Thursday 28 December : Make Way for the Youngsters
As the weather is bad over the Orvin Mountains and as they need solar energy for recharging the panels and being able to communicate, there has been little news these last few days.
The men have made an assault on the south stoop; we have already written that this bluff is far more exposed to the winds than the north wall and that this topographical particularity obliges the men to "work" at night. They leave the base camp at about five in the evening, take the best part of an hour to get to the foo
t of the rock face, and then return for sleep at about one or two in the morning.
We do not know where they are on the rock; but from what Hubert wrote a few days ago, if the weather allows it and does not hold them up too much, they should be setting out on the final assault around the time of the New Year. So it is more than likely that they are busy preparing the rock face. One thing is certain, in any case: according to the first recces, the south stoop is distinctly less dangerous and above all less "peeled" than its north-facing neighbour. So they are going to be able to employ their climbing talents on that face.
To make up for this temporary lack of information, we are today making a priority of the classes and the children who are following the educational project, and who, according to general opinion, are extremely pleased to be able to communicate in this way with such a mysterious and distant land. So here are a few pertinent questions (as they always are when asked by our youngsters) which will give the visitor a brief insight into the exchanges between the expedition and the participants in the Educational Project.
Tuesday 26 Decembre : Bad Weather
No news these last few days, it would appear that the team has also taken time off for the Christmas break. Some picture received for the various television stations, however, and a few accompanying words to confirm the fact that they are going to climb the south stoop and that the weather is no longer fine. Snow is falling and the wind is blowing.
Hubert has written to us to say that an important briefing took place at the base camp in the evening of 22 December: they are going to divide the task between two groups.
We should briefly recall the difference between the difficulties of the north and south stoops: the latter is some 200m higher, more exposed to the wind, and less difficult technically. There will in particular be less danger in climbing that particular needle because the rock is not as rotten as the rock encountered on the face of the north stoop.
The reason? Ronald Ross has sent a reply to one of the members of his e-group: "From what Ralph has told me", he wrote on 26 December, "when the climbers fix a hold in the rock, it risks coming undone at any moment and breaking away from the rock face in a large slab of rock. The south stoop, for its part, far more exposed to the bad weather than the north stoop, has had all these pieces of crumbly rock torn away by the wind. This will facilitate the mountaineers' task. It should be known, however, that the sun does not begin to shine on the rock face until 5 o'clock in the evening…"
Hubert and his companions, however, are to a great extent relying on favourable weather conditions for a successful ascent; there can be no question, in fact, in view of the prevailing cold down there, of climbing without having the sun to warm your limbs, especially your hands and fingers.
Saturday Decembre 23rd : They won't climb the North pillar...
The decision came through yesterday : the plan to climb the north pillar of the Holtanna Peak is abandoned. Too risked, also too dangerous. On December 20th, Daniel and Ralph were frightened quite a lot. At the time they 
attempted to find a safe way to the top, they met on the climbing one huge inverted rock as large as a car which threatened to come off the cliff and to cut the rope belaying them. No way to go no, both climbers came back to the base camp.
Then a briefing took place before they a ll return to the mountain, trying to discover a safer itinerary towards summit. During these tasks, Hubert and Georges who want to recover a part of the ropes still in place on the wall, found the way so beautiful that they tried one more to progress. For the gesture : "There is a beautiful candle which reaches up to half height of the pillar", wrote Hubert in one of his messages send from the base camp. "It would indeed be possible to climb up to the right, but we leave that out until later…" Then coming down again, a small disaster : one of the batteries of the drill slips from the chef's fingers and crash 400 meter down.
The day after, December 21st, the decision was taken to climb the pillar along the normal way, (itinerary followed by the Norwegians 7 years ago), actually over the hollow tooth, much easier.
That is how, in a few hours climbing barely, all the climbers met again on the summit. Fantastic panorama no need to say : the alpinists could perceive in the distance Blue One station ! Hubert and Georges decide than to bivouac up there, so as to attempt to come down the day after, descending along the dangerous side and to asses the state of the rock. Another small incident during this climbing : the loss of one of the drill bits and the break of the other one. So come the expedition to the point of being reduced to bore holes in the cliff by hand !
