands on October 19 in almost Mediterranean
conditions.

Sunset sail downwind Mediterranean conditions
Later the Southern Ocean lived more up to
its reputation, with Gale Force 9 winds on the final,
fifth night of the passage.
With the weather temporarily unsettled, we loitered
in Elsehul harbour for a couple of days, some of the
team recovering from sea sickness whilst going for short
walks amongst the seals, penguins and albatrosses. Then,
with a brilliant forecast, we sailed round to King
Haakon Bay, going ashore to visit Cave Cove where the
James Caird made its fraught landfall in 1916.

Cape Cove entrance

Cape Cove icebergs

Unloading at King Haakon Bay
Then on
to the head of the bay, enjoying a sunny lunch of
asparagus, pasta and wine, before offloading skis, pulks
(sledges), food and gear for the Shackleton Crossing.
We left the next morning, October 27, thrilled to be
able to ski almost from the beach. After a misty start,
the clouds lifted as we approached the famous prongs of
the Trident Ridge, where we made our first camp.

Prongs of Trident Ridge
The
only drama on Day 2 was accidentally lowering one of the pulks into a crevasse during the long, hot descent to
the Crean Glacier. This was the scene of Shackleton’s
famous impromptu glissade. We took it more gingerly,
delayed by the crevasse incident and only skiing down
the last few hundred feet, then plodding on over the
Crean Glacier in fierce heat to camp just before ‘the
great dome-shaped rock’ leading over the to the Fortuna
Glacier.

Camp 2 sunset

Camp 2 return
Blessed with extraordinary fine weather, we then
spent a couple of days trying unsuccessfully to climb Mt
Nicholls. (Even in this brilliant weather, South Georgia
managed to fling some of its famous katabatic winds at
us, knocking everyone to his feet at some stage).

Approach to Breakwind Ridge
On the fifth day we continued over the ‘tooth gap’
notch of Breakwind Ridge for a glorious ski down to the
iceberg-filled Fortuna Bay. When the snow ran out, we
carried on pulling our pulks through the tussock grass,
ski sticks at the ready for self-defence against frisky
fur seals. The next morning, after leaving all the heavy
gear with Pelagic Australis and wading the icy König
River, we just had to walk, then ski, over the final
pass, with another beautiful descent on spring snow,
before tramping into Stromness, where the boat crew were
waiting with champagne and a bottle of vintage cognac.

Champagne at the finish
The cognac was a present from Charlie Bracher – a
member of the Beyond Endurance team who had to drop out
at the last minute because of work commitments. We
missed him enormously, but enjoyed the brandy. Lt Col
Ingrid Hall was probably also glad of the extra space,
as she had to share a tent with me and 6 ft 7 inches
Keith Young – not dissimilar to sleeping with two bull
elephant seals. My co-guide, Skip Novak, occupied the
other tent, complaining frequently about overcrowding
with his companions Lyster Denny, Simon Kewley and
Stephen Tetlow. We ignored the complaints.

Keith with elephant seals
So – the traverse which the team had been planning
for two years was a huge success. For me, having done it
before in 2000 under very different, almost snowless,
autumn conditions, it was thrilling to repeat the
journey on ski. My only regret was sunburning lips and
tongue so that I couldn’t fully enjoy the fine wine
selection back on board Pelagic Australis.
Traverse complete, we had a few days left to visit
Grytviken, climbing Mount Hodges and Mount Petrel,
seeing the much-expanded museum and enjoying a day of
brilliant sunshine at the astounding St Andrew’s Bay
king penguin colony, before setting sail for the
Falklands.

Pelagic punches into a wave on the return journey
Having sailed eastward to South Georgia against easterly
winds, we now returned west against westerly winds, with
a lot of icebergs thrown in for good measure during the
first two nights of anxious watching. Over the next six
days and nights time blurred, but I think it was on the
third night that we had to keep reefing the mainsail as
the wind rose to Force 10. At 1.30 am last Thursday
morning we finally sailed through the narrows to moor at
Port Stanley, just before a huge westerly storm hit the
area.
For further reports and pictures please have a look at
www.pelagic.co.uk and
www.beyondendurance.co.uk |