Alistair's Account

3 months ago - sitting in a warm living room - browsing the internet, playing at arctic explorers seemed like a good idea.

The howling wind, horizontal rain and hammering hail that greeted us at our starting point wasn't quite the start I'd envisaged! Even the hut guardian didn't seem highly enamoured with our plan and suggested delaying our departure [I wasn't told of this bit! Lee] as he took the contact details for our next of kin!

With wild trepadation thugh we took that first step and the adventure began.

Following a GPS for mile after mile in minimal visibility and dodging rain storms hadn't been part of the masterplan, but it did make those times when we did have views all the more special.

The main thing I have learnt is that the adventure isn't over until you step back onto the bus - never underestimate the last 15km!

Expedition Epilogue

On the bus I had some time to think about what we had achieved...

When Alistair first suggested the trip, I thought that sounds like an adventure! Skiing across the white snow with the sun shining down on us... errrrr... well it didn't quite work out like that!

The weather made our trip a lot more difficult than I have expected, but I guess that's the nature of the beast.

We looked after ourselves well and I am confident that, if needed, we could have gone on longer.

I guess I went on this adventure to find my limits and, at times, I was definitely pushed to mine.

I lose my temper far too easily, which is something I shall have to remedy.

I feel proud of what we have accomplished and I look forward to our next adventure :)

Total Distance = 137.7 km

Total Time = 10 days 19 hours 25 minutes

Expedition Day 11 - Happy Birthday!

Start @ 11:12

Weather - Fine
Wind - None!

I woke up Alistair at 9am this morning with a burst of Happy Birthday! He looked well chuffed with the little (and slightly squashed) birthday cake I had dragged across the icecap :)

We are determined that today is going to be our last day as explorers! This has to be the longest 15km of my life...

Heads down, we set off and, surprisingly, it was a lot easier than I had expected. After rounding the last corner, I saw Alistair... and then the bus!

I have never been so pleased to see a bus.

After a short break, we loaded our stuff onto the bus. That's it - we are now officially tourists :)

Finish @ 12:30

Distance = 4 km

Expedition Day 10

Start @ 12:36

Weather - Fine with the odd patches of rain.
Wind - none!

Alistair woke up at 11ish and was keen to get under way. Given the beautiful spot we had found to camp on, I was a little reluctant, but we had a bus to catch!

I started out pulling my pulk (well it was trashed after yesterday), but the terrain soon got too tricky for that. So after I had repacked and rejigged my stuff, I had to catch up Alistair.

I walked and walked with only his footprints and an occasional arrow for comfort.

I met up with Alistair at a fork in the road. We had no clue which way to go, as the map was not very detailed and only showed one path! We dumped our pulks and did a reccy... Eventually we decided on the left fork.

After a while we realised two things:

1. We were not going to catch the bus today.
2. The left fork was the wrong choice!

We got ourselves back onto the right track and found another beautiful spot to camp on. For the first time in whole trip we were able to cook, eat and sit comfortably outside of the tent without getting wet or too cold! It kinda made missing the bus worthwhile :)

Finish @ 16:54

Distance = 6 km (Not including the slight detour!)

Expedition Day 9

Start @ 17:07

Weather - Rainy!
Wind - Eastily

The plan was to set off when the weather was fine. The plan changed when Alistair came back to the tent and announced that he had had a gritty shitty! There was bleeding :( Too much information! I know, but allow me to explain...

The water coming off of the icecap had so much grit in it and we were unable to filter the water (bad planning on our part), so we just drank it. We didn't think it would have such side effects!

Our number one priority had become finding drinkable water. The going was tough. Crossing the uneven rocky lava fields would have been difficult with a day sack on our backs. It was made virtually impossible given the loads we were carrying :(

There was black sand everywhere, which was a blessing in disguise because everytime we hit a sandy bit I was able to pull my pulk - it is soooo much easier than carrying it. Alistair disagreed and continued to carry his pulk!?

