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Patagonia Expedition Race 2012 preparation

The 10th edition of the Patagonia Expedition Race gets underway on the 14th of Feb. Having undergone a selection process, of the 20 teams there will be one from the UK and they are now all set to go.

Pata – Gonna – Get – Yah!

Once upon a time, two Welsh cavers became bored of the underground. After years of beasting in the blackness and dithering in the dark, they craved the light. Machines of the underground, the young men sought a new challenge - somewhere mysterious and far away, where they could build upon their tan. Patagonia it was then.

The Patagonian Expedition Race is billed as the longest, hardest and most remote adventure race in the world. Although the route is currently undisclosed, it is in the region of 600km across the wildest of terrain, has been recced from a helicopter and the finish line is at Cape Horn – the most Southerly inhabited landmass.

We grabbed two crazy Kiwi’s and entered.

The Team.
David: Entering the race was Dave’s idea of ‘a good time’. This is probably because he has spent most of his life underground. Having pushed himself relentlessly in cave exploration across Europe he is readily adaptable to new endurance challenges. Dave is an outdoor instructor by trade and spends his time caving, biking and running - excelling under misery is his forté!

Christopher: Chris is a mountain machine from the UK’s Lake District. Growing up in the mountains, he learned to run and mountain bike before he could walk and talk! He brings the competitive edge to the team, having competed in numerous mountain marathons and provided man-power and rope skills in Switzerland, Canada and Austria. Chris was fortunate enough to be born with freakishly long legs - the rest of the team will spend their time trying to keep up!

Joanna: Jo is from Northern Ireland originally, but has been in New Zealand since 2000. She has been competing in triathlons and adventure races over the past few years – highlights include winning the NZ Coast to Coast 2-day event and competing in Baise China 2011 adventure race. Joanna has always been keen to visit South America so jumped at the chance to join the crazy cavers team! Having the most experience in Adventure Racing, Jo is going to give the boys a run for their money.

Richard: Kiwi Rich is an adventurer at heart, having travelled to more than 70 different countries. He grew up exploring New Zealand’s wilderness and is now a keen caver, climber, biker, kayaker and runner. He is an experienced member of both land and cave search and rescue. Richard is now based in the UK and while he isn’t thrilled with busy London life he does enjoy the British sense of humour - particularly when wet and exhausted.

The organisers have announced that:
‘This year, we have one of the strongest fields we’ve ever assembled.. As always, we look for that special ingredient – spirit – rather than just athletic ability or their sporting history.’

Unsure as to what ingredients we had, we thought it was best to start training.

Despite our efforts, persuading Jo to swim to the UK was hard work, so Rich took one for the team and headed to NZ to train with her in the local alpine ranges. This left Dave and I with some catching up to do. Who needs the New Zealand wilderness when the Brecon Beacons were on our doorstep? And mid-winter weekends spent learning to paddle double sea kayaks have helped to prepare us for our upcoming icy excursion into the Southern Ocean.

It seems being above ground can get as miserable as caving after all…
With Patagonia being infamous for howling winds, impenetrable forest, knee deep turba (peat bog) and glacial waters we’ve had to make some serious considerations towards kit. The Alpkit Zhota mountain tent has proven it’s mettle this winter with the UK experiencing some horrific weather (we were in the worst of it, at altitude in Scotland).

We are taking the Hunka bivvy bags following the advice from last year, hearing that competitors had to pitch up in ankle deep bog. Our clothing has to be windproof, but it’s probably going to rain, meaning down is out and primaloft soft shells are in. USP exposure lights are providing our heavy duty lighting for biking, but eating power these are being supplemented with alpkit Gamma’s. Double sea-kayaks, 29er mountain bikes and fell running shoes provide the most efficient modes of transport. Filo down Jackets are in our finish line bags. Everything else has been chosen on weight as the kit list is very extensive!
The past year has been spent pushing ourselves and our equipment to the limit, all over the world. ‘Training’ has been an adventure in itself, and although terrifyingly close now, the Patagonian Expedition Race is going to be pretty epic.

