Tim-
Today’s plan was to do another peak, this time on the other side of the glacial valley so we could look down on base camp and advanced base camp. It was another hot, sunny day up on the glacier so the views from the top were amazing!



Walking over snow in just thermals is always amusing. It was a reasonably short day today as we were preparing for our early alpine start tomorrow, so I had the odd experience of being the only one not in a tent trying to sleep at 6pm in the afternoon. It was a very fun day in all, full of amazing views and good weather.

Katie-
Today we explored the western edge of the glacier with the aim of summiting a 981m peak. Although this was a smaller peak than those the day before, it did not disappoint as the views across Svanvatnet lake and out to Tverrfjorden and Landfjorden were breathtaking. This gave lots of opportunities for posing for photos. We returned to the camp with a real sense of achievement and discussed tomorrow’s plans as we waited an hour for our snow to melt and water to boil to cook our ration pack meals.

Nikki-

Peak bashing! Today we headed for the highest land and snow peak. It was a struggle and we underestimated how hard a snow peak is to find… just one big dome. Walking in crampons, in a line, and roped up at the same pace as everyone else is quite a difficult task, yet we seem to be perfecting it. There was a certain delight when we hit the land peak and had amazing views all around.



On the way back we revisited the snow peak and had a little snow man building session. The ratpak raisins came in handy, as eyes and buttons on the snowman. By the time we reached camp we were all pretty tired but glad to have explored part of the Oksfjord glacier. More exploring tomorrow!

Steve-
Today brought about a series of new things. The cool air brought a welcome change, awaking from our first night on the glacier. That wasn’t the only change, as overnight the clouds had set in. Once we had cooked, using melted snow as our water source, we roped up and prepared to pick up our ration packs from the snout of the glacier. During our re-ascent, Sarah gained her new nick name of ‘Torvill’, after her slide down a section of ice. Tim also gained his nick name of ‘the rock’, as he jumped to the floor quickly to stop her from sliding further. Sarah got up quickly with a broad smile showing she was fine after quite an impressive show. Safe to say, once we reached camp again, we all needed a good rest with a warm drink.

20+KG rucksacks and looking like Christmas trees, we struggled to our ultimate destination at the top of the glacier… had to do a little kit dump half way…

Negotiating a few small crevasses, we found the perfect camping spot. It’s surrounded on three sides with nice clean snow, our water source. Oh and don’t forget the essential sizeable toilet rock.

Pegging down the tents was an interesting experience. We ended up using everything but pegs. The whole group was shattered but prepared to do it all again tomorrow to pick up the rest of our food.

Expedition location

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Finally we all touched the ice! And had a good roll around on it too…

First on the agenda, ice axe arrests. Throwing ourselves head first, feet first, face first, and even doing forward rolls straight down the glacier. All in the name of health and safety! Truly this is a safety exercise.

Next up was rope skills and crevasse rescue. Hopefully not to be needed, but great fun anyway.

By the end of the day we were all a bit tired and cold, a good night sleep was much needed. Off to the top tomorrow!

26th July
We are on the move!...

Today was spent with some of us doing kit dumps up at our Advanced Base Camp whilst others managed the tidying up[ and preparations back at basecamp. There was a lot of shifting, moving, cooking and cleaning but in the end by “nightfall” we were all at our new advanced base camp. We are ready to hit the glacier first thing tomorrow