The Ledingham Experience - Day 1 to Colbeck

Trip map with GPS route. Travelling west

The day of departure finally arrived. Previous plans had dictated a 0600 departure time, but promising weather and lengthening daylight meant that we were able to postpone leaving until 0900, which is a time that I actually recognize. Great success.

Horizon here we come.

So, 9am sees us off into the great blue white yonder. My enthusiasm for wide-open spaces and spirited application of throttle led to the blue Hagg taking an early lead.... until the radio squawked and I was reminded that we were meant to keep about 300m between vehicles, the other Hagg was towing a sled full of fuel, and it was not in fact a race. I was disappointed to have my fun spoiled so early into the venture, but slowed enough to allow the more sedate crew to keep up.

Our first stop of the day was for brief detour to a remote camera setup in the Rookery Islands, a popular Adelie penguin nesting site. The island is an ASPA (Antarctic Special Protected Area), so it is illegal to visit without a science permit. We kept the stop very short indeed as everyone was keen to make some real progress, but one thing really struck me here: when temperatures only rarely climb above freezing the Little Facts of Life don't disappear like you expect them to back home. The island is home to hundreds of Adelie penguins over summer - hundreds of birds living, crapping, and dying. And then freezing and never, ever going away.

The lighter brown is not rock...

The island is covered in a very thick, spongey, all-encompassing layer of penguin guano. And spread through it, coated and camouflaged, are ex-Adelie's from all stages of life.

See if you can spot the deceased Adelie

There were no vital penguins on the island at the time that we visited, but I am sure that it would be a raucous ruckus over there at this time of year, with the males getting readily into the business of stealing each-others rocks to make the most pretty nest.

Dramatic reenactment courtesy of a recent Bechervaise trip

Like this but by thousands

From Rookery Island we continued west to Forbes Jelbart Glacier, where we stopped for a very short picnic lunch. Unlike the other Australian stations, at Mawson we are permitted to traverse past the terminus. In fact, we passed 3 (4? so common that you lose count) on the Ledingham's trip.

I love the glaciers. They are intense. Enormous. Bigger than I can possibly explain with words and photos. Breathtaking, beautiful. Ages old. And a haven for Antarctica wildlife as winter starts to fade. The movement of the masses of plateau ice over and through the sea ice opens plenty of large cracks that provide the penguins and seals access to the air and food they need to survive (but also makes things a little more risky for we land-lubbers). They were my favourite break to the monotony of the drive through the trip; admiring the ice, the shapes, and the seals.

Definitely not my most beautiful shot, but it demonstrates my point.

Time to stretch the legs.

Some are happy to sit and it. I prefer to eat on the run so I can admire the ice.

'cos glacier ice sure is purty.

So much drama.

From Forbes it was near continuous run to our first-day rest point, Colbeck, but on the way we crossed two tide cracks big enough to intimidate the Hagglunds. Our fearless leader (JB) has a private trick he has developed over the years for checking that these cracks are safe for travel: after close visual inspection and much prodding he proceeds to jump up and down on top of them. So far he has had a 100% success rate :)

Cracks form near bergs and islands.

After JB confirmed the crack was safe we joined him for some posing.

And the Haggs joined in too.

Eventually we did (safely) make it to the hut. In total this 90km trip took us 6 hours, 20 minutes of travel. Colbeck is the field station that is used for observing the Taylor Glacier penguin colony, which is unique because it is the largest of only two land based Emperor penguin breeding sites. Every other Emperor spends its entire life on the sea ice and in the ocean.

I had been to Colbeck once before for a midwinter Emperor census, but at that time of year we were lucky to get an hour or two of good daylight in a day. This time around our early departure and the lengthening summer days allowed us a few more hours of good light to play with.

Pete the chippy got stuck straight into one of his operational tasks and set about the delicate (bang) procedure (bang!) of removing an old cracked window (BANG! *crash*) and setting the new, double glazed replacement in the hut. JB and I went for a short scramble around the local hills while then sun set, and after a gourmet dinner and operations-normal sched via sat phone we settled in for the night to get a good rest before another big day tomorrow. 

Accommodation at Colbeck: the hut sleeps 4 (midgets); permanent RMIT van sleeps 4; outside sleeps JB.

Misc photos below :)

Such art.

Pete hops to.

This is the RMIT van. Sled based accommodation that sleeps four. This one is a permanent fixture at Colbeck.

Colbeck hut, Haggs, hills, and a van.

Cinema shots from my scrambles.

More cinema.

Breath-taking vistas in every direction.

Fastest, easiest way down a sleep snow covered slope is to just let gravity have you and sliiiiiiiiide :)

Walking route for reference. Another hill to the left not pictured. Pete for scale.

JB, my hero. Travels in all his frippery. 

Obligatory awkward big-camera sun-in-the-eyes selfie :)