Thurs 23 Nov '06….cont. Finally on our way!

Yes, we are finally on our way this time & at 21.30hrs the giant Illyushin 76 took to the air with 30 expectant adventurers plus 6 ALE staff on board. The Illyushin is a utility aircraft, designed to do a rough, tough job in difficult conditions & there is no Business Class on board & there is in fact just one class & that is ‘Cargo’. It is an ex-Russian military freighter with about 20 metal, stiff back seats down each side, facing inwards & with no windows. About 80% of the space is taken up with cargo, stacked to the roof right down the centre of the aircraft.

The cargo is a mix of drums of aviation fuel, general supplies, equipment & food for ALE’s seasonal base at Patriot Hills, plus the tons of equipment & food for the various climbing teams & I do mean tons. Our group of five had stripped down our gear to the minimum required & including all of our personal gear, group climbing gear, tents, stoves, fuel & food for 18 days, we weighted in at 600kgs – over half a ton ! Each person’s personal gear which had to include everything we needed for the trip had to be under 27kgs each & at $65 per kg for excess weight, you were not inclined to pack anything you didn’t have to have. Anyway by now I’ve got to be pretty good at packing & travelling light & the 9kg packs Joyce & I managed with on the Tour De Mont Blanc last Sept now seem like an indulgence.

The flight itself is not a pleasant one & could really only be described as mild torture because of the heat inside & the noise generated by the jet engines, above which it was impossible to even speak to the person beside you without shouting right into their ear. But nobody forced us to go on this trip & we all knew that this was only a minor discomfort compared to what lay ahead.

Touchdown at Patriot Hills was at 1.50am & there was a palpable tension & silence in the air as Big Bird finally came to a stop, the engines shut down & we prepared to exit. With full battle dress on including snug down jackets, 3 layers of gloves & headgear, the door opened & an incredible bright light started to pour into the cramped interior space filling every available nook & cranny, blinding everyone like rabbits in a car’s headlights. Those first few footsteps carefully placed on the sheer blue ice surface that was the ‘runway’ were accompanied with a thumping, pounding heart & the realisation that after all the dreaming, planning, preparation & training, we were now finally setting foot on the hallowed ground that is the Antarctic Interior. Welcome to a new & very different world, welcome to the Ice World, thousands of miles away from civilisation & about as far away from Dublin as you can get on this planet. Like aliens disembarking from a space craft onto a strange new planet we moved, with tiny baby steps at first, across the ice & away from the Illyushin & as our confidence grew in our footing we began to gaze & marvel at the surrounding terrain. Occasionally the stillness of the air was punctuated by a hoop of joy as small groups gave a ‘high-five’ & joyfully roared to the skies above ‘ Yes, Antarctica…..yahoooo’ Yes, indeed we’re finally here & ready for a great adventure, so bring it on.

In those first 15 mins there are two factors that one is immediately aware of. One is the sheer vast scale of everything, the mountains behind & then the flat bright white surface stretching away to meet the horizon & going on & on & on, until you reach the South Pole 1000 kms away, from where it carries on for another 2000 kms. Remember, Antarctica is bigger than Europe & we are only going to be operating in one small tiny area of this incredible continent which has no permanent inhabitants. The second factor is the brilliant brightness at 2.00am. Imagine the brightest, sunniest day you’ve ever had at a ski resort, with the sun blinding you as it reflects off every snow covered surface. One of those days when you feel it’s great to be alive & out in the mountains. That’s what it’s like here in Antarctica in summer, but here we have it for 24 hours a day, every day. There is no sunrise, no sunset & the sun never dips below an angle of about 30 degrees. It just travels around you all day. Here you don’t split your day into ‘day & night’, instead you operate on a 24 hr day & your activities are dependant on whether the sun is behind a mountain or not, because if it is, the temperatures plummet & you certainly don’t want to move from the comfort of your down filled sleeping bag or tent until the sun has warmed you in the morning.

ALE’s seasonal base Patriot Hills is located about a 1.5 km walk away from the runway & out of the worst of the Katabatic winds that sweep down off the mountains & we soon start to head towards the tented village. We’re met & welcomed by the staff there & following a briefing & a meal provided for us by the staff we set about getting our tents up & settling down for some sleep at 5.00am. in what is a very surreal environment. I’d like to say that I had a dream filled sleep lasting 8 hrs but it was far from that & I probably got a couple of hours at best.