On 24 September, having moved the fuel scoots, and pulled the living and science cabooses out with the CATs, the Ice Team was ready, despite some strong winds, to take a momentous step. Brian wrote: “After an early lunch we lurched northwards and said farewell to our winter camp which has been our home for over four months. Mixed emotions as we turned our back on the south, which had been our goal for so long, and turned our thoughts to edging homewards, of easing away from this relentlessly windy place, of losing altitude and finding it easier to catch our breath and of being able to make a really hot cup of tea – at nearly 3000m water boils at about 90degreesC and that plays havoc with an Englishman’s brew.”
Tristam Kaye, Operations Manager, based at The Coldest Journey’s London HQ, comments on the emotions experienced across the team now that the expedition is heading home. Tristam, a member of the Institution, worked tirelessly to prepare the team for the expedition, and was, last month, guest speaker at the Vision Awards.
Offering insight into the morale of the team, both at London HQ and on the ice, Tristam said: “The morale of the Ice Team is high, especially now that they are making progress towards the coast, with the prospect of seeing other human beings and their loved ones nearly in sight. The former being something they haven't done for best part of eight months and the latter for nearly a year.”
“In the London HQ we are buoyant but cautious. Despite there not being a great amount of time before the team return, they are still having to operate in an environment with many risks and we are keen to get them safely back on UK soil. There is a lot of work still to do on the logistics of equipment movement, delivering scientific samples and raw footage - not to mention the less glamorous waste removal (apart from tracks, the wilderness is left absolutely untouched) that we are having to manage at this stage.”
It was a great honour to speak at the Vision Awards. I am a passionate engineer who believes engineering should be given far more coverage than it does. We are starting to see a rise in applications to universities for the subject but I still don't think the UK has done enough yet to promote engineering as a fantastic career in the minds of young people.”
“International record-breaking projects like the Coldest Journey serve as high profile forums for the proselytisation of engineering and I hope, act to inspire a new generation into the realisation that there are still exciting challenges out there. Moreover, when armed with an engineering skill-set, I hope that they realise that they are the people that can make exciting projects happen. All that limits them is their imagination.”
While the preparations to head north were taking place – the moving of fuel scoots and the packing up of camp – at the back of many people’s minds, not just those in Antarctica, was the memory of the factors that had curtailed the traverse. The perilous crevasses and near-zero visibility had led to the difficult decision to abandon the expedition’s southward endeavour. How did the team feel when they returned to ‘the hill of hell’? Find out what they encountered as they returned to terrain which had caused so much distress and danger earlier in the year. Visit:
http://www.thecoldestjourney.org/blog/from-the-ice/the-hill-of-hell/
In September, the UN's climate panel (IPCC) published a detailed and controversial report stating that on the ground, in the air, in the oceans, global warming is ‘unequivocal.’ The report by the IPCC, a summary for policymakers on the physical science of global warming, was published after a week of intense negotiations in the Swedish capital in September.
"Our assessment of the science finds that the atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amount of snow and ice has diminished, the global mean sea level has risen and that concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased," said Qin Dahe, co-chair of IPCC working group one, who produced the report.
In Antarctica, the Ice Team have been continuing with contributions to the White Mars project http://www.thecoldestjourney.org/science/the-white-mars-project/ and twice a day, every day, Brian Newham has observed meteorological readings, which contribute to the variety of scientific projects combined within the expedition. They are also fed back to the Met Office in the UK for analysis and archiving.
http://www.thecoldestjourney.org/blog/from-the-ice/at-a-glance-weather-obs-for-the-polar-winter/
The Ice Team is now heading for the Princess Elizabeth Research Station, and hopes to arrive there at the end of October. The intention will then be to fly out at the end of November, heading for Cape Town, South Africa, and then on to England. Timings cannot be wholly guaranteed because everything, as ever, is affected by the weather.
And, as Hugh Bowring at London HQ commented: “Before the team is willing to entertain too many thoughts of returning home the guys have another tricky passage to negotiate first. The camp [at 24/10/2013] is just a few hundred metres south of an area of known crevassing, which the team dubbed “The Valley of The Three Holes” on their journey south.”
We all wish them a safe onward journey.
Follow the Ice Team on the live map
http://www.thecoldestjourney.org/the-expedition/live-map/
Read Joanna Lumley’s candid interview with Brian Newham:
http://www.thecoldestjourney.org/blog/from-the-ice/the-joanna-lumley-interviews-ice-team-leader-brian-newham/