BSES support

A tragedy happened last Friday whilst I was out of all news contact.  A polar bear had attacked the same expedition group i was with up in the Arctic circle and killed a member of the 12 man group and left two of the leaders in serious life changing conditions.

I'm deeply saddened and troubled by this as I not long ago just come back from the same trip.  I fully trust that BSES did everything they could in order to prevent such a tragedy...

The training we received prior to and during our expedition were drilled into us.  Bear flares, tripwires, rifles everything was taken seriously and we all were fluent in what we had to do should we encounter a polar bear.  No one should run, and sure enough in the case of this group the only people that ran were the people that were injured.  What would you do though if you were the leader of a group and the only way to save anyone was to get your rifle, you had to go really... credit to Michael for managing to get the rifle and shooting the bear whilst severely injured, I can only imagine what must have gone through his mind ro any one of their minds really...

I'm troubled and angered by some of the Norwegian authroities claiming that BSES did not do enough to prevent this from happening...in my opinion the whole trip was excellently organised and the leaders of our expeidtion and all expeditions as far as I was aware took every precaution to ensure bear safety. 

I will back BSES all the way on this one. 

Cham again!!

I attempted Mont Blanc last week... I didn't make it, or to be precise the
whole group didn't make it. But I've still had such a fantastic week that
it's still in my mind worth blogging about...

The skills I learnt whilst up in the arctic was substantial enough for me
to go without a guide for Mont Blanc as essentially it's just a very hard
long trek and not as technical as some of the other summits I'd bagged in
the arctic circle, however as mad as I am, I'm not one to play with fire so I decided to go
with a guided organisation.

So begins my search for a reputable organisation.
There are loads if you type in Mont Blanc guides in google, however I alway came back to one called Icicle a UK based company but with offices in Chamonix too.  As this was part of my training I got the cost reimbursed by the lovely BSES folks.  The price quoted catered for accomodation for the whole time there so we were able to leave our kit if need be without lugging it everywhere.  No other orginisation I looked at did this.  The reviews from past clients where also great, so I went with Icicle in the end.

Being back in Cham for a third time this year was great, the place is so different in the summer, both sides of the coins were shiny, which doesn't help with my itch to want to move out here.

I got out a few days early with a friend (an expereinced climber and mountaineerer) and we spent our time climbing at Les Gallians and Le Brevent the next day, both were enjoyable, the first day was more of an intro for me to outdoor climbing.  I wanted to get off the crag every now and again but the thought of "well there is no where else to go but up" got me through my climbs, I love that thrilling feeling and am utterly addicted to the adrenaline it gives me!

The Icicle offices were in the middle of Chamonix and were very easy to find. We moved straight into our dorms and met another friend from London.  Our first meeting with everyone was at the Monkey Bar just round the corner from the office.  On our Mont Blanc group there were 6 of us, all from different backgrounds, two of us from Playstation, one of them a Ryanair pilot (funnily scared of heights...), nice crowd.

The first day we had a day on the mer de glace glacier, learning stuff I already knew (crampon techniques, ice axe handling, crevasse rescue). Our French guide was utterly useless at finding out what experience we all had.  It was very apparent that only two of us had done anything of this sort before.  I might have been spoilt with great trainers and exceptional leaders over the past year, but c'mon... swearing at them in French doesn't help anyone learn...  The most challenging part of that day was climbing down ladders with no safety... the ladders were placed precariously along the whole height of the rock face..., one slip and that's it...

Look at it, that's about a third of the height!!  What I was most shocked at was the level of safety the French guide took.  The mentality is so different than from the UK. 

I survived the first day anyway but was mildly disappointed at the guiding we were provided.
The only thing I learned the first day was in our briefing that evening, when we were taught about ropes and how much weight one rope can take and what effects it has on the kit you use karabiner, belay device etc) when you work out the FF of a rope. 

The next day we were split into groups of 2, by experience I reckon.  We all travelled to Valley Blanche, were the Aguile Du Midi ridge was, that infamous ridge I was on back in March!  The other two groups did La Nical route, a simple walk up hill I was told.  My group with a new guide decided to attempt the Comic Ridge!  A route that took us back up to the cable car.

I've never been so scared in my life.  We were all in crampons and we used rope techniques to navigate the climbs and lowers.  There was a point where we had to climb a vertical wall with the tiniest of holes to fit the front two points of my crampons on.  There were times when only one point was possible and I just had to trust that it would take my weight!  The dodgiest part was when I had to climb over a ledge and then lower myself off this rock onto the smallest ledge, the trouble was I wasn't tall enough to stable one foot first so I had to lower both feet at the same time and hoped that I could feel the ledge, I shat my pants, but I made it laughing at how ridiculous the situation was.  A year ago I wouldn't climb a 30ft wall in my gym in a controlled environment.  Now I was hanging of a ledge with thoughsands of feet drop behind me... crazy girl, yes I am!

During the last few sections of the route I had to twist myself in a tight space where two of the rocks met, my rucksack with all my gear in was weighing me down and it was stuck... I had to perform such a dodgy move that I couldn't understand how all the climbers before me did it.  It was at this place where my karabiner holding my shiney new belay device and my purple sling fell from my harness, I had no idea how far it fell, but with the guide taut on my rope I couldn't go a see... gutted I had only bought that device a day ago in chamonix and I didn't even get a chance to abseil off it as what it was intended for.

We finished off by climbing up to the veiwing balcony where everyone in jeans and civilian clothes marvelled at our feat.  I felt 100 feet tall when I stepped onto that balcony knowing and seeing what I had just done... people admired us but I bet that didn't stop them thinking we were truly nuts.  We spent the rest of the day acclimatising there and waitingf or the other two groups who I presumed had to climb back up the Aguile Du Midi ridge... tough work at this altitude, give me Comic Ridge anyday!

My perfect day rounded off even better when a climber from a German group had found and picked up my belay device and sling... Wooo!!  Our guide was brilliant, no one can pronounce his name (Mauro), but he was patient, understanding and honest and I'd trust him to take me to Everest and back.

It was apparent to the guides that only myself and another could make Mont Blanc and the others were given a choice to do Mont Blanc knowing they may fail or Grand Paradiso an easier summit in Italy.  At dinner that evening the mood was subdued as most of the four did not know what to do.  We gave as much advice as possible and the next morning they all turned up to attempt Mont Blanc!

