Boot Scratcher

Umiak
Mike Jaques
Wed 10 Aug 2022 09:27
66.48.04 N 34.06.06 W
Tuesday 9 August
So after a very wet Sunday evening and a crash move of anchorage to the
other side of the fjord to avoid (yes, you guessed it!) incoming ice, we did
hourly anchor watches through the night and the wind gradually died out although
there were some rather anxious moments when we swung into depths of about 3
meters below the keel. None of this, of course could contend with the tension
generated by Episode 2 of “The Control Room”...of which, more later.
Monday morning was dry , the wind had dropped and it looked like the sun
might make an effort to break through so thoughts turned again to mountaineering
activities so we motored out past Gino’s cairn and into the Northern arm of the
fjord to anchor near a rocky beach with good access to an inviting snow slope.
Tim and Gringo had engineering work to do and Mike had boat stuff so Mike
suggested that Al joined Chris and Olly to “go skiing”. As none of us had skied
yet on this trip there was an inevitable long “kit faff” to get skis, skins,
sticks etc sorted. We were dinghied ashore and made our way up a large boulder
field until we were able to get skins on and ski up a large and steepening snow
field culminating in a neat demo of uphill kick turns from Olly and removal of
skis and booting up the slope by Al. Chris was so far ahead that nobody knows
how he got up. It was a case of quite frequent skis on and of which led to some
frustration with Al’s not previously used Vipec pin bindings...Chris said it
they are a notoriously bad binding but I think we was just being kind.
At about 450 metres we had reached the limit of the (uphill) skiing and
clearly the sensible and desirable thing would have been to enjoy an effortless
descent of linked turns in lovely spring snow. The only alternative was a 400
metre slog up either an enormous steep boulder field and or an enormous steep
and very loose scree towards the summit of an uninspiring peak...surely nobody
could possibly want to do that? Funnily enough, an hour later we had probably
limbed a little over 150 metres up it and yet there still appeared to be
corporate group think that this was a good idea. Chris and Olly pushed on and Al
struggled on fortunately soon out of earshot so they would be unable to
hear the vicious stream of expletives issuing between each tortuous breath...and
we don’t even have altitude to blame. It should be mentioned that during
lunchtime, Christoph had stripped off his ski boots, produced a pair of trainers
and danced up the slope. Having reached the summit he then went for a run along
the ridge leaving Olly to return and find out if Al was still alive...he was but
was not necessarily convinced that was a good idea..Eventually we all assembled
at the summit agreed ( or said we agreed) that it “all been worthwhile” and it
was a sensational and unclimbed peak at an altitude of about 780 metres –
although nobody was quite sure as the atmospheric pressure had been dong some
wild fluctuations. Now all we had to do was revers the route to the skis. A
simple descent of the monstrous 300 metre boulder field...what could possibly go
wrong? Fortunately, nothing did really although once again, Chris and Olly took
in some serious sunbathing waiting for Al to catch up. Then it was on skis )
more cursing at Al’s Vipec bindings and some lovely spring snow. Inevitably Al
fell over once (quite well controlled – really wasn’t his day!) which damaged
the perfect tracks. A little deft shimming to the skiers right enabled us to ski
almost down to the sea shore where an ever patient Tim was waiting to take us
back to Umiak with the remnants of our trashed ski boots.
The engineers had had a most successful day and allsorts of damage had been
sorted and Mike had cooked a brilliant duck supper.
Naturally the high point of the day was watching the much anticipated and
much discussed episode of “The Control Room”. It seemed likely that we might get
some answers to the myriad of questions such as “Who had taken the money? Was
there really a body in the white van?” ..and most importantly , “would Samantha
get her kit off?”
Spoiler alert – there was no body in the van – but I’m sure you all knew
that!
The anchorage was very secure and the wind had dropped so no need for
anchor watches and Tuesday morning dawned dry and calm. The original plan had
been to do some more mountaineering in this area but it was proving again a bit
challenging to think of suitable objectives and funnily enough, the others did
not seem enthusiastic about repeating the previous days boulder field
trudge...it must have been the way we sold it!
WE wanted to move about 10 miles north into another fjord to look at some
alternative peaks..easier said than done. Sunday's wind seems to have broken up
many icebergs into more “bergy bits” so even leaving the fjord was a slow
business and progress north was painstaking and accompanied by the scraping
sounds of ice along the hull. The original objective proved to be completely
full of ice as did the next one and the one after and probably the one after
that ..but we lost count. So a 10 mile sail turned into a 50 mile one through
quite a bit of swell and ice...but eventually by 1800 we have achieved our
present beautiful anchorage which seems to offer access to a variety of
mountaineering objectives It seems quite likely that we shall stay here until we
set sail for the return voyage to Iceland...but who knows?
Olly cooked a brilliant salmon risotto (I’m sure the fish has been
mentioned in previous blogs!) and with no more “Control Room” to watch we just
had to be content with our own merry wit and repartee
Watch this space...
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