Once we found a clean (and not gritty) source of water we set up camp and called it a night.

Finish @ 22:02

Distance = 5 km

Expedition Day 8 Part 2

Start @ 12:32

Weather - Fine
Wind - East

We woke later that morning thinking the worse was behind us - how wrong we were!!

I lost my temper (again!) with my pulk and ended up kicking one of my walking poles into the river - not my finest moment, but at least I managed to get it back. So soggy footed I set off...

It was tough going - my pack weighs so much and the ground is so uneven.

We had to negotiate our way around a river that erupted from under the ice, up an unstable glacial mud bank and then along under a collapsing mud cliff. Finally we reached the crux of our route!?

The river that we were supposed to follow became a vast flood plain. We picked our route carefully through it, until Alistair had had enough...

He just headed straight for dry land through possibly the deepest channel! All I saw was pulk - no pulk - pulk! Alistair had fallen in and his pulk had held him under the water for a while :(

We met each other bank of the river and checked that there were no other rivers to cross and then put up the tent.

Alistair took a while to warm up and we were both badly in need of food and water. Unfortunately there was water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink!

The water was far too gritty, but desperate times and all that... So we drank as little as possible and drifted off to sleep....

Finish @ 17:07

Distance = 3.7 km

Expedition Day 8 Part 1

Start @ 00:00

Weather - Settled
Wind - South East

The darkness descended we were lucky enough to see the Northern Lights - they're kinda like Willow the Wisp (remember that!?) only more colourful.

We were determined to get off the icecap. We had a few problems - Alistair's pulk fell into a crevasse, then two minutes later, so did mine :(

It was not easy going, but we were finally off the icecap. So we pitched the tent on a sandbank between two glacial rivers and caught forty winks...

Finish @ 01:13

Distance = 3 km

Expedition Day 7 Part 2

Start @ 12:10

Weather - Sunny!
Wind - South Eastily

It was too warm in the tent, so I poked my head out of the tent and was blinded by the light - what a pleasant surprise! So we set off...

The crevasse that had stalled our progress last night was now not a problem. We easily picked a route cetween the crevasses.

Now this is what I signed up for! Clear blue skies, lovely views, the wind behind us and skiable snow. With all these plus point we decided to try and get some distance covered...

30 km to go to the edge of the icecap - volcanoes and craters.

20 km to go - downhill section! This is getting too easy.

15 km to go - starting to tire now.

10 km to go - d'oh! We have reached the end of the snow. It has become very difficult to move over the clumpy icy gritty surface.

Every step seemed to hurt and we had to concentrate so hard to avoid falling into the cracks that were regularly appearing.

After another hour or so the binding on my left ski snapped and with it my temper (as it happens the binding snapped back into place - my temper was not so easy to fix!)

I took my skis off and strapped them to the side of my pulk and stormed off. I caught Alistair up in no time. The ground was getting trickier to deal with and we were running out of daylight.

I did not want to do this in the dark!

Finish @ 00:00

Distance = 37 km

Expedition Day 7 Part 1

Start @ 00:00

Weather - Foggy
Wind - South Eastily

As we plodded on, the visibility got worse until we could see barely 2m ahead of us. We put our headtorches on, but even they couldn't help us with the next obstacle...

A huge crevasse was blocking our path! It was big enough to fit my car in and it would not have even touched the sides! Our choice was simple - left or right. We chose right.

After 5 mins another crevasse came in and blocked our route :( So we decided to set up camp, rather than mess around near big holes in the ground (and given the fact we could hardly see anything!)

Using logic, we decided that if we were surrounded by crevasses, we couldn't be camping on one - could we?!

Finish @ 02:20

Distance = 6 km

Expedition Day 6

Another rainy start to the day :( so we lie here and wait...

15:30
False start! I get out of the tent and get fully kitted up and it starts to rain again, so Alistair (from the comfort of his sleeping bag) decides to delay our departure.