We attempted two hours of the Goutier trail before we turned back.  Mainly because of the weather, storm was setting in and torrential rain poured down temperamentally. The other reasons were due to a guide being stuck at the beginning of the cable ride due to the storms.  I had an awful stomach ache too so was a little glad to be turning back.  Not doing Mont Blanc didn't bother me too much as over the last few days I had been exposed to some awsome climbs and wouldn't mind doing more of that...

The group attamepted and made Grand Paradiso the next day, I stayed in the hut and nursed my stomach better... 

The trip rounded off nicely with another climb at L'Index a 3 hour route with two abseils....lovely!  Although no Mont Blanc, I will definietly attempt it again before the end of the year, which means Chamonix I will be back!

What next...

I'm sorry, I have many more posts to put up and will likely do a projectile again at some point.

Firstly, I'd like to thank a few sponsors and people that have been detrimental to me completing this expedition successfully, without whom it surely would not have been a possible feat whether financially, physically or mentally:

BSES- for the training, organising and voluntary members that participated within my team (and not to mention massive discount at Cotswold)
Rab- for the special expedition discount on gear
Patagonia- for 40/50% discount they helped us out with
Montane- for all the gear and discount they gave me
Mountain Equipment- again for all the gear they've donated
Playstation- for sponsoring me a large amount of which I am eternally grateful for
Sean Kelly- for helping me with the PS sponsor and for being the most understanding boss in the world and for introducing me to David his lovely German friend that gave me photography tips.
Martin Hartley- the professional polar photographer and the top ten inspirational photographers of 2010 (and my personal inspiration) who tirelessly gave me photography tips and equipment advice specifically for the extreme environment in the arctic (www.martinhartley.com)
Jon Stratford- my personal training instructor at The Third Space for all the training he gave me.
My God children; Jamie and Alexia and their mother Jessica my great friend for keeping me going with their existance (and for understanding when I missed Alexia's first birthday of which I feel awful for but will make up for it now I'm back)
Vanessa and Lisa- for being there for me when times were tough and I had lost all hope, for telling things how they were and for making me laugh

I'm back now and had an incredible experience which I hope to share all of soon. But what next for me?

I love expedition life, the homey camaraderie feel and connection with the like-minded people you meet and to be honest I miss it... Yes, even not having the luxuries we take granted for everyday... A bit like loving the feel of a good old motor... I want to feel like I'm in control and feel it respond to me and that I'm driving it not like the luxuries we get from new motors nowadays where everything is automatically/electrically done for you... More chance of things going wrong too...more things to complain about. Simple is best!

I mentioned that I called our advanced base camp 'home' when I spotted its minute insignificance amongst the vastness of the landscape before me... What I'd neglected to mention was we had just bagged Fjellega summit and that I just had my only bout of vertigo on the trip... I had had Royal in my mind to search for the comfort I knew I could just reactively draw upon with just the thought of  that old bear...Wherever Royal came with me I was home... It didn't matter where we were, it could be in the gutter or an empty room, a dark scary alleyway or a piece of simple fabric under the stars-I'd still be home.  I've learnt that home doesn't have to be a materially physical place, just a mindset of where you are and who you are with...

For some people (or most people) home is the physical place they live, the family they left behind and they understandably miss that when they are away from it, for me home was where I took it... I had written that I'd let you know why I'm doing these things if I ever found out, I know now and it was to learn about myself and not let my life be shaped by what people expect your life to be, it's like aimlessly following the American dream, just because everyone wants it or had it, it doesn't mean you have to want it or have to be governed by it too...

Since coming back I've been living in my own bubble, everyone around me oblivious to what's out there, everyone talking about things that are minute in scale in comparison to the experiences I had endured... (and I'm not saying it was a difficult character building experience as some other things people do...but...) Does complaining about a slow train really help it be anymore faster, no.  Does complaining about the rain or weather make it rain less or be any warmer, no.   I love my bubble, please don't burst it!

Everyone is looking for something in life and for me I believe I had found it but lost it in a short space of time... What does one do when they've found what they are looking for but have lost it? Do they find something else to look for or do they keep looking and waiting on that same thing? I don't know the answer to that... I'm still waiting for a direction that may never come... I could be lost on the roofs of the world looking for what I'd found but at least i know that what I'm looking for exists and is possible and my hopes are all renewed from having it in my hands if only for a short time. I've learnt more about myself in that time than I had done in my whole life time and that's something to shout about and more importantly it had opened my eyes up for more, I'm a very grateful and lucky girl indeed and hope I can at least pass it on to people I meet.

Excuse the pun but it may seem like I'm living in the clouds... Maybe I am, but have you noticed how fast life is moving in front of you.  Have you ever asked yourself if you're doing or have done what you want to? Or has life got in the way of that? I've just woken up and in my spare time I know what I want to be doing!

For now I've learnt a new found freedom of heights thanks to a few key people in my life recently and I'm going to do whatever it takes test my abilities to it's potential and see what I've been missing out!  It's so weird how just a mere acknowledgment of my weakness and conquering it has led me to change my whole out look, I have an itch I can't satisfy now unless I somehow find my weakness again and if it means going higher and higher to look for it then so be it!  Who'd have guess a weakness can actually be a joy! 
North pole is still a dream away but added to this dream is now mountains...

My next mission is Mont Blanc, western Europe's highest peak! I can't quite believe only a mere 6 months ago I couldn't walk over Waterloo Bridge without feeling dizzy and now I'm planning on doing things I would never have dreamt of doing or even enjoy doing!!

Who knows perhaps my challenge after that should be the seven peaks... Highest point on each continent? Far fetched I know, but no man has achieved their dreams without taking his first steps and this August Mont Blanc summit is my first one...a small feat at 4810m I know but Mont Blanc has a special place in my heart and it wouldn't seem right if I didn't start with that one first... watch this space!

...and wish me luck x

The Sound of...Blue Steel

I looked across at my companions and felt a surge of warmth for them, a previously unknown kinship with these people, these strangers, Theo, the pipe smoking historian of Svalbard, who says has a butler called Jeffery... (Though Henry and I think he's actually his imaginary friend...), Henry the Cadet and Sandhurst trooper, and also known affectionately as my Bergen buddy (believe me you need one, if you think you can lift a 12kg+ backpack on your back numerous times a day...think again!  It's not the weight it's the awkwardness of not trying to break or twist your back whilst swinging the darn thing over your shoulder!), finally Andrew the mountain leader (who seems born to be in the mountains, whilst the rest of us develops a nest of matted hair, chapped faces, and sharp pongs Andrew seems part of the element and will probably look the same no matter how long he stays out here), and also the anytime blue steel call uponer and outburster of sound of music sing-alongs...

