“Locals” near the Ada 2, with Gritvyken, a settlement populated solely by seasonal museum employees where the team started their expedition, in the background. [Photo] Courtesy of EXPEDITION GEORGIA SAT 2007
Editor’s Note: Alpinist followed the progress of a French mountaineering team during its two-and-a-half month sea-supported ski mountaineering expedition to South Georgia. (Read the November 28, 2007 NewsWire and the January 15, 2008 NewsWire for reports on the first and second half of the expedition.) The team was kind enough to share some of its photos for this Feature. Please visit the Across South Georgia at the Summits website for more pictures and information.
The Ada 2 heading towards Harpon Bay. Sugartop, the team’s last attempted peak before returning home, is the background on the left. [Photo] Courtesy of EXPEDITION GEORGIA SAT 2007
The team was comprised of Philippe Batoux, Manu Cauchy (aka Doc Vertical) and Lionel Daudet, and Isabelle Autissier–a sailor based on the specially modified sloop, the Ada 2, out of Ushuaia, Argentina–and her two mates, Agnes Lapeyre and Tristan Guyon. Over twenty days in November and December the team made a successful crossing of the 106-mile-wide island, which included the first ascent of Sheridan Peak (ca. 900m), the sixth ascent of the island’s tallest point, Mt. Paget (2934m), the third ascent of Surprise Peak (ca. 955m) and the first ascent of Mt. Worsley (1104m).
The Ada 2 left South Georgia on December 31, and after almost two weeks and 2000 kilometers of passage, the ship returned to its home port of Ushuaia, Argentina; the expedition concluded on January 13.
South Georgia is the largest of a group of islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean known as the South Georgia group. The islands are part of a larger British Overseas Territory ca. 864 miles east-southeast of the Falkland Islands. British Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton led the first east-west crossing of South Georgia during a Trans-Antarctic expedition from 1914 to 1917. The island has been crossed twice northwest to southeast: once by Duncan Carse, who was mapping South Georgia. It took him five years, from 1951 to 1956. The second was by the English team of Patt Lurcock and Angus Finney in 1999, and it took them a month to cross the island by the less-exposed north coast.
Isabelle Autissier, Ada 2’s captain, banging saucepans together to create a path through the aggressive fur seals who lived on the beach. [Photo] Courtesy of EXPEDITION GEORGIA SAT 2007
En route to the team’s first ascent of Mt. Worsley. The team attempted two peaks near the Sea Leopard Fjord; summitting Mt. Worsley on December 2, 2007, but 30 mph winds and zero-visibility conditions prevented them from climbing Trident the next day. [Photo] Courtesy of EXPEDITION GEORGIA SAT 2007
Day 1 of the traverse. The team skied up the Nordensjkord Glacier toward the Allardyce Range and Mt. Paget. They established their first camp at ca. 500 meters without digging a hole or building a wind break, which resulted in a damaged tent.
[Photo] Courtesy of EXPEDITION GEORGIA SAT 2007
Agnes Lapeyre (right) and Tristan Guyon struggling to get the zodiac situated in the water. Maneuvering the zodiac to drop off or pick up the team at the beaches was sometimes difficult because of ice floes and rough seas. [Photo] Courtesy of EXPEDITION GEORGIA SAT 2007
At the foot of an unclimbed peak. The team had to give up because of avalanche danger, but several hundred meters up they climbed the obvious couloir visible to the right of the raised ski pole. [Photo] Courtesy of EXPEDITION GEORGIA SAT 2007
The team near Murray Snowfield during the traverse from Possession Bay to Sea Leopard Bay. Cunningham Peak is in the background. [Photo] Courtesy of EXPEDITION GEORGIA SAT 2007
An elephant seal at Ducloz Head. [Photo] Courtesy of EXPEDITION GEORGIA SAT 2007
The team crossing the huge crevasses of Christophersen Glacier. Route finding on the crevassed glacier was difficult because the team’s map showed little detail (1cm:200,000km), making it almost impossible to plan routes in advance. [Photo] Courtesy of EXPEDITION GEORGIA SAT 2007
At the crux of the Helland glacier crossing. The team had to climb up a spur dragging their equipment in heavy and awkward pulkas—Scandinavian sleds designed to be short and low-slung to accommodate either a dog or skier. [Photo] Courtesy of EXPEDITION GEORGIA SAT 2007
Climbing up an unclimbed couloir on Sugartop buttress, after discovering that the line the team was going to attempt had disappeared. [Photo] Courtesy of EXPEDITION GEORGIA SAT 2007
Lionel Daudet down climbing an upper section of Sugartop (2223m), the team’s final objective. Poor weather turned them back just shy of the summit. [Photo] Courtesy of EXPEDITION GEORGIA SAT 2007
Lionel Daudet traversing on his climb down from the team’s last attempt summitting Sugartop. They were unable to finish the climb because of poor ice and severe winds. [Photo] Courtesy of EXPEDITION GEORGIA SAT 2007
Returning from the team’s last attempt on Sugartop (seen in the background) via Surprise Pass. [Photo] Courtesy of EXPEDITION GEORGIA SAT 2007
The proposed route for the South Georgia expedition. The team didn’t follow it exactly, but it gives a good overview of the area and its features. [Image] Courtesy of EXPEDITION GEORGIA SAT 2007