training" included this 13 km walk through knee-deep snowdrifts and
then over rock and ice for a few hours, navigating by map & compass.
It was fairly hard work, mainly as a result of my general
slothfulness over the last few months.
The moment we got to a really unpleasant windy spot, we sat down for
lunch. It was snowing and blowing and cold, so we set up the "mega-
bivvy" - a big bag made of rip-stop nylon that we could all crawl
inside to eat our sandwiches. We continued on past Lake Stinear and
eventually got to and tasted the water from Deep Lake. Deep Lake is
41 metres below sea level and hyper-saline, so it will only freeze at
about -30C. You could use it to treat cerebral oedema, if it weren't
for the penguins swimming in it.
Another hour on we finally got to our destination, Brooke's Hut, and
had a cup of tea and sit about a bit, but for training purposes we
had to cook outside and eat outside and sleep outside in our "bivvy"
- much the same as the mega-bivvy but, would you believe, smaller. Of
course it was a very uncomfortable night, sleeping with our sleeping
bags on a mat on the snow with a big nylon bag collapsing over you
all night, but at least it was warm and wasn't too windy. The
condensation from your breath all night made the interior quite damp
- it wasn't cold enough to freeze - so by morning from the outside we
all looked like multicoloured wet slugs out on the snow.
Then we walked back over the sea ice, inspected by penguins as we
did, and past the odd freeze-dried seal carcase, back in time for
lunch and the shower we are allowed every 3 days.
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