South Georgia Mountaineering expedition 24’ (II)
Larsen Harbour, September 18.
We have just had two fantastic South Georgia days. Yesterday we motor-sailed all the way down from Grytviken to Larsen Harbour at the southeast tip of the island. It was exhilarating, with 30 knot winds, big waves, icebergs, passing whales and a flocks of red-billed Gentoo penguins returning from a day’s fishing. For Julian Freeman-Attwood and I, who first came here in 1989, the journey south was a bit of a nostalgia fest – passing St Andrew’s Bay, then Royal Bay, then glimpsing Mt Kling and Mt Carse, which we climbed on that first expedition. But most exciting was the first glimpse of Mt Macklin – our objective for this year.
Stephen pointing Mt Macklin. Picture from M. Esperón.
Justino taking the mountaineers ashore. Picture from P.Guthrie.
Landing in Hamilton Bay. Picture from I.Young.
The mountain is named after Alexander Macklin, the Scottish surgeon on Shackleton’s ill-fated Imperial Transantarctic Expedition of 1914-16. It’s one of the last big unclimbed summits on the island and I have been wanting for a long time to have a go at it. The fact that a British army team got quite close to the summit last year has piled on the pressure. They took the obvious approach up the Salomon Glacier and we plan to go the same way, starting from the glacier tongue in Hamilton Bay. What a thrill, yesterday afternoon, to motor into the bay and see a good landing spot, before continuing to the anchorage in Larsen Harbour.
Gear depot. Picture from S.Novak.
Larsen is a wonderful haven of an anchorage, safe and sheltered. Well … sheltered by South Georgia standards. Even in this enclosed fjord, the katabatic winds get funnelled down off the mountains and the Vinson swung all night on her anchor as the rain hammered on the pilot house roof. By morning the rain had stopped but the wind continued to howl in the rigging. At breakfast Novak was full of doom and gloom, wondering whether we would even be able to land in Hamilton Bay, let alone get all the gear ashore. He consoled himself by cooking a morale-boosting spaghetti carbonara and, of course, after lunch the wind abated slightly, allowing us to motor back round the headland to Hamilton Bay.
Gear Ferry. Photo from S.Novak.
Things just got better and better. South Georgia is like that: in just one day you experience every weather extreme and you always seem to get a lucky break when you need it. Even the huge icebergs littering the bay had arranged themselves to leave a clear passage of clear water – perfect for a quick Zodiac ride to the beach. It took three ferries to get everything ashore. Now there are six pulks (sledges), six pairs of skis, twelve days food, stoves and gas, tents, ropes, climbing gear and warm clothing stashed at the start of the Salomon Glacier. After months – no years – of dreaming, the plan seems to be working out. First thing tomorrow morning we will go back to land again, and start the hard graft of hauling all that stuff up the glacier. The weather forecast gives us one good day to get as high as we can and establish a bombproof camp, before all hell breaks loose on Friday afternoon. After that … who knows? But with any luck we will at some stage get another lucky break, find a way over to the next glacier and up to the foot of Macklin’s north ridge. It’s rather nice to think that up there, beyond last year’s British army attempt, no human being has ever set foot.
Venables pulk. Picture from S.Novak.
First, though, we can enjoy one last warm comfortable evening aboard Vinson with our brilliant crew – Paul, Justino and Mariana. Even if we fail to get up Macklin, the memory of this afternoon in Hamilton Bay will have made it all worthwhile: a shimmering sheet of icy snow, sweeping down to the beach, where promenading King penguins were silhouetted against an iceberg lapped by turquoise waves; darker bluer sea beyond stretching to a great lump of Antarctica – an immense gleaming tabular berg floating on the horizon. A cliché, perhaps, but a cliché that keeps bringing me back to this magical island.
Stephen Venables
Mountaineer. Co-Expedition Leader.