The other ones descended without any problem and arrived at the base camp around midnight. The morning after, Georges and Hubert tried to descent over the rotten way with 40 kg in the rucksack. Alain Launched 100 meters rope. But as it fell all over when he was slowly progressing, he had to climb back up full speed ahead.
That's why they decided to abandon the idea of climbing the North summit and to go and try the South summit. This climbing is maybe less dangerous and easier technically, but this summit is also 200 m higher and much more exposed to the wind. Another disadvantage results from its geographical position : the south pillar is exposed to the sun only during evening and night time. The climbers will thus be obliged to inverse their daily rhythm and start climbing at 5 or 6 in the evening. Before they move to the south summit, the climbers went back a last time to Holtanna North face in order to recover the equipment left in the cliff. "I will nevertheless leave 250 meter rope on this face", said Alain. "One never knows if Georges and I, after having reached our new goal, wouldn't be tempted to come back to this rotten rock and see what we could do about it…"
Friday, 22 December : What's Happening at the Foot of the Holtanna ?
Although it could be true that all the great polar expeditions can be divided into episodes, the one that is in the process of taking place at the foot of the Holtanna could be called : The Mystery of the Great Pyramid.
What is rotten Granite?
The granite of the Orvin Mountains (where the Holtanna is) is essentially an extremely hard rock. But, given the severe conditions (cold, wind, and freezing) to which these nunataks are exposed, their external envelope has slowly become exfoliated with the passage of time. The tangible effect of this on the ground (and this is visible in the photograph published on the opposite page) are surface sheets of rock which break away easily. We do not have any more detailed information about the depth and size of these crumbly slabs of rock; one does however realise much more clearly that climbing on such a degraded surface requires considerable thought. Which is undoubtedly what the men of The Wall are giving it.
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Tuesday : the big names made an initial brief assault on the Holtanna and, instead of returning at around 16.00 for tea as envisaged, they were seen to return to the base camp at about noon. The reason? The same as the day before, but studied on a far greater scale - no doubt they had climbed higher than their team-mates had the day before. The rock is so rotten that a serious meeting was called for.
A project briefing, in a way; in the big tent (see the photograph in the report below). We are still not fully aware of what was said that day, the Tuesday afternoon. But what is certain, is that the next day several scouts were sent by the one who adores the word "boss" to other places at the foot of the rock face.
The Holtanna, as perhaps you have read in the presentation of the expedition, is in the shape of a hollow tooth (like a tooth with caries): the ascent was envisaged on the outside.
On Wednesday, they went to look at the inside cirque to assess the health of the rock there. They were talking, yesterday Thursday, even of quickly climbing on that side (far easier), and coming down again by abseiling along the rock face to study it in detail and at their ease…
Since then, no further news. Bidart has just sent us an interesting paper on collecting lichen 
(see below). But from the climbing point of view, this is not exactly the kind of information that catches the imagination. Therefore, on this Friday, 22 December, early in the morning, despite my searching the horizon for e-mails, we are in neutral…
Other news later, no doubt.
Wednesday December 20th
"I did not feel entirely safe sleeping in my tent on my own"...
from Kahtelijne Van Heukelom (As Van Heukelom is not quite fluent in English, this following text has still to be checked by our translator, sorry...)
Description of our tents in the base camp. There are 7 small tents and 2 big dome-tents (in the middle there is an igloo (see thje photo) which houses the latrine). They have room for 2 persons to sleep. All the tents are next to each other with their openings facing north. Away from the direction of the wind. The katabatic winds are coming from southeast which is why we had to put the opening of our tents facing the opposite direction.
The tents of course have to be protected as much as possible. First of all there is the strengthening of the tentropes. At the end of these ropes we hang an little bamboo pole. When the ropes are taut we put this bamboo-stick horizontally into the snow. We covered it with snow and ice. Because of the low temperature here, everything is frozen quickly and there is no chance that these tentropes will come loose with in storms or heavy winds.
For protecting the tents for katabatic storms and winds, yesterday we have built ice-walls for every tent. They are about half a metre high.