We’re lycra’d up and raring to go - See you at Cape Horn.

Back to Antarctica

Antarctica season #1 saw Bethan Davies and team head out to James Ross Island back in 2011. In just over a weeks time she’ll be heading back out there with a slightly different team,Filo jackets at the ready and a Heksa tent under Antarctica test conditions!

And we’re off again! On the 9th of February, Dr Bethan Davies, Professor Mike Hambrey (who was recently awarded a second bar to his Polar Medal) and Professor John Smellie are departing for the Falkland Islands. Once there, we will join up with HMSP (“The Protector”), and from there to James Ross Island. Hopefully we will manage some small-boat work from HMSP before being deployed into the field, but this depends on scheduling constraints, the weather, and sea ice conditions.

Introducing the team
We have a slightly different line up this year. Mike Hambrey is leading the expedition, and he is expert in all things glaciological, especially polythermal glacial processes. Mike has 10 Antarctic field seasons and has done twice that many in the Arctic, so is very experienced and a great team member. John Smellie has done around 20 Antarctic field seasons (including one already this season!). John’s speciality is Neogene subglacial volcanism, and his expertise on hyaloclastite (rocks that form during a subglacial volcanic eruption) will be invaluable to the team. Bethan Davies joined Aberystwyth University in April 2010 after 9 months with the British Antarctic Survey, and this is her second Antarctic field season. We will meet Iain Rudkin, our field assistant (or “Beard”, on the ship. Iain has spent the Antarctic winter at Rothera, and has years of experience in mountaineering and travel in hazardous environments. He will be responsible for keeping us “Beakers” safe! (“Beaker” originates from the Muppets, where the mad scientist Muppet was called “Beaker”).

James Ross Island geology

The Science
Our goals this year are similar to last, in that we will be collecting rock samples to date the thinning and retreat of the last ice sheet from the northern Antarctic Peninsula, around 15,000 years ago. The ice sheet receded from the continental shelf edge around 18,000, but the timing of retreat from the inner shelf and the rate at which the ice sheet thinned is still poorly understood. This is problematic as without detailed data, our colleagues cannot constrain their numerical models. Numerical models are how we predict how ice sheets will behave in the future, and they require testing and training against known data.
Our field site, on the Terrapin Hill promontory of James Ross Island, NE Antarctic Peninsula, is ideal for testing the thinning of the ice sheet. The tuff cone hill, Terrapin Hill, is littered with basaltic erratics. By extracting the pyroxenes of these basalts, we can work out how long these rocks have been exposed at the earth surface, and therefore date the recession and thinning of the ice sheet. In this way, we can use hills as ‘dipsticks’ to work out the rate of thinning of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet after the Last Glacial Maximum. Granitic erratics along the coastline (from the Antarctic Peninsula) will also be used to date the recession of the ice sheet. So, hopefully I will be spending some more time at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) in Glasgow later in 2012, dissolving the rocks to extract quartz (granite) or pyroxene (basalt) for cosmogenic nuclide dating.
As well as collecting rock samples, we will create a detailed geomorphological map and study the structural glaciology and debris transport and abrasion processes for the small polythermal glaciers on the Terrapin Hill promontory. However, we will be keeping Professor Smellie away from the glaciers, as he admits he has a tendency to fall into the crevasses!

