DISPATCHE 6 : 28 & 29 December

Discover the south pillar of the Holtanna with technical explanations
about their progression and the location of great difficulties
Please be patient (10 sec) because we have choosen to publish the photo full scale
So the document is a bit heavy (26K) but well worth the wait

Friday, 29 December: "Often with lots of "gas" below us…"

"...Today is a total whiteout: compulsory rest. OK, we've not had much of it until now, especially André and myself who are climbing the upper part of the rock face: we're putting in long days … From a distance, everything seems to be more or less practicable and not too hard. But when we are on it, it is distinctly harder than envisaged; the proportions are deceptive, utterly deceptive. What seems from afar to be a good crack is in fact an awful one which turns into a chimney, starts to overhang, and obliges us to go and position the "friends" - those kinds of artificial chockstones that we use for securing ourselves and also for placing stirrups for artificial climbing. And as a result we are completely hampered by the equipment which gets in the way all the time, and, often with a fair amount of nothing below us (gas, as we say) and a protection point that is always too far away. It's always the same, furthermore: we think it will get better a little further on, so we try to climb a little further and then still a little further. And yet, it's never any better…

Yesterday, I was leading. It was the end of the day and I didn't have enough equipment on me to be able to go on but I wanted to get to a safer ledge all the same. So I thought I would come out of the inside corner crack that I was attached to and climb over the sheet of rock on my left: useless terrain, unstable and with a crumbly surface, the sort of thing where you are afraid that your foot will slip on the thin hold as soon as you put your weight on it. So I had finally got myself into an impossible position: I was nevertheless able to put a "trango" (a sort of extendible cylinder that is supposed to jam itself between two rock faces) in one of those bends that are the particularity of this climb and was surprised to catch myself praying (OK! These things happen, don't they!) that everything would hold during my attempt to descend by pulling on the rope.

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One should be aware that we climb "alternatively", as its called: that is to say that each one in turn climbs for a length of the rope. At the moment - and it is going to stay that way - André and I are one team and Daniel and Ralph are the other.
The accomplished technicians (Daniel and Ralph) are therefore concerned with the lower part of the rock face and the two dumb animals (André and your humble servant) with the upper part of the wall. There is a big ledge leading to about 250 metres from the foot of the rock face from its right-hand side. We spotted it last year and we had even climbed up to it to analyse the route from close at hand. Because of this we can now climb more quickly - especially as we are trying to film and we have divided ourselves into two teams for this reason.

This does not prevent us, from time to time during bad weather, from climbing together for a stretch.

Thanks to this ledge, we will not have to spend more than one night in the portaledge. Just one, certainly all together in the portaledges before going for the summit.

Weather permitting, and provided the whiteout lifts, André and Alain are today leaving the base camp for three days, the final three days that they will need for conquering the Holtanna and for leading everybody to its summit. And this, despite the day off that was unanimously decreed on this New Year's Eve.

It's the 28th and there are still some 100 to 120 metres for André and I to do to put an end to the difficulties and leave the steep and overhanging part of the rock face behind us. There will then remain - and it can easily be seen in the photographs - some 100 to 150 metres of sloping terrain to cover to reach the summit.

The aim is for André and I to take a half-day's climb to leave the wall, but that won't be easy as at the moment we are stuck beneath the second overhang. That was yesterday, with André leading. The cracks are so wide in places that we don't have enough equipment and big artificial chockstones, or friends. They jam properly when we pull on them in just a regular fashion. But, after a few metres with a slightly different rope traction than we were using before, they suddenly turn sideways, these friends, and come way. Encouraging, don't you think?

André has already managed to drill a 10mm-hole by hand for placing a spit (an expanding pin) so that he can go down again to collect some equipment. Daniel and Ralph finished the lower part yesterday. We are at last going to be able to recover some of their big friends equipment - we should make our work for the last 150 metres somewhat easier.

In other words, we are going to try to force this last part. Just a dozen metres to go and we'll have the second overhang behind us. After that, it looks as though there are no more overhangs, but we can't really see for certain from where we are at the moment… Wait and see, therefore. Which is all we can do in cases like this.

One has to be pretty philosophical and calm in this kind of climb, and André and I understand each other perfectly in this regard. It is furthermore a real pleasure to climb with him, and it's been ages since we last met up in a high-tech climbing situation such as this. I am really enjoying myself up there… When I'm up there and when in particular in the middle of the night there is only us and the infinity of this Antarctic shelf stretching towards the sun beneath our eyes - small, privileged human beings that we are. I have never before seen the Antarctic from on high like that… It's fabulous, words fail me for expressing what I feel. They are in any event moments that are etched into the depths of my soul and which totally make up for the difficult moments of a project like this. Even though I am still a little worried about the abrasion of the rock that is causing too much damage to the ropes. We have to check them out each time we use them!

Furthermore, this climb is beginning to make good progress, but we are still going to have to struggle to succeed with this first summit - certainly the most visibly important aspect of the expedition. But it will be a fine victory; the shape of these rocks is extraordinary, this combination of free (more laborious) and artificial climbing is wonderful. A gift of nature. It goes without saying that we are also finding magnificent rock crystals here!

I'm looking forward to January when I will be able to be a little more contemplative about these wonders. There is a good atmosphere - better in any event - since Daniel and Ralph have been successful with the first part of the stoop; they were definitely a little uptight.

So the whole team is ready for the final ascent, which should be taking place on the 30th or finally the 31st , because the last bit seems to be resisting us a little. A question of weather, we've been pretty lucky so far, which explains why we have made such good progress in preparing the rock face. Sun when we are not in the shade, temperature without wind chill of about -25°C. An unforgettable luxury!!!

I would also like to make it clear during these few moments of bad weather that everything has been organised here so that every last piece of our waste material is brought back to Blue One (for the lavatories alone, one big dustbin bag per week!). I'll return to this important question later.

Happy New Year to you all!

Thursday 28 Decembre, 6pm: They should go for it tomorrow

An e-mail that arrived last night has given us further information for following the adventure. Since Christmas, the men have been busy preparing the south stoop. Yesterday, Alain Hubert and André Georges reached the level of "summit less 200 metres" without let or hindrance (but in extreme cold nevertheless). They used the occasion to fix some of the last ropes that should take the climbers to the summit.

As the work has gone well and the task is less difficult than envisaged - and above all less dangerous as the rock is indeed much more stable on this side of the mountain - it would appear that the final assault is envisaged for the night of Friday to Saturday. Weather permitting, of course.

We have forgotten to publish the news about the Christmas dinner: meat and fish pancakes, prepared by Hubert in person ! Beer and whisky were also on the menu.

A thousand kilometres further south, but probably at just about the same time, the two adventuresses, Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft (who are making fantastic progress with their crossing), (see the map) were dining, for their part, on an excellent Spaghetti Bolognaise, washed down with a few cans of Aquavit.