Alain Hubert has the biggest tent but he's the boss. He's sleeping alone and has a lot of space to spread out all his papers. To his left, you can see the tent of Ronald Ross, our specialist - a rescuer in need. His tent looks like a technical laboratory. In between René, André and Jorge have built a pyramid of ice ; this piece of Egyptian culture is necessary for the solar 
panels. To the right of Alain' s tent is the tent of André and René. René's tent is easily recognizable because there is a tripod for his camera at tis entrance. He always goes to sleep with his camera and wakes up with it. The next tent is the one for Ralf and myself. Alain Hubert had planned, for the only female in the group, a single tent. When thinking of the katabatic winds, the storms and my minimal polar experience, I didn't feel very safe, alone in a tent. So an experienced old man - Ralf - made the sacrifice. In the neighbouring tent, sleep Bidart and Mercier. Do not walk too close at night, because Daniel goes to bed quite early ! Jorge has a tent that is a little bit bigger than the others : but he has to cope with all his camera material. As far as Fabrizzio is concerned, he is sleeping alone, dreaming every night of the most beautiful girl in the world : a blond aerobic teacher.
Ronald Ross is responsible for charging the batteries. A very important job because without the energy of the batteries we can't do a thing. And we have as you may guess numerous needs : for the computers, for the satellite, for sending our information, for the camera. He has prepared a meticulous schedule and so far till now everything is fine.works ok but I must mention that every day we have had a beautiful weather and the sun was always there to recharge the solar panels.
This morning all the climbers - except Alain - went to the Holtanna to prepare for the climb. Daniel and Ralf already start with a little climbing experience. But they don't seem that happy. At noon they all came back to the basecamp again, a bit discourageds. The Holtanna seems to be more precarious than they had thought. Ralf, Daniel and André are convinced that it would be dangerous to climb on this side of the mountain. While drinking tea, the whole climbing team discussed the situation. This afternoon they all went together with Alain to search for another way to reach the top.
Tuesday December 19th, 6pm : First plans
Today, in any case, we have attacked the ascent. Breakfast at 08.00. André Georges had already left at 05.30, on his own, all alone like a Swiss bear… A bit of an upheaval among the population except for the boss (me) who had been certain that he would set off before the rest… Had he not said yesterday evening during the dinner prepared by the cook in person (Philadelphian zakouski and salmon on salt biscuits, spaghetti with onions (the only fresh vegetable that we brought with us, and then of course frozen) and diced bacon from Magerotte in Nassogne (home made), all seasoned with coriander-flavoured cream…), had not André said: "What a great meal! I'll come down again every Sunday evening: the creamery is well worth it!"
"Making a single hole in the granite can take anything between 12 and 25 minutes... " |
Today, we've put in some good work. André went up the first fixed rope as far as the foot of the first difficulties, which start at about 250m above the bergschrund (a crack between the rock and the glacier) and 150m from the level of the base camp which, for its part, is 40 minutes' walk away. This first part is mixed (snow, ice and rock); rock that is very typical of the place, which I shall describe later. It has a fragile surface but is in fact extremely hard. I have already found some small strips of red lichen, and we'll collect some samples later to take them back in sterile jars.
So we used the technical equipment as far as the bergschrund and then started to climb with ropes. To attach the fixed ropes, we have to make 10mm holes in the granite by hand with a hammer and Rawplugs; just making a single hole can take anything between 12 and 25 minutes. We have put 4 ropes on the ascent and 3 relayed at the foot of the difficulties.
The weather? Incredibly fine for several days! Unprecedented! We have also taken 60-litre plastic jerrycans up to the bergschrund for collecting snow and ice so that we can make water on the rock face later on. We will be filling them tomorrow.
Tomorrow, Daniel and Ralph are going to make the first lengths in the inner corner (departure fissure), we are going to strengthen the left relay and get the film and photo crew up. We have in fact to move to the left because, after the first 35 metres of climbing, there is a huge fault that looks pretty unstable; it could even fall when they get above it tomorrow. Who knows? The first real dangers. So we have to be super-prudent.
From now on, what I felt last year when faced with this superb granite monster is confirmed; the rock has some entirely extraordinary routes in store for us. In any event, all the climbers are of the opinion that the choice of this pillar was a first class choice. And I'm evidently not now referring to this Antarctic environment which is, it goes without saying, more than sublime. Of course, we'll be bringing back photographs, such as you've never seen...
This evening, we're all a bit tired. Ralph and André went to bed early. Daniel Mercier, ditto. The same as he does every day, furthermore. He's an experienced athlete, but fragile. He has to give a maximum of himself, or else he feels shattered - and I'm using one of his own words.
