Rock and Ice Trip Report – Issue 207

Arctic Dreams: Full Video

Since Andrew’s Rock and Ice article comes out this month, I figured it was a good time to upload our full video to the interwebs. I’m going to do one last edit for a few film festivals next year so please let me know if you have any feedback or ideas.

 

Also I came across this amusing list of animals we saw and ate during the trip that we never published:

Seen
Musk ox
Musk rat
Caribou / reindeer
Bobcat
Arctic fox
Arctic hare
Dolphin
Phosphorescent jellyfish
Pilot whale
Humpback whale
Beluga whale
Bowhead whale
Arctic char (the one that got away)
Snow goose (This one didn’t get away!)
Ptarmigan
Bearded seal
Ringed seal
Many other unknown whales, seals, fish and birds!
Alas no Polar bear – as far as we know we’re the only boat that made it through last year without a sighting… boo

Eaten
Musk ox
Caribou
Moose
Whale meat and blubber
Seal meat and blubber
Narwhal blubber (Muktuk)
Amershuk (the fish that saved Greenland apparently)
Dried arctic char
Halibut

Richard Gear eat your heart out

A short video on some of the gear we took with us to the arctic.  Once again thank you First Ascent, Beal, Black Diamond, Saltic, MCSA, Gina Watkins, Shipton Tillman / Goretex, Clif Bar, Vega Products and Five.Ten.

 

 

Nome sweet Nome!

It’s been a few weeks since we hung up our winter gear and settled back to our former lives. Since personally that means lounging about Miguel’s at the Red River Gorge, I thought I’d take the opportunity to post a few pictures from the end of our adventure.

Last stop in Canada, Tuktoyaktuk

Pingos (mounds formed by thawing and refreezing tundra) rise in the distance

Another failed fishing attempt by Dave (moments before Ningo nabbed the onsight!)

Dave checking out the local ice-cave, an underground freezer dug into the permafrost

Ever heard the phrase “sitting ducks”? Dave finds out what that really means on his hunting trip with some locals!

Tuk is at the mouth of the Mackensie river so there is a LOT of driftwood

A critter swims across a puddle

Dave caught with his figurative finger in another pie

Andrew surveys the bridge of a very kind tugboat that hosted us for a few days

The Dodo entertains for a change. Hard liquor (a novelty in a dry town) mixed with game and dried Arctic Char (kind of like smoked salmon), not a bad evening!

An early warning base (remnant of the cold war)

A scene from another early warning base (this one torn down)

Steve coming in for landing on an abandoned airstrip

A cool license plate

Locked and loaded! The guys load up their lockers with treats for the final stretch to Alaska

Stormy seas hit us hard on the final stretch

Steve showing off his handiwork (a 2 metre rip in the main)

We sailed by some crazy colored slopes…

…and enjoyed some amazing slow-motion sunrises

Dave taking down the sail for the last time, a somber moment

Bob making the final peach and rhubarb crumble of the trip

Steve, as usual video editing while the real work gets done

Clint giving his famous celebration pose

And finally we reach the US of A!

The land of gas-guzzlers!

Our last port of call, former gold-rush town, Nome Alaska

After we landed in Alaska we rented a car and explored some of the surrounding country including an amazing hot spring in the middle of nowhere

A creepy abandoned homestead near the hot spring

First-ascentionist of the Northwest Passage (1903-6), Roald Amundsen

No, we couldn’t see Russia across the strait!

Nome’s primary industry these days? Extreme gold digging, performed with giant under-water vacuum cleaners and men in wetsuits (under the ice in winter), all filmed for reality television of-course. Pictured here is one of the many trawlers that cruise around.

Local bling, moose antlers

Yup, it ends here…

Another faux-la-bear sighting

Hangin’ out at the local saloon

Andrew peering out from a bright pink outhouse toilet

Snow capped peaks around Nome

Our first caribou sighting!

Found in the Nome museum! Unfortunately we couldn’t find any locals who would play it for us…

Well, that’s all folks!

MCSA Slideshow dates

We’re doing a few slideshows around South Africa over the next couple of months. As an added bonus, we’ll also be showing Steve’s awesome film of the trip.

Herewith the dates:

Tues 23rd October
MCSA Cape Town
97 Hatfield St
7:30 for 8pm
Bouldering wall open from 6pm
Liquid refreshments will be available

Wed 7th November
MCSA Durban
7:30 for 8pm

Wed 14th November
MCSA Johannesburg
7:30 for 8pm

Hope to see you there!

the aura of the aurora

Not our videos but wanted to share these two amazing captures of the aurora borealis, one from Tromso, Norway and the other from the International Space Station. Our experience of it was less green and slower moving but still incredible. Happy watching!

Tromso, Norway

 
ISS

Arctic Dreams Teaser

Our first video release from our four month epic! We’ve entered it into the Local is Lekker Film Competition which runs alongside the Reelrock tour. We’ll release the full 40 minute feature online once we’ve completed our presentations for the Mountain Club of South Africa.

Come support us if you can! We’ll post dates here shortly.