All four of us from different backgrounds, yet all four of us brought together by this exped and just having completed the same summits... We noused it one (army term, used after mastering something), or ninja'd it...as the favourite term we used through our time here... (doing something with better efficiency than how it's meant to be done by the book - be it time or technique...).

After, the horseshoe victory we worked our route back down, where Theo found an unhappy Turtle which ran from him but miraculously turned into the happy pill it was meant to be way before reaching the bottom (the unhappy turtle is actually his helmet turned the wrong way on a slope and the happy
pill, well you can guess what that is...). We all childishly ran with him (the hiiiiiiiilllls are allive, with the soooound of....) and it felt great that we can express ourselves in ways I wouldn't dream of doing normally... The snow on a few parts of the mountain here was above my knee height in some places, so the trek back was more like climbing steep steps as getting out of them was more than annoying, after unroping I tried to navigate on neve, which is lovely hardened snow, hard to grip with crampons but lovely to the feel and at least guaranteed not having a hole chest height to climb out of at each step.  A few deers (female?) topped some of the higher ranges as we made our way across the frozen wastelands, they seem unphased by our presence.  Are we not intruding upon your land?  Do you not mind that we stain your perfectly white canvased view with our bold colours and thunderous chants?  We belonged, nature was telling us we belonged and it felt great!

The exhilaration of our success has rendered us exhausted, 9 hours in the field today and we still had to make it back to base camp! I suspect our plan to dig a snow cave to live in it for that night was out the window.

The rest of the two rope teams were already back having completed their objectives for the day.

I look at base camp, a place I had inadvertently called 'home' after viewing at it's insignificant size amongst the vastness of the arctic when on top of one of the peaks a few days ago. *Home*, something I haven't called anywhere for ages back in the UK... Strange how after a long hard day even a bit of plastic on snow can be known as 'home, to me. It's setting perfectly nested against the gentle rolling whiteness, like a big playground of wonderment, reminds me of being a kid again, so impossibly
tranquil and redolent of childhood innocence that I have misguided split feelings as on the other hand I couldn't quite equate them with my sweat ridden caked base layers and undismissable smell of yes-digestive biscuits ha - funny how laughing and crying at the same time... is laughable...

Yes, time for a shower! No, not that kind of shower. Yes when you're here for a certain amount of time, you tend to relate routines and objects out here to things back at home, as if to keep a bit of normality... A shower actually means wet wiping yourself. The kitchen area is the porch area of
the tent, the bathroom; a hole in the floor where our warm waste have melted the area till you can't see the bottom (nice), the garage; place to park our pulks etc etc... (some of myyyy favourite thingssss...)

Back to the shower; apart from Andrew, we were all faintly resembling the human beings we had been two weeks previously... no wet wipes will do, makes me pin for my cold shower I had resented all them days ago...

Hard to comprehend but full of admiration (and a little jealous) that some guys will be staying for a further 7 weeks!  It will be Auf Wiedersehen from me soon, and I will be sad to leave this place, a place I unknowingly called home...

Prologue - a snippet

I woke up today to the familiar sound of the next tents stove firing up...my daily alarm! I felt no pain, or was it that I felt pain everywhere that I could not pinpont an exact location of pain?  We had been pulking over distances and I'm beginning to think the ski's are permanently attached to my feet.  That was yesterday, today is today...

It wasn't an objective, just a landmark... Our work had been done and we're attempting to bag 3 summits today on Hallwylfillet range. The three summits form a 6k horseshoe ridge and our team of four were on our last summit.

Gone was the familiar comfort of my PT's motivating shouts, gone were the small bridges and low mountains I had trained on, memories of those seemed a life time ago and certainly a world away. Instead I'm left to my own voice in my head and my own search for courage and determination.

'Go Flo, you can do it'... Where did that come from?! It was me! I was hallucinating...? I was finally cracking bonkers...? Or somehow somewhere I had drawn on the ability to recreate the comfort I had so strongly depended on back home? I had desperately wished for it and finally on the most challenging task to date on this exped-I had found it...(At least I hope the latter is the reason and not the former two!).

I've hidden my 'fear of my returning vertigo' very well from my team and I'm proud of myself for all the feats we have conquered thus far... Pride, not something I often feel for myself, I made a mental note of doing this more if I made it out of here intact!

The ridge had drops of around 1000m either side and I could see some sections of the ridge were as narrow as 5m wide with massive cornices on either side. We knew they were massive from where the sun was and how the dark culprits of shadow lingered below the edges of the ridge. So the margin of safety ground we can set foot on is small as you can imagine. The potential for fun was incredible, the potential for fuck-up-immense...

We were about to master a technical section - a sheer drop down to the last section of the ridge before the final summit. For ridges if one should fall the normal procedure is for the other person to do a leap of faith THE OPPOSITE way off the ridge from the faller... Errr helllo... Purposely throwing myself off a ridge...? Fun!!

However for this ridge we decided on ice axe arrests...We were all roped together before the ascent and all masters in practising the ice axe arrests should any one fall. Doing it for real I hope we'll never do but
it was constantly at the front of my mind, drop and stab your axe in! Drop and stab your axe...raaawr - can I feel anymore savage and ferral than I already am after being in the white wilderness for the last two weeks?

My PT when coaching me of getting over my vertigo told me to concentrate on something else I enjoy, like photography, my camera was my pillar and safety net, something to look through and hold onto to should my vertigo jump me from behind... It's been with me everywhere here and will continue to be as long as need it.

I looked out at the view...the view... am I beginning to take it for granted now being out here for so many days? No! I don't think I'll ever acclimatise to this magnificent existence (nor would I want to if it was down to choice), I know this now...no photographer can do this place justice... The eyes are simply not enough to absorb the full extent of what it's like out here, you have to feel it, you have to share it with companions and their sun blushed faces, you have to feel deserving for it, it can't just be dropped on your lap(...top) as a photograph... That's only a minute fraction of the experience... It's a shame as the photographer I'm troubled I can't relay all the thoughts and feelings experienced here, for one they are uncontrollable, I can hardly contain them like a jack in the box... If I knew my companions better I'd be bursting out with shouts of amazement and awe, but I refrained from looking completely unhinged (I hope I succeeded...). I can only show you what I see... It's truly *not* enough...sorry to disappoint...

