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BSES Expeditions – Antarctic Recce 2006
South Georgia (2 Dec 06 – 14 Dec 06)
Following the successful BSES programme on the Antarctic Peninsula and battlefield tours on the Falkland Islands, the new group of 6 recce leaders (they lost 3 and gained 1 in the Falklands) went ashore for a 2 week period on South Georgia.
On 2 December a boat transfer to the “Manager’s Lodge” at Husvik was made and the first plan was to head south west towards the Neumayer Glacier to check safe access to the Kohl Plateau and the Wilckens Peaks. This proved fruitless because of appalling weather and, on day three, having climbed to Dogtooth Pass above Guldbrandsen Lake and viewed the Konig Glacier area, their attention was switched to that route. This was subsequently crossed and suitable base camp locations were found for next year’s expedition.
The morning of 5 Dec 06 was spent assisting Sally Poncet with a White Chinned Petrel survey and then, during the afternoon, a camp was positioned overlooking Fortuna Bay. From there the approaches to Admiralty Peak (and beyond) were found to be a safer and more pleasant option than from the heavily crevasses Neumayer glacier. The rest of the time at Husvik was spent carrying out recces of routes to Carlita Bay, Stromness and Leith Harbour and Kelp Head (en route to Jason Harbour) as well as “ground truthing” the aerial seal count figures. All this activity was in preparation for next year’s BSES Gap Year expedition which Endurance is supporting. 12 places will be available for youngsters aged between 18 – 22 years old.
Finally, following a boat transfer via Grytviken, a recce was undertaken of the Barff Peninsula using Corral Bay as a base. From here it was possible to establish a somewhat steep and dangerous route to Rookery Bay via the bay containing Alert Rock and a much safer route to Godthul Bay. All of these areas were brimming with wildlife interest and may be potential sites for future expeditions beyond next year. This unique series of expeditions is set to run annually with Endurance for a 5 year period.
With time getting short and the weather closing in the team rejoined the Ship on the evening of 14 Dec 06. See below for some of the images of this recce:-
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