Camp cooking Antarctic style. Jan 2011

Camp Life
Once again, we will be deep field, and as we’re going so late in the season, it’s very possible that we’ll be the only people camping out on the entire Antarctic Peninsula! We’re very lucky that Alpkit has given us a basecamp tent to test out. We will use the tent for messing and working in, and for a long field camp, it makes a real difference to have a communal tent that everyone can sit in. Other kit includes a generator, so we can charge our GPS, laptops and cameras, a HF radio for keeping in touch with Rothera (the British base) and a petrol-driven rock saw. No quad bikes this year as the ground is too challenging, so we’ll be on foot! We need to be able to cope with emergencies by ourselves, so we have all had extensive first-aid training, and the camp first-aid kit includes plaster of paris, traction splints, anti-biotics and neck braces. Hopefully we won’t need any of that! And of course, we all have our Alpkit down jackets to keep us warm in the evenings. We’ll sleep in pyramid tents, like last year, which will keep us warm and dry at night. Dinner will be dehydrated rations, lunch is Biscuits Brown with tinned cheese and fish, and breakfast is instant porridge, sweetened with dehydrated fruit. Of course, if I get the opportunity, I will make my celebrated Camp Flapjack.
Fieldwork will last around 4 weeks, and we’re hoping to be home by the end of March. There is no internet or phone access in camp, so no updates until we return!

Bethan

Arrowhead 135 - run

Arrowhead 135. Northern Minnesota USA. Deep Winter ultra-endurance, bike, ski or run. Paul Errington took it on by bike back in 2010, this year will see Lee Peyton heading out to run the 135 miles. We catch up with him with a week to go.

Right, I’ve been asked to engage my brain (where’s the starting handle?) and put some pre-race thoughts down on paper.
Exactly a week before I fly out to take part in my longest ultra-event, the Arrowhead 135, I got my first chance of the year to train in snow. Compared to last year where there were a couple of feet of snow for about four to six weeks, today’s couple of inches was slim-pickings but a delight as well.
The Arrowhead 135 follows Minnesota’s Arrowhead trail 135 miles from International Falls in the north to Fortune Bay in the south. With monthly average temperatures of minus 20 C (and the record lows double that) this‘ll be a monster comparable with last year’s Yukon Arctic Ultra. All competitors have to be entirely self-sufficient throughout the race, carrying or dragging all provisions, with the option of three separate disciplines to choose from (bike, ski and run). Once more, in the absence of any talent on skis or a bike, I’ve opted to grind out the distance on foot.

What are you most looking forward to?
I can’t wait for some decent cold and snow. And finally getting started. As with a lot of these bigger races a huge amount of admin and training goes into getting ready.

What are you taking?
All racers have to be entirely self-sufficient. As the organisers say “don’t count on your mommy rescuing you” so you carry (I’ll be dragging mine in my pulk) all your own clothing, food, fuel and shelter. Again for the second year in a row I’ll be taking a Hunka XL bivvy bag twinned with a sleeping bag rated to minus 40 C and a Thermarest Ridge Rest SOLite.
In addition to last year’s kit I’m also taking Alpkit’s Filo jacket. I’ve been seriously impressed by the look of it over the past couple of years so I’m looking forward to testing it out when it’s proper brass monkeys. In an effort to reduce the weight in my pulk I’m taking the titanium MytiMug instead of a set of mess tins. I’ll also be taking a SPOT Tracker so folk can follow my progress during the race.

I’m not a runner; I’m a plodder. I have developed the ability to run at snail’s pace for hours. It’s a dubious skill really; in my opinion, only suited to cold-weather racing. The organisers have stated that this year is the strongest field they’ve ever had including some of the world’s best ultra-runners (and me). Seriously though, I think the cold, exposure and isolation are great levellers and can bring even the most vaunted field of athletes into a tighter group. We found last year that your progress and ultimately where you finish in the field, can be determined by how efficient you are with your admin when you’re cold and tired and feeling a bit fragile at four in the morning at minus 30 C.  I’ll be looking to bring that experience from the Yukon Arctic Ultra to my racing this year.

Any nerves?
To an extent. I don’t think my prep has been as good as for Yukon due to one thing or another. And this is the first time in ten year’s that I haven’t had my race-partner, Garry Mackay, alongside me. Psychologically I think that’ll be the hardest part.

