Climbing at Stork Middle

Saturday and Liz, Steve and myself ice climbed up Stork Middle. We were blessed with an amazing clear day so made the most of it.

Our footsteps as we headed from the summit back down towards Stork bowl

The amazing view from the top of Stork Middle over to Stork North which i climbed last Sunday.

If you follow the ridge to the very end you'll be at the top of Stork North.

One of the crevasses which we stepped over. I fell down my first crevasse on Saturday. Only down to my knee but it made my heart beat a little faster for a second.

Our picnic at the top.

Steve and myself at the summit

Extreme!

Sunday and Cyril's first day off

Sunday and Myself, Stephen and Cyril our winter chef headed up to Vals for the day.
It was Cyril's first full day off since arriving on base so he was keen to get of base even just for a few hours. We had a really good day skiing and i managed to practise my jumping skills as some of the Morrison's guys had built some jumps before they left.

Climbing 'North Stork'

Last Saturday Myself, Rob and Mark went climbing on North Stork.
Myself wrapped up warm, ready for the day ahead.

Mark, our GA for the day looking at his map! He did this quite a lot! Mark is a very good GA and he's also very thorough.

Rob, Mark and myself at the summit of North Stork. One of many local and very good peaks to climb. We set of at 8am and managed to reach the summit at 2.30pm. We just happened to choose the coldest day for a long while. Climbing in the shade and at a temperature of -10 it was a bit chilly to say the least.

But it was well worth it. This is the view at the summit. In the background is McCallums pass which is the main route to the rest of the Island. And the route i will be taking on a Skidoo next week when i will go out on my winter trip.

Rob and Mark having a well deserved cup of tea and a bite of a frozen Mars bar after the assent.

After a warm up and photo opportunity we headed across Stork ridge towards Stork bowl. We were linked together at all times just in case one of us were to slip or fall down a crevasse.

'Just the 22 of us'

Well the JCR left about two weeks ago now so its just 22 of us now until the Dash 7 comes back in October. We all waved off the crew and the Morrison's staff who have been with us all summer building the new Bransfield House. Unfortunately they could not complete so will be back later in the year to finish the final touches.
Kenny with a flair. I've not seen him this happy for such a long time! Think he was into Pyrotechnics in his younger days!

Skidoo's

Waving goodbye to the Ernest Shackleton

How many Skidoo's can we get in the garage!

An Alpine 3 two stroke engine. Umm interesting!

Before a De-coke above and after below.

With the introduction of 9 newish Skidoos from Halley the last two weeks have been consumed by servicing and repairing these skidoos ready for next years field season where they will spend around four months out in the field with our trusty field general assistants. Lucky really as the weather has turned quite bad recently and we welcome indoor work when it gets too bad. However working outside in -10 with a 40 Knot wind seems very pleasant after two weeks working on these things!!