Tuesday 23 January : Mission accomplished...

It is now three days that the people who went off to work on the polar plateau (Alain Hubert, André Georges, René Robert and Fabrizio Zangrilli) have been back at the base camp, Kathelijne tells us.

The mission lasted 4 days from 16 to 20 January. They went about 25km in a southerly direction on skis, with the weather being not too bad but colder than at the base camp - they had to deal with temperatures of -30° to - 35°C. Throughout this excursion into unknown territory, they encountered numerous crevasses, impressive crevasses that could reach depths of more than 50 metres, and "the base camp would have fitted into them three times over", explained Kathelijne from what the group had told her. (We should be receiving photographs of these gigantic crevasses in the next few days).

They of course carried out their scientific tasks by boring wells (two) for collecting ice samples and perfecting the photographic method invented by Hubert during his Antarctic crossing of 1997-98. According to each of them, this was an excursion with a high quotient of learning experience.

Once back in the base camp (last Saturday), they still had to install a weather station on the summit of one of the surrounding nunataks: Ronald, André and Alain took care of this work. The climb was not too difficult and, after digging a few holes at the top of the peak (nameless) so that the apparatus would hold up for a year (because somebody would be coming next year to take this station away), the station was installed, to the intense delight of Ronald (see photograph opposite). Normally, it had been envisaged that Ronald and Alain would spend a night up there to check that everything was in working order. But on the way back, they realised that the tent had been forgotten and that André, who had left earlier than the others to return to the base camp, had inadvertently packed in his bag the rations needed for the small stopover at the peak. So no night at the summit. We will be returning in greater detail tomorrow or Thursday to the role of this weather station.

Now that the expedition is coming to an end, Kathelijne tells us that in the relatively near future, tomorrow, Thursday or Friday at the latest, Alain Hubert, René Robert and Ronald Ross will be definitively leaving the base camp for Blue One in an attempt to reach in time the South African station, Sanae, from which they will still have to get to the German base, Neumayer. From there, they will be embarking on the famous German ice-breaker Polarstern, which, after a few days, will be taking them to Punta Arenas.

In the meanwhile, Kathelijne, Fabrizio, André and Alain Bidart will be closing the base camp towards the end of January for the journey back to Blue One, to wait for the Illyushin that is to take them back to Cape Town.

Friday 19 January : The feminine point of view...

As a large part of the gang (A. Hubert, F. Zangrilli, A. Bidart, R. Robert and A. Georges) has gone off on the polar plateau until Sunday or Monday, without any direct communication gear, on a mission during which they are not only going to take some ice samples but also finalise the method of photographing ice crystals that Hubert had invented during his crossing with Dansercoer, we asked Kathelijne Van Heukelom, who has stayed behind in the base camp with Ronald Ross, to give us her general impression about the unfolding of this expedition, especially from a woman's point of view. Here are the few lines that she sent us yesterday, Thursday 18 January

"My point of view of this "The Wall" expedition has different dimensions. All with their own specific stories and experiences.
Firstly, there is the story of climbing Holtanna. A difficult, exhausting climb with numerous difficulties. I don't know the mountaineering world very well, I'm not part of it, but it has always attracted me. So it was a great experience for me to be able to witness the climbers' skill, passion and motivation. The best moment was when they reached the summit - I felt its intensity even as far away as the base camp.
The second dimension is the one of living in an extreme and isolated environment. The Antarctic, with its landscapes and climate, is so different from our normal world. This same nature, more particularly the infinite landscapes or the chain of mountains - of Fenristunga - leaves its mark on people. It changes them, internally and externally. After isolation in such extreme conditions, the camp at Blue One is now almost civilisation for us.
Finally, in an expedition there is the human aspect and life in a small community. I am the only woman in this expedition, in the middle of nine men. All I can say is that in an environment such as this, the differences between men and women disappear. Everybody has their own work in this expedition: the climbers, the people taking care of the scientific part, and the people responsible for communication. The communal activities - preparing meals, making water and so on - are attended to by everybody in turn. Furthermore, each person feels an occasional need to be isolated from the group a little - it's the same for men as for women. We are all here with a common interest; the life of adventure and above all the love of a white continent called Antarctica."

Wednesday 17 January : Closer to Fenristunga cirque

Thanks to Kathelijne and Ronald's work on the photos, we are able to better visualize the Fenristunga cirque looking at the two documents below.One needs though to download Flash plug-in ; having done that, simply rollover the altitudes to get more information about the various climbs achieved by Hubert, Georges and Zangrilli.

About the expedition itself : today Wednesday, Alain, Fabrizio, André and René have gone away for a five days trip to the polar plateau ; they should come back Sunday or Monday, but with these guys and this kind of weather, one never knows. Kathelijne is going to stay at the base camp with Ronald Ross who is going to send us soon a short story about the lichen collecting.

Monday 15 January : Suspended in thin air, one summit after another...

On Thursday evening, Alain, Fabrizzio and René went back into the bowels of the South Stoop of the Holtanna for a photographic session. Impressive shots that show us, certainly better than any literature or logbook, the difficulties that the climbers have had to overcome to conquer this rock.