Start @ 22:32

Weather - Foggy and rain
Wind - South Eastily

Despite it being so late we decide to leave. The time of day has become rather irrelevant, it just depends on the weather.

Nice = Go
Rain = Tent

Quite simple really! Soon after setting off the mist descended and we could see bugger all again! So we plodded on into the night...

Finish @ 00:00

Distance = 4 km

Expedition Day 5

13:33
We are contemplating leaving soon... I have spent the morning eating bourbons, sleeping and reading :)

Start @ 15:42

Weather - Rain, then sunny and finally bloody cold, but dry!
Wind - Northily

After the drizzle stopped we packed up and headed off. The weather from the north brought cold wind and clear skies - we even got views of Grimsvötn and a splendid sunset (the sun sets for about two hours - between midnight and 2am). So as the weather got colder, the snow got harder and the skiing got easier :)

After seeing the sunset we decided to set up camp - right under Grimsvötn!?

Finish @ 00:02

Distance = 24 km

Expedition Day 4

Start @ 10:22

Weather - Miserable!
Wind - South Eastily

Having been in the tent for 35 hours we made a dash for it as soon as the rain stopped! Bit of a mistake really because as soon as we got under way the heavens opened once more :(

16:45
The comfort of following the skidoo tracks is over as we set off on our own into the mist...

The going got tougher once we left the tracks - it was raining harder than ever - my pulk began to fill with water!

Since we had no tracks with which to orientate ourselves, Alistair had to follow me and shout out left and right to help us stay on the bearing. It did my head in!

Trying to get into the tent and keeping things dry is proving difficult. Once in the tent I was able to sort out my feet. They are really soaked and both have some skin missing (not a pretty sight!)

To cheer us up Alistair decided now was a good time to get stuck into his Birthday Whiskey (a little early, but I'm not complaining!) We then discussed route options and decided that going anywhere near Grimsvötn (a huge hole in the ground) in this visibility was a bad move, so we have altered our route.

Finish @ 18:37

Distance = 23 km

Expedition Day 3

Start @ N/A

Weather - Storms
Wind - South Eastily

14:10
I've only left the tent once - to re-peg the tent and have a wee :) The storm is battering the tent. We have decided to sit out the storm and maybe make a move tonight if it clears.

18:40
I'm bored! Alistair says three more days of this and we'll have to turn back - three days! Not sure I can last 3 more hours...

21:45
I've now been in the tent for 24 hours! I have filled the time with reading, eating and re-pegging the tent. I'm not a very patient man, but I'm getting plenty of practice!!

Distance = 0 km

Expedition Day 2

Start @ 11:45

Weather - Misty
Wind - None

Oooops! We slept in late today, probably due to the trauma of yesterday. First, we skinned up (!?) as we are on skis for the first time.

So off we set into the mist and we could see bugger all! The calm of the icecap was occasionally broken by the odd skidoo - this was kinda reassuring. By mid-afternoon the sun came out to play, but we had to stop so that I could repair the hole that was developing on my heel - nice!

Since starting the expedition we have been following a set of tracks, as they head in generally the right direction. Despite this obvious sign of people, it is still surprising how alone you feel out here.

We plodded along some more until the mist came down again. We set up our camp - our routine is working well!

Finish @ 18:32

Distance = 15.3 km

Expedition Day 1

Start @ 16:55

Weather - Rain
Wind - South

No sooner had we set off than the heavens opened :(

It was really exciting tho, I felt like a proper explorer :) We did the first day on crampons, which was hard work at times.

We didn't really see much except for a line of skidoos parked up - I suggested 'borrowing' a couple. Alistair said it would be cheating. So on we trudge through into the darkness...

After a few more hours we came across a little caravan - I suggested going and saying hello (with the ulterior motive of finding respite from the rain). Alistair said something about self sufficiency :(

So once we were out of site of the caravan we set up camp - I have never been so happy to climb into my sleeping bag.

Finish @ 19:51

Distance = 6.7 km