Only the boss, Ronald, René and Jorge decided to enjoy the exceptional evening light. They are going to do some interviews or take some photographs. You should hear Jorge talking about the light and the lumen, the colour contrasts, the background shading! A veritable symphony of images… Each and every one of them is a true artist. Kathelijne, for her part, is fully integrated into our group of unwashed he-bears. Each evening, she goes off on her own to smoke her little cigarette or listen to a CD, speakers on her hair, walking on the icy whiteness… Poetry in motion!
I must end these few lines now as the battery is showing signs of exhaustion. Greetings to all and sundry.
As a matter of fact, the entire little group of people of The WALL met up at the foot of the Holtanna in the course of Saturday (the climbers had in the end taken five days to make the journey from Blue One and the Orvin Mountains) and the base camp was rapidly set up: two bell tents, one for the kitchen and the other for the communication equipment, which can be called the office.
A small hideout for the latrine and an igloo built by André Georges, Jorge Lübbert and René Robert where the food is stored. No more personal tents, of course.
This is the entire microcosm ready in place before this enormous granite monster that mockingly awaits them.
Today, the first reccies have been made on the North face of the Holtanna, the one you can make out on the right of the photograph.
The expedition's advance guard (Kathelijne Van Heukelon, Ronald Ross, Alain Bidart, René Robert and Jorge the cameraman) arrived at the foot of this magnificent mountain in the early evening of Saturday. The flight took barely half-an-hour, and the base camp was set up straightaway.
Although we have not received any news since Saturday, it is probable that the five climbers have also reached the Holtanna base camp. To give you a better idea of what is lying in wait for them, it is the rock face on the right that the climbers have to scale.
We have at last received news of the expedition. Why this three-day silence (for effectively, having left Cape Town midday Sunday for a flight of about six hours, they arrived at Blue One on Sunday evening, at about 19.00)? Some of the communication
devices broke down: for two days, they worked morning, noon and night to repair and regulate the technology. Early evening yesterday, they were finally able to send the first photographs and the first e-mails. They tried particularly hard with the video, but unsuccessfully. A summary of the situation: since landing on the blue ice at Blue One, they have had wonderful weather with a temperature of +3°C.
On Tuesday, the katabatic winds began to surge across the station's sparse installations. Temperature drop: Tuesday -8°C.
Monday: preparations of the team that has to set out with sledges for Blue One. Departure of the (René) and the cameraman (Jorge) on a skidoo for the Holtanna Peak, a distance, remember, of about 80 km.
Next morning, departure of the group heading for the base camp with sledge and sail: this comprises Hubert, Dujmovitz, Mercier, Georges and Zangrilli. They should take, depending on the weather conditions, two or three days to cover the 80 km between Blue One and the Orvin Mountains.
There will be permanent contact with the people who stayed at the base - Bidart, Van Heukelom and Ross - who should get to the rendezvous area by DC3 or by Twin Otter.
For these, the departure is envisaged for tomorrow, Friday. When Kathelijne sent us the first news, the katabatic winds that had already started on Tuesday were still blowing across Blue One.
Many of you have written in or are wondering why we are not giving any news about THE WALL team's arrival at Blue One. The answer is simple: because we have received no news whatsoever.
Alain Hubert knew however that the first thing to be done - after installing the expedition on the Antarctic ice - was to send news to the Brussels HQ. Either by telephone (they have taken one with them) or by e-mail. But nothing… One can of course imagine that blizzards - which are frequent at this season in that part of the 6th Continent because of the katabatic winds - might prevent all communication with the rest of the world.
No doubt that is actually the case. That said, Ronald Ross, the American member of the team, has been at Blue One for several weeks and sends back regular information on the research in respect of lichen, and a weather station would seem to have been set up while awaiting the arrival of the other members of the expedition. Which means that the equipment installed at Blue One on a temporary basis is in fact working.
So far, however, no news from Ross announcing the arrival of the expedition companions has got through to the United States. Tomorrow we shall doubtless know more…
Yesterday, Sunday December 10th, the team has finally board the Iliouchine at noon. Together with about fifty persons : few Norwegians alpinists who are going to the Orvin Mountains, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish technicians and scientist were flying to Blue One as well.
The fligh between Capetown and Blue One (4200 km) takes approximately 7 hours : today Monday at 10 am, we did not received any news from the Continent yet.