That said, here is some more general news from the expedition. Even by using all the photographs that we have at our disposal, it is difficult here to comprehend the collection of peaks that this cirque comprises. Kathelijne has however given us some details about the almost daily climbs undertaken by Alain and André; from what we have been able to glean, they are going to pin the scalps of all the summits of the cirque to their belts, and so far they must have conquered the ten or so that make up the west side. Among them, the most difficult was the ascent of Midgard (2,365m), - Ross will soon be sending us some photographs, Kathelijne says, but for the time being he is preoccupied with his weather stations. A very high level of difficulty (TD+A2 and artificial 2) in any case, 4 hours of climbing on the first day, and 14 on the following day to be done with this rock. It took Hubert and Georges no less than 40 minutes to cross the last 4 metres! All in temperatures of -30°C. Because, although on the first day the sun was there, for the next 24 hours the two mountaineers were in a virtually total whiteout. When they reached the summit, on 09 January at 20.45, visibility was just about zero. Unlucky …

Another summit conquered by these two men has no name. Of a height of 2,360m above the bedrock (not above the ice), two hours of climbing (East Stoop), mediocre quality of rock, difficulty D+. That same day, 05 January, Hubert and Georges had time to do another summit, which will also remain nameless as Hubert refuses to name the peaks that he conquers: 2,370m, degenerate rock, two hours of ascent, difficulty level D+. In short, they have climbed ten summits so far. In roughly the same conditions. No point in going on any further about the advantages of climbing without taking photographs. What Kathelijne has written, however, is that the two men were absolutely delighted to accomplish all these ascents and that they will remain among the finest of their entire climbing careers. nd for André Georges, who is currently in the process of attempting all the summits over 8000 metres that exist in the world, that really means something…

In a few days time, the team will be going out for a while on the polar plateau to conduct scientific experiments and finalise the method of photographing ice crystals that Hubert invented during his crossing with Dixie Dansercoer in 1997-98 and which, since then, has spread widely throughout the world of scientists specialising in polar research.

Friday 12 January : from Ronald's desk...

After a week silence (due to a food poisoning and his return flight to Blue One), here are some lines Ronald has sent : it concerns what had happenned the night of the victory and the days after at Blue One.

Hi Folks
It has been a while since I filed a report much has happened in the last 10 days. As most of you will know by now the summit of the south pillar of Holtanna was reached by all the climbers on the morning of January 1st.
Around that same time I was suffering from a case of food poisoning and could not enjoy new years eve celebrations let alone stay up till the climbers reached the summit in the wee hours. It had been arranged with Blue One to have a photo flight on or around the 1st January. The Twin Otter would come to camp and take Jorge and Rene on two circuits of the Holtanna and surrounding ranges. I was in charge of keeping in touch with the climbers on the pillar using VHF radio. Most of the climbers stayed on the pillar after summiting. All day long on the 1st I tried to reach Alain in order to alert him that the photo flight may take place that evening. More importantly we needed to alert Ralf that the plane may be coming as he would travel back to Blue One with myself and 2 others once the photo flight was over.
I had radio contact with Blue One each hour that evening hoping to delay the departure of the plane until I was able to talk to Alain on the mountain. The weather was perfect for hours but clouds coming off the polar plateau were heading our direction and would be here in several hours.
By 9pm we still had not been able to contact any of the climbers. I decided we should go ahead with the plane and fly round the wall first to get their attention and especially Ralfs. At last try at 10pm I did reach Alain, he was startled when I told him the plane would be coming in 2 hours. Ralf had been sleeping in a hole just above him, he was quickly alerted to get his gear and get down off the mountain asap. Just as well we did not keep with our original strategy of trying to wake the climbers with the plane they would never had the aircraft sound above the noise of the wind.
The photo flight went off perfectly afterwards we chatted as the plane sat parked next to our basecamp, it was 1.30am. One hour later myself and 3 others were whisked back to Blue One.
The first thing we noticed was how much warmer it was down there, around +15° F at 3am, we were used to 0° F at Holtanna.
The Blue One camp had grown, it now sported 4 large weatherhaven tent and about 8 small kelty tents. This was all in preparation to house officials from 7 countries coming in to verify and inspect bases adherence to the Antarctica Treaty.
When the Ilyushin arrived in a couple of days those officials would be taken to the nearby bases of Syowa, Novo, Maitre, Sanae, Troll and Neumayer. This would be done with helicopter, Twin Otter and by DC3. Later in the morning of our arrival at Blue One the DC3 arrived from the South Pole. It had just finished a contract for the NSF at McMurdo, flying scientists into field camps for November and December. My bout of food poisoning continued for several days while at Blue One, and kept me lying low for a while. My primary purpose in going to Blue One was to update the software on the Wx station and to receive several packages coming from Belgium and the US. There was a fair amount of tension and stress in camp before the arrival of the Ilyushin and the important visitors. We also received news that a Spanish climbing team would arrive on this flight and they planned to climb also in the Fenristunga. As usual weather delayed the aircraft on the scheduled date. We sent up a helicopter that was parked at Blue One to check on the cloud height and thickness. The delay was just 24hrs, on the 6th the Ilyushin landed with about 40 passengers and officials.
It would stay on the ground for several days waiting for the officials to finish their tours of the bases. Our packages arrived, but one for me from the US got stuck in customs at Cape Town. My next task was to secure travel back to Holtanna with the resupply. I had been planning to skidoo back to Holtanna (a 6-7 hour trip) once the frenzy died down in camp.
On Monday afternoon I got a sweet offer of a ride back to Holtanna with the Spaniards on the DC3. It would be a photo reconnaissance flight starting at a mountain called Rakekniven or The Razor. The DC3 got back to Blue One from Neumayer early in the evening, the sun was low in the south west, perfect for photos. We circled the Razor and Trolls Castle twice but the Spanish team leader Tamayo didn't see anything 'challenging' enough. So we turned and headed back to the Fenristunga and circled the Holtanna basecamp. I thought the pilot was preparing to land and let me off first but the Spanish team decided to make camp here also, just 3km from ours! That has caused a bit of anger amongst team members here. 

At Holtanna climbing has continued in earnest, last evening Andre and Alain made it to the top of Midgard around midnight in very bad weather. Today we've been stuck in our tents, heavy snow has been falling all day, visibility down to 30m.
Ronald Ross