Time to ninja this ridge...

Remember...

...to read from the bottom up if you are catching up on my blogs...., there's also older posts as well from March, full link is here: 

http://florencekay.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=13

 

! 

Enjoy xx

This is it...

Well it's tomorrow a few of us are flying out to join the team...I've rechecked my gear, picked up last bits and fully packed now...I think this will be my last post.  I'm not sure if I will have the ability to post when I'm out there, we only have emergency satelite phones.. for emergencies... so chances are small... but rest assured that I will continue to write my blog out there and will repost when I get back...I will be bringing a mascot with me but you'll have to wait to see which one I bring...

I actually wrote the post "Ressurection of the Royal(s)" a week and a half ago...

I've come to realise that although it was Royal that gave me the courage. strength and sheer determination to carry on it was something that was taught rather than given and it was all in the mind he was just a medium and allowed this to be opened to me.

I'm off tomorrow and I know I can do this myself, I know Royal's out there somewhere but he taught me to believe in myself, and I do, I have him to thank for it (**thank-you** Royal) but ultimately as messed up as this is in my head I do know that it's me that I believe in and I know I don't need someone to tell me I have it in me and that I can do it... sometimes it's nice that's all...

I'm finally mentally there, I'd never thought I'd get here but I am, there's no barriers for expectations and no doubts about my ability, I'm so glad I'm getting to prove this over the next few weeks... not many people do or get to because life gets in the way and it's a sad sad thought. 

I hope friends and family, God-son (Jamie) and God-daughter (Alexia) and who ever reading this can have the comfort to know that anything is possible and it's certainly never too late to do something you've always wanted to do, go get up and do it! If you don't expect then you won't have any surprises, but sometimes ... just sometimes, expecting something shapes your adventures and although I'm still unsure what to expect, I am sure ready to see what will be thrown at me out there.

Unlimited adventure lies out there for me and for all of us, waiting to be mapped out and explored...and I certainly can not possibly wait to embark on mine, when will yours be??

''Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.''

Mark Twain via Royal.

Ressurections of the Royal(s)?

Er since my post of introducing Royal and then the subsequent fall of him, I've had really touching emails and presents/packages (some out of the blue) given/sent to me... I just wanted to share the support I've received for this... two even have the tear in his right shoulder, one is white and not blue... love them all the same...you guys are funny... Thank-you, I'm speechless...

I said to myself I didn't want to mention Royal again but seen as some of you have asked, I'm doing ok without Royal, there are moments when training where I'd have him as a passing thought in my mind, but that is all it will be-a passing thought, it's a bear after all and I'm yes a sentimental git but I know that extra support out there from all you lot will more than help.

I decided I will pick a Royal lookalike to take with me on the ice. Space I have is next to none as any weight will add to the toll I'd have to drag behind me but this is one thing I'd like to bring and I'll do one of those sad things where I'd take pictures of it everywhere. I hate being on the otherside of the lens myself so this would be a good way of living through my adventure. Unfortunately the bigger Royals will have to be a no no...

I never took a photo of the original royal as I'd never thought I'd loose him and besides he was my little secret, who wants to admit that being a grown up lady I'd still have a stuff toy and not only that a stuff toy that I've attached so many emotions to...? Serves me right for relying so much on one thing...I've learnt my lesson. Yes I'm still bitter and sad and I'd reclaim him anytime, even if it means going back to Chamonix to do it, but truth of the matter is the courage and motivation he gave me, it was all in the mind. He was probably like the Littliest Hobo (do you remember that program?...classic!), he's done his job and now he's moved on...

The team's out there already!

Well some of the team are out there already and I'll be joining them soon!
They've already got some photos back and I'm so jealous and it all adds fuel to my excitement as the days are drawing closer to when I can go.  My flights have finally been booked for 14th April, a week later!  But nevertheless I'm glad as I've been ill so this has given me time to regain my strength and get better to join my team...

The containers were all packed and shipped across about two months ago... lot's of gear for lots of important work!

The team have been getting all our kit over to base camp 1 then will be moving onto base camp 2.  They would have stocked up on their individual rations already and by now would have completed their gear check list and hopefully have reached BC2 all of this for me to look forward to...

They used a band wagon (BV?) to trasnport all our goods.  Jon was telling me in the marines they had rope hanging off the back for troops to 'ski' off...awesome!

Here's the team setting up camp after a hard days work...again jealous I'm not there! Just look at all that snow!!

Can't wait to join them...

Polar Bear prep...! (Do not run!!!)

There will be a very high chance that we will see polar bears out there.  Whilst polar bears are photographically pleasing and great as stuffed toys, in reality they are meat eat, human slicing machines.  They are the worlds most dangerous animals known to humans...  So what have we as a team done and going to do to prepare for this?

When I got to our training outpost a few months ago, I didn't know what to expect and when it came to the polar defence training section, I was not prepared for what we were about to be taught.  Firstly the stories they had of the past and the gruesome pictures and news posts they had up on the walls didn't help one bit... nervous about this, a little...but also excited if I could see one from afar and have a telephoto lens...

We were trained in rifles and the upkeep of rifles.  The most ironic thing about this whole this is I knew exactly what the weapon was when they brought it out... a Kar98, my most favourite weapon  when playing my all time favourite game: Call of Duty (the first few series on PC about 10 years ago...).  I was always the assigned rifler for my clan and our matches were always accompanied by my trusty K98 is we played Axis, if we were British then the Enfield was my choice and American, well they didn't have nice rifles to use, so I settled always for the Garand (perCHING!!)... I was so excited at actually have one of these in my hand, it's definietly a lot heavier than I imagined... actually I lie, I never imagined I would ever hold one of these babies in my hands and there I was with one!!

The Karabiner 98 Kurz (often abbreviated Kar98k, K98, or K98k) was a bolt action rifle chambered for the 8x57 IS cartridge that was adopted as the standard service rifle in 1935 by the German Wehrmacht.^[2] It was one of the final developments in the long line of Mauser military rifles. Although supplemented by semi- and fully automatic rifles during World War II, it remained the German service rifle until the end of World War II in 1945.

