We entered King Hakkon Bay knowing we would have high winds from the west, 30-40 knots to be exact at 5am. The conditions were cloudy with a lot of rain falling as sleet once we approached the stunning snow-capped mountainous island. Breakfast was at 5:45am and boy it was nice knowing it would be the freshest thing we would eat for at least 3 days. We passed cape cove to the starboard side (right side of ship looking forward), the first landing point for Shackleton’s rescue party on the James Caird and the low long black rocky McCarthy island to the port side (left side of ship). Up ahead through the cloud and sleet we could just barely make out the end of the bay, which is a glacier coming down off the islands interior. Our gear was ready since the two evenings before as we had big swell decided to get it out of the way before the motions could render us useless. We stood on the lower deck where the zodiacs (inflatable boat) were being loaded on their drop to the wild deep blue waters with our rucksacks, bags of our hiking boots (we have to where wellies to prevent feet getting wet) and our sharp gear in a bag also to prevent any zodiacs being punctured. I was asked to point out the various features on shore primarily our landing spot the famous Pegotty bluff. All the traverse team were on stand-by and ready, but quite rightly nervous. The excitement was mighty.
Our forecast indicated wind speed of 30-40 knots on day 1, decreasing to 15-25 on day 2 and a modest 5 on day 3. Monika our expedition Coordinator was already on shore and had tested our landing position with Agustin, Berenice and Lucy. The radios were buzzing with instructions in Spanish and at 7:30 we were good to go.
There was about 3-4 gear bags, 6 sleds and 16 of us: Pat, Charlie, Katy, Tony, Frank, Con, Ned, Matt, Sinead, James, Brian, Sandra, Jerry, Peter, Patrick, Ulysses and myself.
We all rallied for our first time putting on our PFD (Personal Floatation Device) and descending the gangway to the Zodiacs, which were queuing up on the water beside the ship as we needed 3. They can take 10-12 passengers plus a driver. Across the rough water, we speeded toward our first footing on land in 4 days. The teams were very efficient on landing apart from being in awe at a few penguins and seals strewn around the rocky beach. The wind howled at us as we got ready under the anxious eye of Monika who had to radio for a zodiac to get Pats Sat phone. We were almost ready and a radio call from the ship instructed her team to leave as the winds were now increasing to over 50 knots. We said our goodbyes and then we were on our own.
Backpacks on and sleds in tow, we headed off across the sandy back beach toward the snow line, which was at least 2-3 kms of undulating glacier moraine, and melt waters streams some snow packed further up. Once on to the snow we couldn’t see the bay not to mind the ship anymore operating on short distance features and GPS. The morning started well and we had made good time up to the start of the Murray snowfield passing Shackleton Gap, although we were never really sure of our position as we had only 20 meters visibility. We called the ship to update them on our progress while on our 2nd break, it was coming up to 1pm. Our first navigational error led us left of our route and down only to have to come back uphill a little and around to get back on course.
Everyone was doing great and the sled pullers were coping under the strain of their new form of gear transport. Each sled had a Hilleberg tent, stakes and pegs, Cook-sets, spare gas and some had our ropes and rescue gear. We breaked briefly now that we had gained 3-400 meters ASL (above sea level) and fixed our clothing, etc. The wind was blowing very strong and we needed every ounce to stay focused on following the faint figure ahead trudging along like a line of ants into the abyss of whiteout. We were here for adventure and South Georgia was living up to its name. At one stage I had lost feeling in my fingertips for a while down to the wind-chill and leaking over-mitts. God it felt like hell for a while!!
Charlie led the way out front and finally we noticed that we had crested some snow hills and were now descending slowly, this was good news if we were on course. Eventually the wind slowed and a little visibility came through to reveal a triangular peak just off in front to the right. We struggled the last half a km having already relieved some of the sled pullers as they were exhausted and pulled up to our first campsite within reach of the famous trident towers which we couldn’t see but knew they were there somewhere. Not much was said during the day between us, but now it was time to get warm and dry and the relatively sheltered spot gave us the chance to communicate the setting up of our tents. The team responded well under pressure and had food nearly ready within an hour of stopping. Before putting our heads down there was banter amongst the tents with Pat interrupting ever so often asking for water bottles to be filled before bed time for the following day. Spirits were high again.
