Occupational Hazard – part one

After my Bionic Hip had been inserted

Two years ago last December I finished a meeting with the BBC in White City and crossed the road to catch up with my wife and her mother who I had dangerously left in Westfield Shopping “city”. Wandering about, waiting for them to finish my left hip locked up and became particularly painful. To cut a long story short I felt the need to consult an expert and within a month I had my worn out hip re-surfaced with a metal on metal joint replacing the ball and cup I had worn out pulling heavy sledges over rough terrain and for too much of my life. My consultant, Mr Rakesh Kucheria, called it traumatic osteoarthritis.

He was brilliant and the result, absolutely astonishing. People I meet have no idea that I’m partly bionic – for that matter, I forget, myself!

- Jim

Location:Home in Windsor

A Final Day

Obligatory ski first thing to get the blood flowing and then a theory session in preparation for the immersion familiarisation. Immersion in the sea-ice, that is.
Packed up and fully equipped we made our way to the harbour area in a cold wind and light snow – it was going to be cold!
Unfortunately conditions didn’t favour the exercise at all as we were unable to reach any open water in anything that might be considered a safe way. In fact we’d be lucky to reach it in any way so we had to abandon our plans.
Back to Guesthouse 102 to change and then off to Husset for a super-burger.
The evening was spent discussing and illustrating everything we had done during the week with a talk from me, lubricated by some of Trond’s best red wine.

- Jim

Location:Nybyen, Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway

Tranquil Start

The first thing we saw when we opened our eyes was that snow had landed on the roof of the tent. Silence prevailed apart from the various snorts, wriggles and gaseous exchanges of people stealing themselves to tackle the day.
We had camped further up the valley right at the base of Longyearbreen and the snow was still gently falling as we were breakfasting on scrambled eggs with bacon or hot muesli and mango (sounds better than it is, dehydrated and out of a packet!).
having packed away pretty proficiently the guys embarked on their morning sledge haul route.
Afternoon was spent back in the hut going over daily routines, polar tips and tricks and through a full Safety Strategy form top to tail.
A quick sort of the gear and then down to town for a proper meal.

- Jim

Location:Longyearbreen Glacier – 5th Morning

Day Three – Polar Training

And the third day they rose from their pit and ventured out.
Daily ski in the morning, Matt, Justin and Adam making it to the top of the Longyearbreen glacier.
Session on maps, navigation and GPS followed by walkies to discover what information you can gleam and how from your GPS.
Video and slides to illustrate protecting yourself from polar bear encounters (the only land mammal which will actively hunt man) and then their first pulk pull on skis – which proved shockingly difficult slightly uphill at minus 18.
Didn’t go very far but swirling wind made it slightly tricky putting up the big 8 man Marmot Lair tent but although it took 40 minutes it was secured very well.
Turned in after an good feed thanks to Adam and hot drinks from Matt (Justin in full support of both – me hovering and bothering as usual!) Beginning to really gel now as a team!

Day Two – Polar Training

A powerful ski first thing is always good for the soul – and for perfecting the little bits of technique we use for pulling our bodyweight and a half over rough sea-ice!
Then after a good breakfast we dug out all the equipment in the store – pulks, tents, ice axes, shovels, bear protection, ropes and stoves – and got to grips with the MSR XGK multi-fuel stove. Because it is your only means of melting snow and re-hydrating it’s essential that what ever goes wrong and in whatever conditions you can repair it.
After a light lunch we talked through tents, first erecting a Mountain Hardwear Trango 4 followed by an 8 man Marmot Lair.
A dip down into town for a good supper and back up the hill to end the day discussing how to mitigate and manage the risks involved in extreme expeditions. A good time had by all.

The only disappointment has been perfect conditions ): with temperatures hovering around minus 10 degrees, beautifully clear skies and no wind – far too nice for training!
But I’ve ordered some wind for when we’re camping tomorrow night!

- Jim

Location:Nybyen, Svalbard, Norway

 

Location:Svalbard

First Day of Polar Training

Having collected the three chaps Matt, Adam and Justin from the airport at one o’clock in the morning I thought we’d have a bit of a lie in and got stuck into the training after breakfast at a leisurely 10:15hrs.
Bit of getting to know each other and understand each others expectations and aspirations our first session was bringing a polar perspective on clothing and how to get to the stage where you are properly clothed and you can manage that clothing to best effect.
Then we got the skis out, talked through the skis themselves, the bindings and ski poles and got straight out into a calm snow clad valley at minus 8 degrees – perfect learning conditions.
After inputting the few but vital set of techniques which we use to ski efficiently, the session was all about trying to perfect these.
All three of them were downhill skiers so I knew there would be some heavy re-training necessary. Matt was a natural, Adam started slow and unsure but quickly got to grips and Justin was slower but not that far behind.
The session ended down the valley in Longyearbyen with a naughty bun and wonderful, richly deserved cup of hot chocolate.
Quick bit of shopping for a lunches and snacks and then second ski session up the hill to Huset for our supper. This time the wind had got up and was blowing a blizzard right into our faces.
Squeezed in a final bit on risk appreciation to finish the day off.
- Jim

Location:Nybyen, Spitsbergen, Svalbard

 

Location:Nyben, Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway