Trip Reports

Antarctic Climber 6 â€“ 22 Dec '08

Written by Leader Paul Donovan, December 2008

Independently Keith & Gerrit made their own way out to Ushuaia, where we all met up before boarding the Polar Pioneer, our ship and base for the next 12 days. Today, Ushuaia enjoyed glorious sunshine with great views both towards the mountains & down the Beagle Channel. All 54 passengers were welcomed aboard at 16:00 and shown to their rooms. A swift customs visit saw us underway by 17:30. We were off, initially down the Beagle Channel before entering the infamous Drake Passage. Initially the swell was small but as we continued, so the swell increased to around four metres, with winds around 30 knots. Our journey across the passage gave us sightings of Cape Petrels, Pryons, chin strap penguins and many species of albatross. This was a great start to any trip. Long may it continue. Our first planned landing was AitcHO Island but due to bad weather and a change in our course through the Drake, our arrival time was too late to land so we headed onto Portal Point, our first continental landing. The climbers were able to experience their first taste of climbing on Antarctica, a truly surreal experience! After two hours of exploring Portal Point, it was onto Enterprise Island and an after dinner zodiac cruise around the island and through the icebergs. What a stunning evening!

We departed Enterprise and continued south, through the Neumayer Channel where 5 small orca’s were spotted at 03:00 (much too early for some of us), destined for Port Lockroy. We arrived at 06:00 in 25-30 knot winds with a metres swell and horizontal snow. Climbing was off the agenda, at least until later in the day. The decision here was whether we would get ashore at Port Lockroy or not. Unfortunately, the odds were stacked against us so we continued south and through the Lamaire Channel. The further south we travelled, the more the sea ice encroached on our passage until a decision was made to turn around and retrace our steps. We had reached our southern most point – 65 degrees South. We now headed northwards in an attempt to outrun the sea ice before we were stuck fast as it froze around us. Despite the three knots that the ice was moving, we outran it and headed back to Port Lockroy to anchor for the night in anticipation of going ashore in the morning. The revised plan worked, so we headed to both Joungle Point and Port Lockroy to visit the penguin & shag colonies. We could only dream of the climb up Jabeg Peak, as we only had a two hour slot at this venue. There’s always next time!

Time to move on, so it’s back into the Neumayer Channel and onto Orne Islands for a landing and for the climbers, it’s a chance to summit on Spigot Peak, a 300m+ peak on Arctowski Island. What a fabulous peak. It rises out of the sea, continuing passed the chinstrap penguin colonies and makes its way up a 30 degree slope to a superb summit with the Errara Channel on one side and Orne Harbour on the other. Jubilant and triumphant, we retraced our footsteps, ensuring we did not leave any traps for the penguins, and headed back to the ship for the evening. A great day was had by all. The ship had moved its anchorage during the night, so we woke up to the sights of Waterboat Point and its peace & tranquillity and of course its one or two penguins. We were fortunate enough to see an Isabellie (albino) penguin amongst the gentoos. It was onto Paradise Bay and a chance to climb a snowy summit via a clearly defined ridge at the back of the bay. Suspect snow conditions meant we bid a hasty retreat from part way up the ridge. A great opportunity all the same.

After a BBQ on the stern deck while in Paradise, the ship moved during the night to enable us to have a pre breakfast landing on Curverville Island for yet more Gentoos, including a few chicks. No climbing here this morning as time was limited. A second morning landing, this time at Hydrurga Rocks, gave us a wealth of wildlife – Weddall Seals (& pup), Shags and Chinstraps. With time on our side, we headed for Christiania Island for a zodiac cruise around the northern tip – a geologists heaven. It’s time to continue north and visit our last two destinations before the Drake. Firstly, it’s Deception Island and an ascent of Mt. Pond (548m). An alpine start saw us landing at Whalers Bay at 04:00 heading on up the main ridge. We met the snowline at 150m, donned crampons and continued northwards to around 512m on the summit plateau, only to be beaten by time as we needed to be back at the ship by 06:30. As we were late, we saw the ship up anchor and disappear into Neptune’s Bellows. We were left wondering just how we would meet up with the ship but on arrival at the beach, we saw there were two zodiacs, which enabled us to have a hair-raising ride back out through the bellows and back on board. Time was of the essence as we need to make Livingston Island and our last landing at Elephant Point. What a great spot to finish at – elephant seals & their pups, gentoo penguins & their chicks and nesting giant petrels.

It was now time to head northwards back across the Drake Passage. The passage began calm but 12 hours in, things began to change with moderate winds and a reasonable swell. This only eased off again as we entered the Beagle Channel and stayed with us until we docked in Ushuaia. Farewells were said and we all went our separate ways.

This expedition has seen a number of outings for the climbers with two Antarctica summits and a third near summit. It has been an incredible adventure in and around this fabulous continent. We’ve experienced some of the best that this continent can offer with many landings and the splendours of the animal life on the islands and continental Antarctica – Penguins & their chicks, Seals & their pups, Minki & Humpback Whales, and many species of sea birds.

Congratulations to Keith & Gerrit for their achievements throughout the trip. I’m sure they have enjoyed this wonderful experience as much as I have.

Thanks to all the passengers aboard the Polar Pioneer for their continued camaraderie.

Thanks must also go to the Aurora Expeditions staff for ensuring a good time was had by all.

And finally, a big thank you to the crew of the Polar Pioneer who’s outstanding seamanship took us to our southern most point (64°49’S, 63°30’W) and back again, safely.

Llongyfarchiadau pawb

Paul Donovan, Jagged Globe Expedition Leader « Previous report | Next report »

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