Cogne/Dobbiaco - part 2

...5 days to go, and no M11’s around… So what do we do? Change clothes, get the espresso maker going in the car park and start driving to the Dolomites in search of some hard mixed climbing. I only managed to do about 4hrs drive, and I thought it was good going after having woken up at 5.30am, climbed 200mts of Wi6 and walk in and out for about 2hrs, all in the same day! We found a roadside hotel in Verona and called it a day.

Our destination was an obscure little mixed crag in Dobbiaco, South Tyrol, Italy. Apparently it packed a few quality routes put up by local legend Kurt Astner, and telling by the photo-topo, it did look promising indeed. We drove from Verona into the Dolomites and I had a jolly old time as I remembered my weekends spend in these mountains 10 years ago when I lived here. The irony is that I was still driving a Fiat Panda now like in the old days, haven’t I moved on in my career to afford something better? Apparently not. So we took the turn off and drove down the Val de Landro and there she was, a beautiful cave with ice daggers and curtains hanging all over it, bingo! We walked up it and readily got geared up and ran up an M9 called “Silent Memories”. Feeling tired from the drive and “Repentance”, we called it a active rest day and drove back to Dobbiaco to find the youth hostel.

Topping out Fly in the wind, M10+

We were using as a reference an article written by Scott Muir, who paid a visit to the crag in 2005 to try and repeat the hard lines. In that article he rated “Fly in the wind” M10+, “Mix Isch Fix, another M10+, and “La via e bella” M11. But rather than grades, we choose the line that was most inspiring to start getting psyched, and that was “Fly in the wind”. Starts on a ice pillar, up some ice slabs and then straight for a horizontal roof to join the hanging curtain, pure awesomeness. So I went up first, working out the moves all the way to the top. Then Kris had a go, also working the moves. On my next go I thought I might as well give it everything, so after a lot of embarrassing power-screaming I managed to swing on the ice-curtain and bagged the route. Kris took another couple of attempts but also successfully topped out.

The goal for this trip was to climb our proper first M11 after all, so we decided that next we ought to have a go at “La via e bella”. We studied the topo and we couldn’t tell where exactly the route went. I went up to have a look and I couldn’t figure out exactly what line of bolts it was, but one thing was for sure that whatever option it was, it didn’t touch ice. We didn’t come here for drytooling! It made us think that the more hard mixed climbing we do, the more apparent it is that above a certain grade, there’s no ice involved, as ice is considered the “rest”. So therefore can’t be any harder than a certain grade, and that seems to be around M10+.

Having seen local legend Kurt Astner the previous day cruising up “Mix isch fix”, we decided that was the best looking line left to do. Scott Muir also said in his article that it was a “hard” M10+ since some holds broke since the first ascents. Once I started working the route, it became apparent that it was a total sandbag and nails for an M10+. Nonetheless I was really psyched for the line and so I started putting the hard work into figuring out the moves. The route starts on rock, then on to icy cracks and then onto a free-hanging ice dagger, where you can rest. From here it is all systems go, but a lot of the holds are iced-up cracks, but on a horizontal roof and figure-of-4 fest all the way. Over two days I had 5 attempts, the most I’ve spend on a mixed or drytooling route recently, it definitely felt harder than M10+. Even if feeling a bit deflated that I wasn’t gonna be able to claim the M11 grade, I still gave it all and sent the route.

With this ascent I realised that sport mixed climbing is such an obscure discipline that there’s not enough people repeating the routes to arrive at a consensus on grades. So despite coming home without the trophy, it’s been a great trip fully packed with challenge and adventure.

Enjoying the steep ground.

Cogne/Dobbiaco - part 1

This week I was called the “epitome of dedication”. I think they might be right. Kris and I have been training for a specific goal this winter, our first proper M11. I’ve climbed M11 just last week, but that was drytooling in North Wales, it doesn’t really count as proper mixed climbing. So Kris suggested the benchmark route for the grade, Mission Impossible, a classic testpiece put up by Bubu Bole and famously repeated by Stevie Haston wearing only underpants. To add to the spice, it’s protected only by old pegs.