Excitement over, back to polar bears!
We're meant to try not get the polar bears attention (so no putting on shows for it or entertaining it...), but if it shows sign of interest in use we all have to as a team create as much noise as we can to try and scare it off (there's a vdeio of one fo the past teams, bagging all sorts of pots and pans together and shouting as load as they can for what seemed like 30mins + ... yes interesting video...), whilst the two riflers are prepared...  if it still shows sign of coming to us, then we have bare flares which we are also trained in using.  We will each have two bear flares with us in our pockets and our camp will also be set with bear flare traps... 

It is against the law to shoot or harm a Polar bear in the Arctic... unless they are within 25metres of you... so I've been keeping an eye on how far that is by looking at the length of my swimming pool at the gym... it's not that far and if they can run well it won't take bit a few seconds to get to us...! It's in all's best interest not to shoot a polar bear and I hope I'd never have to do it... not only mentally it will probably scar me for life, but also the strict laws out there... if we are in the middle of no where we'd have to wait for the authorities to get to us, which could take days,,, we're also not allowed to move from where we shot or move the polar bear so the authorities can start their investigation and paper work, it will seriously hamper our objectives out there.

As much as a polar would be great to see and photograph, I'm mixed in my feelings about seeing one... I want to keep the rose tinted glasses view of them in my head...

Fieldwork Brief

Spring team 2011's brief is the same as previous years...so I thought I'd do a quick run down of what is being covered...

Glaciers currently hold 60% of the world’s fresh water and cover 10% of the land area. Glacier monitoring is becoming increasingly important due to global climate change and its effects on glaciers. Research began in the late-18th century but as technology has improved and remote areas are now more accessible, scientific research has increased and the understanding of glaciers has improved significantly. We must now use this knowledge to try and explain how glaciers will change due to warming climates and how this will impact on life around the world.

The Extreme Arctic expedition starting in Svalbard and heading beyond the arctic sheet began in 2006 and each year fieldwork projects have been repeated to allow us to obtain a more in-depth understanding of the processes occurring within the expedition area. This means that the main body of the fieldwork will be repeated in 2011 (although there will be ample opportunity for other projects of interest). By employing this method, we are able to build a picture of the region as an indicator for the whole of Svalbard and wider polar environments.

As the spring expedition returns to the same area each year it provides an ideal opportunity to investigate any contemporary changes in local glacial behaviour. During May 2009, five members of that team surveyed an ice cave discovered by one of the expedition leaders four years previously. In 2011, we will return to the cave’s location and re-survey the interior to see how it has changed and evolved over the past two years.

To support our science work, links have been made with the UK Polar Network, International Glaciological Society, Scott Polar Research Institute and University of Cambridge Geography department.

Arctic vs Antarctica

So I had a choice, Arctic or Antarctic... why did I go for Arctic...?
Why not!

-Arctic is the top of the world...being on top of the world is surely much better than being at the bottom?
-Antarctic is not owned by anyone, so there's no rules there and tourism via tour companies disrespectively do what the hell they like there, and I'm sure the pollution is taking it's toll there...
-Northern lights instead of southern...!

-Arctic is a series of ice caps floating over the North Polar region, antarctica is.... well just another continent...
-Polar bears vs Penguins.... Polar bears anyday!

I'll still jump at the chance to go antarctica if it comes up but my first choice is Arctic, it always has been, ever since I can remember, Antarctic was never part of the choice...

Preparation and packing!

So I'm preparing for the expedition, but how prepared am I?! All the kit and physical things I have to bring are finally sorted aside from a few bits and pieces! I had to eat into my savings but aside from that I'm ready with my kit. But what about the rest of it...sure there's training and although I'll never ever think I've trained enough I think I've come a long way from when I started.

Take my vertigo, I couldn't walk across waterloo bridge without feeling the need to jump over it a few months back... I've started walking over it again recently and all I have are memories of how I felt, I feel fine looking over the edge and no feeling of being drawn to jumping. Blessing or not I don't know. Someone once told me jealously that I was lucky to feel that way and I suppose I was but I only realise that now and and miss it somewhat... I loved the exhilaration and head rush it gave me (not so much the nose bleeds...). I know it doesn't sound like much and it sounds weak but i couldn't help feeling that way and it was something i hardly admitted to anyone (aside from when it hit me on Mount Sinaii with two of my friends who watched me climb up effortlessly only to come down the whole way on my arse, now that I could not hide (not cos I had a big arse (!) but my feeling of being drawn to the edge was very apparent!!)). Nevertheless, a bridge and a mountain are totally different and I know I still have a long way to go judging from how I was in Chamonix.

What else do I have to be prepared for...? The rest of the stuff I'd have to deal with when I'm there as there is no way of preparing for it, unless I'm very creative. But I haven't been creative, I've had no time to be creative... I don't know if you've ever let someone down, got your ass kicked, or straight up failed. But those are the moments that define us. They push you further than you've ever thought possible and force you to make choices, no matter what the cost. These are the moments I know I'm going to be up against out there and I have mixed feelings about that. I like the comfort of my own little bubble and yes sometimes I do crazy things and step out of that, but only because I still know that it won't last long or it's only a 'moment'...I'm going to be out there for a good few weeks, so if it goes wrong, it's going to go WRONG!

These are the things I can think of that I'd have to get used to:

24hour daylight Yes at the time we're going, the sun will never set! How odd will that be. I only worry about sleep at this time and gutted i might miss the Northern Lights but aside from that I'm hoping it won't affect me that much? How hard can it be? I have my trusty eye mask with me so perhaps I can try sleeping during the day and practicing with that?

Extreme cold I saw some photos of previous teams that went out there, temperatures hit a low of -31 degrees and that's not even taking into account the wind shield factor! Peoples hair were rock hard and froze up, hell even at -5 in Chamonix the rope we were tied to was like a stick-what will -30+ be? There is no way of preparring for this apart from kit, unless I go and live in a freezer for a bit. Somehow I don't think that would be wise....

