Mountain Man blog entry

Mountain Group 1
Name: Man Mountain
Members: Izzy, Ruth, Rachael, Luke, Peter, Sam and Clem

The rest day saw an 'expedition' to the local shop with everyone getting quite tanned in the heat of the day.

The next day we started our mountain phase training which meant a hike up to ABC (advance base camp) which the boys the managed in one trip (the girls needed a second to carry up their vital third bag of clothes). As part of our training on the snow we hurled ourselves backwards, forwards and headfirst down the glacier all in the name of “ice axe arrests” (very fun) and mastered walking with crampons, John Wayne style. At the bivi site, we occupied our time mainly with “rock excavation”. Yes, that’s the girls as well. Well, only the girls. It was then time to take on the glacier.



After roping up, and tackling the devious moraine, we reached Coffee Shop Rock, and from then on it was only up. Lukey Luke managed to “lose” his ice axe down a crevasse, less than five minutes up the glacier. Mucho respect to Stevie G for its rescue, the stuff of legend. As Lucy Lu put it, we truly did look like an advancing army, with our lines of rope in perfect order, ice axes in hand. BSES takes on the mountain! The 360 panoramic views from the top cannot be omitted, they were truly awesome. Clem, Izzy, Ruth and Holly proved their metal at the top (the photos have to be seen to be believed) and have found a December picture for the calendar.



The following day, the fire split, and some more intellectual members of the group did science research while the more enthusiastic took an earlier start to summit the glacier. Lukey enjoyed his “Summit Sprite” later on that very day, although sharing it with Rachy and Sam in celebration. The girls drank the “Final Ascent Fanta” somewhat lower down on the snow with Geli, but did not appreciate the numerous attempts at their lives throughout the day, all in the name of science. The group suffered a minor setback when Pete took a fall taking stuff to ABC, but he has pushed on, and is preparing for kayaking with “all the strength of a raging fire”. For Alison (Clem’s mum) don’t worry, Clem has not been lost but merely relocated. At ABC, major change and as a general consensus Clem was adopted into Man Mountain, into a four person tent, which is certainly cosy. “Man” Mountain becomes more ironic every day. The fire is looking forward to the next phase, although cannot mask its sadness at the prospect of being split. Ruth, Izzy and Pete will be reunited with Henry, Jasper and Pete’s boat, Luke has been sent back up the mountains, without Sprite, and Clem, Rachy and Sam will be becoming Culture Vultures, getting friendly with the reindeer. See you all in a week!