So we made our trek to Valsavarenche, in the Italian Alps, Kris from his native Denmark and I from London. After an epic journey of missing connecting flights, closed car-rental offices and a missing photographer due to frostbite, we finally made it to our base in Aosta. The morning after we raced to our project deep in the Gran Paradiso valley, only to find it very lean in ice conditions. We walked right underneath it and what we feared most was confirmed, the route was not climbable. Disappointment took over. But life is too short to be sorry for yourself, so we made the walk across the valley to the world-famous Haston Cave’s, just to find it really uninspiring. So the comp boots stayed warm in our packs and we decided to go and scope out the multi-pitch mixed test pieces in Cogne. What we had in mind was X-files M10, Empire Strikes back M9 and Jedi Master M10+.

In the Lillaz Valley things looked a lot more frozen than in Valsaverenche, and as soon as we approach Lillaz village I could see a beautiful line of ice dripping down two free-hanging pillars over a roof. God, I wet my pants. We walked over and yes indeed it was X-files and it was looking gorgeous. Not to jump the gun, we kept walking to check Empire and Jedi, which also looked good. The only one concern we had was that the rock looked atrocious and it was protected by pegs and trad gear, a really bad combination. Kris, being a geologist, pointed out that the roofs where the routes are, existed because of a crushed vein of eroded rock, hence the drainage of the water (i.e. ice) and it would be very loose rock. Me being the born optimist, I said we should go up and have a go at it anyways. But not that day as it was getting late. So we ran up a two pitch Wi4+ called Cold Couloir, which was a sweet intro to swinging axes for the first time this season.

Ramon on the first pitch of X-files.

Next day, bright and early we headed up to X-files, armed with cams, pegs and high hopes. I led the first pitch which turned out to be a lot tastier than I expected. Once the belay set up under the threatening daggers, I started to have a look around for the mixed lines up the roof. Things weren’t looking good. Rotten gear on rotten rock, ummmm. I brought Kris up to the belay to see if his geology knowledge would inspire me more confidence. The look on his face at the sight above was not reassuring. We decided to try a line furthest to the right where we could see some bolts, we imagined that it was a route called “Twin Towers” and given M9. So I put on my comp boots and went to have a look. Everything I was pulling on was loose or detached in some sort of way. I got up to the first bolt and when I was torquing behind a detached flake and saw I had to launch for a broken wedged block and then stein-pull up to yet-another loose flake. I thought sod this, it’s not worth it, and for me to say this… So we bailed off what is the biggest pile of choss south of Brighton.

The thing with these routes is that you don’t even know if they have been repeated. When Haston put them up, there were a few repeats straight after by Scott Muir I think. But that was yonks ago, and god knows what happen to the gear or what holds have come off. This mixed-climbing game is so obscure that finding the right current beta is like gold-dust.

Anyways, we left with the tails between our legs and decided to do the hardest ice route in the area instead, Repentance Super, Wi6. I knew it had been done this season and that the top pillar was formed so it was 200mts and 5 pitches long. We went and did a recce walk in that same day so we would know exactly where we were going the morning after. I’m glad we did because we got the wrong way 3 times, and that was in bright daylight, imagine at 6am in the dark!

So alarms set at 5.30am, breakfast was had in the car driving up the valley and a smooth walk-in (except my screaming legs!) We were the first team up in the route, and then the whole thing turned into a sunday market. But we ignored the people who decided to put the safety in the line of falling ice of a badly formed Wi6. We dispatched the route with no problems and it was a true joy to top out in the Money Plateau with the sun beaming in your face. I was enjoying myself so much that whilst on lead on the top pillar I took the camera out and took a few snaps of myself. We had a great day and I was happy, worth all the hassle and pennies.

But! We still have 5 days to go, and no M11’s around. So what do we do?......

Looking way down from the top pillar of Repentance