6000 calories a day Partly due to the cold and how your body will try it's best to warm you up and mostly because of the sheer demand of working we'd be doing on the snow/ice.... I'll be using up a hell of a lot of energy! So our ration packs for the day includes 6000 calories… that’s 3 times the recommended amount a day for females… so this loosing and using up energy better work or I will come back needing the gym more than ever…! Our ration packs roughly contain the following per day: bag of porridge, 2 bars of chocolate, 2 flapjacks, biscuits, jam and cheese, freeze dried dinner and a pudding… I’m bringing a few things with me… my PTI Jon has done this before and I asked him what was the one thing he craved… “sweets” was what he said and Jelly babies are great, so I mustn’t forget to stock up on sweets for my adventure…!
Exhaustion
I’ve been ill running up to the departure for this trip and I’m constantly nervous that it will affect my performance out there. I’m a lot better now but with a few days to go and no training done whilst being in bed it’s a hit or miss if I’ll be able to be as fit as I should be… We will be pulling pulks 6/8 hours a day dependant on weather conditions so exhaustion is a major factor for this kind of expedition… I’m hoping the training that I have done before I became ill is enough to help me prepare for this. Somehow I don’t think so, but we will see…

Tent living
Yes, being in the middle of nowhere is great, and we will be living in tents for the whole of the expedition. The most I’ve done is 7 days in a tent and even then it was a campsite with electricity and running showers and toilets… We will have none of that there (yes Lisa, I can’t just check myself into a hotel there…!), we have to dig holes for toilets and take all the rubbish with us… girls have to use some thing called a shepee (hehe), I’ll leave it up to your imaginations what that could be… no showers means copious amounts of wet wipes and merino wear is a must… It will certainly be an experience and I’m sure I will not be able to wait to get back to Longy wear we have packed our luxuries for that one shower we will get before boarding the plane back (I’m sure they will not let us get on the plane in the state we will be in?). I could prepare for this by not showering for a while or peeing in bottles from now… but I’m sure that will go down well at work and around friends/family… I’m pretty sure I will have none of those left if I did… so unfortunately this is something I will just have to jump into the deep end at as it were… fun!

Kit
I’ve been over and over my kit list and there are a lot of stuff to bring… stuff I vowed I will use again! I recently got all my kit and laid it out on the floor and I’m baffled at how I will be able to fit this all into a 100L duffle…

I ended up getting a 140L duffle and I spent hours trying to get everything sorted into colour coordinated dry sacks and had numerous attempts at fitting things in different places.  'Start stuffing stuff and using up all space from the momet you start packing' says Andrew... okay I'm trying but this is the best I can do right now and there's still stuff left over!! Grrrr, time to call the team and see if they have the same problem... Henry does yes!  Shall we wear our big plastic Scarpa boots on the plane, we don't know... is it a security risk to have such big boots.... we don't know...  back to square one again for packing....

Time to pull stuff out and see what is absolutely necessary. My leader said that if all my stuff doesn’t fit into a 100L duffle you are either bringing too much or you are packing wrong. I really hope it’s the latter…as I can’t see what I can take out without hampering the expedition…

With the kit buying and training I believe physically and materially I’m all done and prepared, I just have to finalise myself mentally now… I won’t lie I think I am only almost there, but not quite, I’m content at what the expedition involves and what it requires for me, it will be a trip of a lifetime and something I hope I’ll never forget… but I think in all situations like this I’ll always have doubts, maybe to protect myself from disappointment, is that the wrong way to go about it? I don’t know. Whichever, I am truly excited now, a few more days to go!

Sorry blog delays

I've been ill so I haven't blogged in a while, but I had a few I was working on from previously but just haven't had the chance to load them.  They will be uploaded today as today is the last day before I set off (yes I'm still here, going later than I planned)...watch this space x

Chamonix Part 2 - the fall of Royal...

The next day I was almost reluctant to open the curtains, but i jumped at joy when staring back at me were the mountains blazed in glorious morning sunshine!!! I could hardly get changed quicker afriad the clouds will change their minds. They can't, we're on a mission and don't we know it! With my big plastic Scarper boots I started thumping down the streets of Chamonix towards the lifts, ...they were working and people were already starting to gather, no real big queues like I've experienced in other resorts but is that because of the end of the season, I don't know I didn't care...! The scene and the mountains didn't disappoint, I swear I must have been an inuit in my past life, I felt like home, I belonged!

I had something at the back of my mind coming here, I have vertigo and despite training for it i dreaded the ridge between Aiguille du Midi and Vallee Blanche and I suspected I buried this fear deeper than I had thought, because I hadn't thought of it until stepping off the cable car..., there are steep falls on either side and although we'll be roped up I still couldn't help but feel a little ill from the mere thought of it....we harnessed up and roped ourselves together and then we were off onto the ridge.... It may have been the thin air, the orange tint on my shades or the just the mere views....the views of towering over Chamonix and the rugged and snowy mountains, but I was fine, digging into the ridge with my crapons like I had a bone to pick with the place !

We spent our time there mountaineering and staring at awe at climbers at the top, it was exilarating. When it was time to go back up the ridge, everyone had gone and it was just us...I couldn't help but feel the vertigo creeping up behind me, ready to pounce. All I could do was look down at my feet and soldier on. It was freeezing as well and I started breathing heavily and loosing my balance, but my leaders voice beckoned me to go on..."C'mon Flo, 7 meters for you to go and then you're there...!". I'd made it and collapsed in a sorry heap whist trying to take my Crampons off.

I turned to find Royal to get my support, but alas he was nowhere to be seen, not in my front smock pocket where I normally had him, not in my rucksack zips.... I panicked... he was there was going across the ridge earlier. So in between my trip in the mountains here I had managed to loose Royal just as quickly as I had found him... I know he was just a bear, but when you start to associate emotions with something and you had relied on it you find it hard to do with out it especially when it was such a swift exit, no friendly goodbyes, no time to absorb the idea of a departure?.... heartbroken over a bear....I know.... but with roller coaster emotions for the last few months and the forever impending trip coming up, I had relied on Royal and he made it a smooth ride for me... (why I gave him his gender I don't know.... blue is for boys right?!)....

Chamonix will always have a place in my heart, even though the first trip didn't go to plan, I knew I had the willpower, courage and the support behind me then, this last visit to Chamonix was a success but ended with loosing what I still think will have got me through my expedition in April. Both visits balanced themselves out, but in my hearts of hearts I knew I preferred my first adventure in December...

Neverthless this trip was significant for me as it was the true beginning of my relationship with snow and the magnificent mountains , but it also marked the end of something else just as spectacular and beautiful... Royal will always be part of the snow and the mountains to me and I'd only have to look at them for any reminder of what he gave me, the strength and pillar he was! Missing him certainly doesn't keep me warm at nights, but out in the cold I know I will be able to count on him, cheering me on and giving me the warm motivation I need...

