The Worst Journey in the WorldAspley Cherry Garrard was the youngest member of the Scott Polar Expedition when he and two others lost their tent to the winds of a night-time snowstorm. They spent hours in temperatures below -70°F stumbling about the ice floes hoping they'd bump into it as it was their only hope of survival.
OK, so that was bad, but we reckon you've had worse. We know how hard you lot are.
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chthonic, Thu 7 Sep 2006, 12:40)
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Nightmare de GlaceWe camped in an igloo overnight, on the Valley Blanche. We had a big day the next day, the midi plan traverse and a descent via the Mer de Glace.
I woke up with a wet face. It wasn't raining. My face was leaking. I'd not applied the Glacier cream fastidiously enough the day before, and I'd got third degree burns. It was congealing, and my face, apart from my Panda eyes, looked like I'd superglued cornflakes all over it. Yellow crusty puss.
We woke at 4am. Set off at 6 am.
I couldn't apply glacier cream to my face, the cream was frozen and ripped my skin off. I had to climb with a balaclava on to avoid further skin damage. Occassionally, when I breathed through my nose (it was a full face balaclava, no mouth hole), my glasses steamed up and I had to stop. The Balaclava, stuck to my face with puss, ripped new sores everytime I took it off.
We got to the Mer de Glace about 3pm. It's a 'dry' glacier meaning you can see the cravases, often hundreds of feet deep. There is a path waymarked with oildrums and flags, but as the whole place is in flux, they move.
We picked our way down, jumping across cravasses with 30kg packs on, ice axes flailing, crampons kicking out in front.
My dad started crying. He wanted to stop and sleep. We made it out, and down, just before nightfall. 14 hours. I pulled my face off for the last time.
(, Thu 7 Sep 2006, 15:58, Reply)
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