Tents up, scran eaten and the prospect of 14 hrs in our sleeping bags staring us in the face………. clearly time to go exploring! Whilst Kris, Molly and a little yellow duck set off to escort the commander back to the yacht (apparently some very important ‘stuff’ to be done back on the yacht) the rest of us set out to investigate Horatio’s stump, a large flat topped promontory jutting out at the far SW corner of King George Island and rather appropriately offering a great view of Nelson’s Island – or at least it would if it wasn’t wrapped in a thick freezing fog. The peak itself is a steep sided igneous rock protrusion with several challenging scrambles up its flanks and at least one of the team was clearly thankful that the fog effectively concealed the drop down to the ice choked seas below.
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Adventurous Training is about taking people out of their comfort zone and allowing them to build self confidence and reliance on their team members in a controlled risk environment. Sailing through the southern Oceans has already taken most of us a considerable way outside the comfort zone and Horatio and his stump does the same for others. The climb proves worthwhile as much for the sense of achievement as for the rather truncated views and feeling of genuine exposure. Now all we’ve got to do is come down again and there’s no gentle grass slope to walk around. Scrambling down the same route we came up the team work well together with Matt H and Matt B providing one on one coaching to those more closely resembling bambi on ice than seasoned mountain goats.
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Mini adventure complete we cross the snowfield and dive back into the snug red tents and the inevitable kit explosion. Matt B get’s the stove on again almost before the door is zipped up, and begins a remarkably impressive food-athon that seems to involve cooking and eating 24hrs worth of food in just 24 minutes, whilst Dan starts chasing satellites across the southern skies in an attempt to tweet, blog and facebook simultaneously while also downloading the football, rugby and cricket scores. Next door the old married couple (Josh and Doc) seize the opportunity to curl up together and get some sleep while the ‘ditling gun’ Macpherson is away at the beach. The respite is short and Molly and Kris soon return having had their own mini animal adventure with a host of dive bombing petrels and a very inquisitive fur seal. It takes a little while longer however for them to reveal that while back on the beach they snaffled a couple of hot bacon sandwiches delivered to them in ‘ziggy’ by a rather warmer shady lane. This adventure stuff is great but when it comes down to it, it’s all about the food…..!
