Have just noticed that its been months since we last updated the site, ahh where does time go!!

So what’s our news:

1)        Well we got married at the top of a mountain, which was quite exciting! Due to the fact that Tarka proposed at the end of our last expedition, whilst we were sheltering from the hefty Patagonian winds down a crevasse, we felt in true ‘Tarka and Katie’ fashion we should have an expedition style wedding.

So on the 6^th of March we got married at 6000ft in the Parc national de la Vanoise in the French Alps at a mountain refuge. Due to the refuge being in a national park, all forms of motorised transport are prohibited, which meant all 60 guests had to hike the 9km up the mountain in snowshoes, aided with plenty of chocolate and a picnic lunch. The guests wedding attire was pulled up in large polar sleds by Tarka as well as various guests who volunteered (briefly), big thank you to all of you. Tarka had already made 5 previous journeys in the days before pulling up to 100kg of wedding ’stuff ‘ up at a time. The evening ceremony was held outside the refuge’s tiny chapel under a clear starry ski at a nippy -18°C. This was followed by a big dinner in the refuge as we partied through until morning with the help of a great band (who also had to walk up the mountain…equipment being towed in pulk)! On the Sunday after a hearty breakfast we all headed back down the mountain! As much as I’m a little biased it was truly a magical weekend, and for the guests, well it was different!

2)       We are project managing, along with race directors Charlie Paton and Alan Chambers, the first race across Greenland, the Greenland Icecap Challenge 2011. This project is exciting on two accounts: Firstly because it’s a 500km race where competitors will complete a full traverse of the icecap, a feat that is highly acclaimed among the world of polar explorers. Racing for 18 – 27 days in temperatures of  minus 35°C, pulling pulks up to 75kg…what’s not exciting about that! Secondly, im racing in the solo unsupported category…my first solo expedition, whoopee!

3)        The sad news is we have had to postpone Rivers of Ice Take 2 until next autumn. We are still as determined as ever to complete our Patagonian mission, but it will just have to wait until 2011. This is a personal choice, as an opportunity in the form of a new business venture arose and we felt we had to grab it (more to come on the new venture soon, as very exciting).  Great article about last year’s Rivers of Ice came out in the Geographical magazine last month PDF version here.

We are off to Mt Blanc later this month so will update you on our return.

Katie

We have finally launched our new expedition.

‘Rivers of Ice’ will depart on the 16^th of August in an attempt to traverse the complete length of the Southern Patagonian Ice Cap with out the aid of sail kites or pre-placed food caches.

The fully unsupported journey will see us kayak, ski and climb 554km across the world’s third largest ice cap in as little as 37 days. Traditionally expeditions across the ice cap have been undertaken with the aid of pulks (sledges) ensuring the ability to carry sufficient supplies for long crossings. However, this makes for an arduous and laborious task having to shuttle loads across the heavily crevassed sections. In contrast we have taken an ultra light and fast approach, undertaking the journey with only backpacks and 1kg micro sleds that attach to the packs. Having reduced the equipment from over 120kg (traditional amount taken on previous attempts of this journey) to 45kg each, we are mobile enough to move fast over the difficult terrain. However, with only 37 days of food rations, we cannot afford any mistakes or delays!

The new ‘Rivers of Ice’ expedition website is finally up and running. I would describe it as innovative and interactive, jam-packed with technical information about the journey and the ultra-light equipment being used to make it happen. Once the expedition gets underway we will send daily updates back to the site as podcasts, allowing for the facts and emotions – be they despair or elation – of the day’s events, to be shared. Between now and departure we will regularly be updating the new website with short videos of our physical preparation, as well as the kit, food and logistical preparations, giving an insight into the pre-expedition work load.

So until mid October it is good buy from the Primal Journey news page but we hope to see you over at www.rivers-of-ice.com

and 1kg micro sleds that attach to the packs.

Sorry for the long delay since the last post, time seems to just be flying past. It only feels like a few weeks ago that we last put up any news but I just saw the date and it has been way too long. One problem that seems to be recurring throughout our lives is that there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. We have been furiously organising and training for our next trip which leaves on August the 16th. I know that the project itself hasn’t been released but there is a very good reason for that… the website (www.rivers-of-ice.com) and marketing isn’t quite finished yet. I had hoped to have it online by now but as with all expeditions, everything is running slightly behind schedule and we are seriously pushing to get everything up and online in the next two weeks. In the mean time you can speculate on the expedition based on our training out in Chamonix this week.

I had originally hoped to spend 5 days on the Glacier D’Argentiere but found that it was closed and so we opted to climb from Chamonix back up to the Aiguille du Midi via the Mer de Glace. At 20km it’s not exactly ground breaking distances but it was an incredibly useful excises. The main purpose of the trip was to test out every last piece of equipment that we will be using on the expedition to make sure it could hold up to the job. There are a few little pieces that need tweaking and there will be a full breakdown on the website when it goes live, but on the whole I was very impressed with everything and I am now extremely confident that we have the best kit we could possibly hope for. Sadly this means that it pretty much comes down to use now and whether we can hold up to the challenge!

That said we have learnt some valuable lessons this week such as how to abseil and manoeuvred in and out of crevasses with 32kg packs. I expect some of you have tried this before and have found that it’s quite easy to end up upside-down on the rope with such a heavy pack and that really makes life difficult. As a general rule crossing large fields of crevasses isn’t exactly a humorous affair but Katie did manage to make me laugh when after having crossed a precarious snow bridge she triumphantly (and slightly cockily) returned to its edge to take a photo of her exploit when the wafer thin 3 meters bridge of snow promptly collapsed into the depths of the crevasse and she came running past me exclaiming that it was time to leave.

The total ascent was a little over 2 vertical kilometres and as we neared the 4000m mark Katie started to feel the effects of the altitude and progress became incredibly laborious. We are taking 2 days off to recover before heading back out to finish off all the training we didn’t get round to last time and I’ll post again on the long drive back to England on Thursday.