Keldyn woke me from my
lovely sleep in and said “get your lazy arse up, were going to Mt Hendo at one
o’clock”. This was his first trip away as a trip leader and I was touched that
he asked me to join him along with John and Peter C. I still had time to get in
a relaxing spa and to strap the nose bag on before heading off. It was cold as
hell today, minus twenty two in the morning before warming up as the sun rose,
but once we got up on the plateau the temperature dropped back down to minus
twenty two again.
We had a nice ride up
to Hendo on the quads and then unloaded all our gear into the hut. Mt Henderson
hut is the oldest AAD hut probably dating back to the sixties and is more like
a freezer than a hut. I wanted to leave the heater, oven and all the stove
burners alight to thaw it out, but you know, safety first. I think all the
walls and ceiling are full of ice as once you get a bit of heat going it starts
raining inside. My pillow was frozen to the matrice.
Unfortunately the
summit was engulfed in cloud and as strong winds were forecasted tomorrow afternoon,
we made the decision to attempt a climb to the summit right away. John, who is
our Field Training Officer, had brought rope, harnesses and all the climbing
hardware to make the tactical climb to the last fifteen meters to the summit.
(Don’t laugh you older expeditioners, but AAD forbids free climbing these days)
We set off up the
steep screed slope in minus twenty two and in no time our breath was condensing
on our faces. Keldyn was struggling with this huge ten kilogram stilsons he was
carrying up to the summit as part of some crazy plumber tradition that will
become apparent further down the page. It was a hard slog and the cold air was
burning my lungs giving me coughing fits now and then.
After about an hour
of climbing we reached the saddle below the summit and dropped our packs and
had a short rest. I looked like Father Christmas, Peter looked like a walrus
and Keldyn looked about forty years old.
John wasted no time rigging up some anchors and started the summit climb
while Peter belayed him. Once up to the first step, the rest of us took turns
climbing while John belayed us.
We had all reached
Hilleary’s step and all was going well as John pushed on to the next step just
below the summit. Peter went first, followed by Keldyn with his huge stilsons
and then lastly it was my turn to climb the steep narrow shoot that leads to
the summit step.
Our Arctic boots are
fine for keeping the cold out, but as far as climbing goes, Ronald Mc Donald’s
boots would be far better. I pulled and pushed myself high up through the
narrow shoot as John belayed me and it was tight and hard going. I gave myself
one last mighty push and my bloody boot wedged into the shoot and no matter how
much I struggled I couldn’t remove it. The situation was hopeless and all I could
think of was John initiating a search and rescue mission from Mawson to excavate my foot with a jack
hammer and how embarrassing it would be which gave me the awesome strength to
finally pull my foot free at long last. The only trouble was my bloody boot was
still stuck there!!
Oh shit, what next!!
I reached down and
strained with all my might but there was no way I could free this boot, it was
stuck there forever. How the hell was I to get back down to the hut and then
ride the thirty kilometers back to Mawson in minus twenty two with only one
boot? That’s it, I started to turn green and suddenly the back of my shirt
ripped apart as I concentrated all my strength into pulling my boot out of the shoot
when suddenly it came free. I was elated and mumbled a few swear words under my
breath then tossed it up onto the step above to John’s horror. I started to
climb once again and for fu#%s sake my other boot was stuck. Jesus Cr, oops its
Easter, bloody hell, did this ever happen to Edmond Hillary?
You know the drill by
now, I huffed and puffed and threw the other boot up at John who was still in
shock with the first boot I threw at him. And in true legendary spirit I ended
up summiting Mt Henderson in my socks!!!
The other guy’s were
wondering what took me so long and what could I say? “Well guy’s, us technical
free climbers take our time, we don’t need any fancy ropes and stuff like that”
as I’m doing my shoe lace up.
Unfortunately the
summit was clouded over, but it gave it that inhospitable look as we took
photos of Keldyn fixing the tap washer with his huge stilsons. Peter checked
out the power point while I attended the antennas that had long blown away.
We spent about twenty
minutes at the summit (most of that tying my shoe laces) but as sunset was fast
approaching we decided to get cracking back to the cabin below. The descent
phase was much less dramatic and as we descended the screed slope the sun was setting
and looked fantastic out across the plateau as it reflected off the ice and
wind scours.
We made it to the hut
with plenty of light to spare, thoroughly exhausted but extremely elated. We
cranked up every burner in the hut in an attempt to melt all the ice off our
faces, and then we cooked some awesome Fray Bentos pies in a tin. (Check them
out) The pies were great and we washed them down with a bottle of red wine and
then a bottle of Baileys with ten thousand year old glacier ice. Now that’s
living!!
After about a four hour
burn, the top of the hut was twenty eight degrees and the floor was three
degrees still covered in ice and there was a jet of steam coming through the
door vent and going straight up to the roof vent in a perfect science
demonstration of heat convection. John slept outside in minus twenty two as
he’s on a mission to do that for the whole year while we all slept inside the
freezer.
Shortly after we
turned off the heater and went to bed the temperature dropped back down to
about minus twelve and hoarfrost covered the ceiling. We rose about eight
o’clock and had something to eat and drink before setting off for another walk.
We had planned to descend down the screed slope through Death Valley and onto
Lake Henderson but it was really steep and was going to take a long time so we
made the decision to climb another summit nearby.
Lake Henderson
A rare photo of John
It was a hard climb
and it didn’t give up its summit easy. By the time I got there I was exhausted
but we were rewarded with a lovely clear view to the coast and we rested and
took many photos. The climb back down was rather gruelling on the knees and once
we reached the valley, we had to cross a dangerous ice bliz tail and then climb
all the way back up the screed slope to the hut.
We were all
completely knackered (Except for John) by the time we reached the hut but it
was a really nice walk in perfect, yet cold conditions. We stayed at the hut only long
enough to have a quick bite and a hot drink before loading up the quads for the
thirty kay ride back down the plateau to Mawson.
We got back to Mawson
about three o’clock and I ditched the rubbish down at Warren and then took the
piss tank over to the sewage treatment plant. Even though it was frozen I was
gagging the whole time trying to wash it out with hot water. Then we refuelled the quads, parked them up in the EVS and
unpacked all our gear.
What a beautiful sight!
It's Home, it's Mawson.
Even though I was
wasted, I did all my washing and hung it out. At six thirty we had our usual
flash diner and afterwards while most of the blokes went to watch the footy, (we
down loaded) I went to write up my Blog notes and was in bed by ten.
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