If anyone happens to come across a navy blue bear (possibly answers to the name of 'Royal') of such description with a tear on his right shoulder then please return him, or take good care of him, I'll be content to know that he'll be someone else's pillar rather than lost in abyss of the snow... (even if you make up a new navy blue bear and tear it's shoulder, I promise to turn a blind eye and pretend he was the original...!)

 

Chamonix Part 1 - the intro

Since the seed of this expedition was planted I had mostly looked forward to the training and a repeat trip to Chamonix was always on the cards.

Training has been a huge part of my life for past couple of years and I intend to keep in going long after the science programme in the Arctic is over and have it as part of my weekly routine. One crucial turning point for me was when I injured my ribs in Wales on Pembrokshire coastline a few months ago... I thought my dreams had been shattered right before me when I felt excruciating pain everytime I trained.

I remember back in November we were training right outside Buckingham palace and the pain from doing a simple push up make me nauseous and whilst in plank position when i thought i couldn't do anymore, I spotted a tiny stuffed bear peaking at me from behind the grass, as sweat was watering the foliage around me I looked at it and it felt like he was willing me to go on, 'go on Flo, awesome effort Flo, keep going', i'm not sure where i found the will power from but I worked through my damaged ribs and completed the remainder of that session effortlessly. I kept the bear and named it Royal as it was found on Royal grounds and it's also a Rich Royal blue. Not much of a name for a bear but it was very fitting. I often wondered who Royal belonged to, where he's come from, what he's been through, with its well stuffed body it was perfect aside from a small tear on it's right shoulder, but to me Royal was perfect. I kept him as he was as his perfection and flaws were part of who he was to me...

Royal has been with me ever since that mid November evening and he has kept me going when I thought I couldn't give anymore, he was my crutch in everyway. In mid December my first trip to Chamonix, Royal came with me and it was was to be no different for this Chamonix trip too.

With my rucksacks packed and Royal within reach we left like early birds in the morning and caught a plane to Geneva, good old BA airmiles sorted me out...

Looking out at Geneva from the plane the little peaks of terrain everywhere reminded me of meringue tops, I knew I hungry for some sugar, not for the pitiful sandwich that was offered on the flight!

From Geneva an hour's drive took us into the heart of Chamonix...Ahhh Chamonix, I'm back again!  Not only does it harbour Mont Blanc the highest peak in Europe but it's also a natural hub for extreme sports all year round so it's a wonder why I've fallen for this place. A little over two hours from home and you're surrounded by natural delights...

The only downfall is the exchange rates for food and drinks (5euros for a beer!), but equipment shopping is worth taking a look at, and there are plenty of shops here! I'm a keen shopper for kit! Shopping for extreme wear over the borders of another country certainly makes me no different!

Our first day was, -you guessed it- shopping day! We made sure there was time for this and Chamonix didn't fail! It was my plan here to complete my kit list as there's a lot more choice here with brands and models you'd find hard to get in the UK. Back over here you get Cotswold, Snow and Rock, Ellis Brigham which contain a small selection of styles from different brands, in Chamonix you get whole shops dedicated to one brand!

Icebreaker was my first stop and my favourite kind of baselayer... There is nothing that compares to 100 % Merino wool against my skin and I wouldn't dream of using anything else (smelly Helly, er no thanks!)... The day rounded off nicely with gear complete and Fondue and beers downed in the evening!

My hotel room looked out onto the mountains but the next morning I awoke to find a blanket of cloud had descended and visibility was poor. We made it to the Aguille Du Midi lifts and the live monitors showed that the visibility doesn't get better at the top. I had to swallow my disappointment as we went into plan B, the Montenver Glacier. The hope was to get onto the glacier and do some glacial work but our cute train ride up there confirmed that the visibility was not dying down so the cable cars were stuck. We crossed our fingers and toes that they would reopen soon whilst we visted the crystal caves and small shop/cafe there. Plenty of skiers and mountaineerers were stuck there also.

Our prayers were answered when the cables started moving, woo! With our kit on our backs and a smile on our faces we took a short cable ride down. The ride proceeded with a 350 down to the natural ice caves, it was interesting to see what level the glacier was at certain years, it's levels have been lowered throughout the years and by a fast pace too. The first thing you'll notice when you get up here is the deafening sound of the glacier when it moves and cracks against it's own pressure firing off other areas with repeating cracks almost as if each crack is in a competition to beat the others... so addictive and hypnotising to hear. We got to the caves but the clouds were still so thick we were advise that it'd be too dangerous to proceed onto the glacier! Despite the disapointing start to our trip we put our chins up and made the most of the day by enjoying what we could.

　

　

The Mental & The Physical

Preparing for this expedition is more than hard and I can only go on past expedition
biogs to mentally prepare for it. They say that 80% of this kind of expedition is all in the mind and only 20% of it is physical. My expedition leader Andrew Rees Stoke advised us to mentally train by endurance fitness, what ever it is you do, do it for a long amount of time... Okay I thought, I've done that it before... I did the Walk the Walk Moonwalk for Charity 3 years in a row. That's walking 26.2 miles (yes the .2 bit was the killer) over the course of 7 and a half hours! Yes charity, but surely there's less painful ways of raising money for a good cause?! Is it the buzz of getting together with like-minded people all with the same goals? Yes that's always something to look forward to, but I do that everyday in my job...

Each time (during the event) I vowed I'd never do the painfully gruelling deed again, but each year I feel drawn to it and I pondered at why I do it again and again. And the big question here is WHY? Why the arctic, why now!? These are the questions I often hear thrown as me by my friends and colleague who all must by now think I'm utterly insane.

They say your mind forgets pain easily, especially if you're of the female variety (something to do with reproduction and the need to give birth again...?!), so perhaps I'm falling into the human nature trap of forgetting long suffering physical and mental endurance, or perhaps I have never really put my body and mind through enough to really and truly know what I've let myself in for... Scary stuff!

I finally came to the conclusion that I'm addicted to putting myself through extremities and seeing how far I can push myself, but for some reason I'm not willing to admit this to anyone let alone myself... There is nothing better than completing your goals and more so if it was particularly soul destroying whilst doing it... The mental feat needed to combat pain or back breaking brutalness is definitely a challenge and is something I need to work on, I look upon it as character building so it's all good...

If during this adventure I find the answer (or a better answer) of why I'm doing this, I will be sure to share it!

As for physical preparation, I felt like I was on my own until I coincidentally come across the official trainer for the Catlin Arctic Survey Team! What is better than learning from the same trainer that trains a world leading Arctic team? Nothing comes closer!

I initially had no motivation to carry out the countless fitness programmes I had painfully dug up specifically for polar training, I spent energy researching the topic more than I had actually training for it and it was a constant droning worry that I will not be fit enough to do it. Not only will this mean I can't enjoy what I'm experiencing as much but the thought that I'd be dragging my team down or putting them in danger is more than enough to give me a good kick up the backside to put 100% in being prepared for this expedition.

My week to week training have pretty much been the same for the last 5 months and these are broken up into long weekends away training with my team and some solo ones too.

Weekly training includes, core and strength stability training (circuit and pilates), hypoxic training, swimming and rock climbing. The latter is more for my pleasure but I've been told this will help too.

Only one more month to go! For the past 5 months I've been increasing my activities and any spare time I have you'll mostly find me training (this is meant to be a subtle/cowardly way of apologising to friends and family that I have neglected these last few months...sorry...!), whether it's after work or weekends, early morning or late at night...

The changes I have seen are small to myself but people have often commented on how much I've improved, I guess fitness and improving on a technique is not essentially physically measureable and especially if I'm doing the activities daily, it's hard for me to see any change at all...

The training trips I've attended and been on are always so fruitful, I can't possibly imagine wanting to miss them. The one in Derbyshire was a gem and integral part of my training, actually meeting the people in my team was key, especially if worrying about whether we'd all get along or not. Luckily as you'll see in my other blog we all do and now I'm even more so looking forward to getting to know them better during our expedition...

So as I draw a close to this blog, I'd like to round off by thanking everyone that have played a crucial part in getting me where I am today. My mental and physically goal is always being challenged and I'm constantly surrounded by key people that whether they know it or not have given me the infectious courage and motivation to carry on that little bit further. When I'm on the ice surrounded by the vast lifeless tundra and when I hit a snag I will always look back to how grateful I am right now... Whether it's 'snow cones', or that extra 'awesome effort Flo!', it's the little things that will keep me going...!

A Distant Dream... becoming real

When I was a wee lass I used to sit hours on end hanging out my window wondering and questioning, questioning and wondering... What are we doing here? Why am I conscious of my existence? What's the rest of the universe like?

The feeling of amazement was constantly so strong, I truly believed we were special. The stars - oh the stars! I could never get bored of the stars, how I tracked them night upon night until dawn broke and I'd fall asleep still hanging out my window.

It may sound like I lived in the middle of nowhere where skies are always clear but in fact I grew up in central london in a council estate that of which I could see stamford bridge football stadium from my window (was fun trying to see how lagged the TV was compared with the actual cheering just across the stadium).

My constant curiosity of the universe and the stars made me determined that it was what I wanted to do when I grew up, be an explorer, an astrophysicist to be precise...

My hero was a astronomer called Carl Sagan, even as a young child he connected with our minds and that's what I loved about him.  His one piece I discovered coincided with a pivotal point in my childhood and changed the way I've looked at our planet and ourselves for good. 

It's called the Pale Blue Dot. Sagan was part of the team that sent up Casini a space probe sent to research Saturn, it's rings and moons, he turned the camera back to Earth from Saturn and caught a what seemed like insignificant photo at the time. 

"Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar", every "supreme leader", every siant and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam..."

When technology came into place (yes I'm that old!!) the first thing I did was to search for his clip on the Pale Blue Dot.  It's one thing reading his words, to hear it from the legend himslef is a different thing.   

When I'm stressed or frustrated, I just find this video (or his book) and all what I felt would seems so insignificant...

It made me realise and more determined to be an explorer but explorer of our own world firstly... Don't get me wrong, the universe and cosmos still plays a strong part in my interests, and recently Professor Brian Cox has rekindled my love and facination for it but becoming an astrophysicist was never solely going to get me into space. I am a true believer of multiple lives, so space travel will have to be another lifetime

Explorer? I didn't quite make it, life got in the way sooner than I had planned and I had to grow up real fast (how or why is for another blog!), then the perception of how we should live our life got in the way... (funny how that happens huh?).  Other interests loomed up in the meantime, like the love of photography from my teenage years, I love to express my feelings visually and my trusty point and shoot saw to that!  

2008 saw me off with an entry Olympus DSLR and am now the proud owner of a Canon (yes you Nikon lovers can go shove one hehe).  I'm an amatuer but my passion is pushing me to find out what type of photography it is I like... I love people watching so most of my work have involved people and their surroundings or people and events. 

So how is this all leading to the arctic!? Mid-life crisis some may say or simply the realisation that I didn't want to be regretful on my deathbed, thinking, all I've done is sat my arse down in an office job and not done what I'd like to do is more like it (okay okay it maybe a little bit mid life crisis but one would not like to admit that!).

Don't get me wrong, I'm very lucky that I have a job I'm passionate about, not many people have that and I wouldn't give it up for all the toffee in the world (if I did I'd be a very big girl...!)... But it's because I love my job so much I didn't think I'd be able to go away weeks on end satisfying my itch to explore...

However it's true when they say, you won't know if you don't ask... I asked and I found out I have the most understanding boss and company in the world...(thanks Sean!).   Not only am I able to do what I've planned over the next two years, but I can also keep my job... Win! Win!

Over the next two years I plan on combining photography with exploring my goals.  I don't want it to be easy either.  I don't see the fun in commercial trips...anyone can do that! I want to feel like I've helped the community, the environment in some ways. 

I've been following the British School of Exploring Society for years since starting university and have loved their work so I have joined them and will be starting my adventures in the Arctic come April 2011.  The whole expedition team is part of a conservation project and each year BSES writes a paper on the studies they ahve carried out each year.  I'm priviledged to have been accepted as part of the 2011 team!  Three other projects are on my list after this one, another Arctic Study in 2012, marine conservation in Madagascar and study of Snow Leopards in the Altai Mountains (Central Asia).

So here begins my adventures for the next couple of years!  Please feel free to follow me, I promise, photos and no dull moments.  Any suggestions please post away!