The Glacier Hike

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Today I am a team leader for 8 of us on a walk up a glacier just behind our hotel in Ushuaia. The team leaders had a briefing last night, around a flipchart with a hand drawn map on it and then given some top tips and told to get on with it !! I had been around all my team members last night to make sure they knew who I was and more importantly so I knew who they were. This exercise was all about seeing how physically capable everyone was and getting to know each other. All the AkzoNobel people were split up so it was all new for everyone.

I was in one of the later groups, as the different groups set off every 15 mins from 7.30 am, so thought I would get a lie-in but no chance of that as there was a team leader briefing at 7am!! Typical!! All was good at the meeting as the waether was fine giving us fantastic views of the mountains, there was no more snow so all should be safe.

We started off the walk with all our layers, layers, layers and rucksacks full of spare clothes, medical kit, water and snacks and yes within minutes the whole of my group was stopped taking off fleeces, jackets etc too cool down! It was probably about 10C but its amazing how warm you get walking with a pack on. This exercise really tested my team leader skills as we had a group of very mixed abilities so some were trying to stride off ahead whilst others needed a well deserve breather and drink of water. I have been called a "peace - keeper" in the past so as per usual I had it sorted! We just used the breaks to admire the views and take 1000's of photos and this was just day one of the 2041 expedition.

We made it to the top and this is when we saw how global warming was really having an effect on the environment as this was a glacier walk but you can not actually now reach the glacier as it retreats every year back up the mountain. This is an effect seen on many glaciers around the world and was part of the talks that we received from the climate change expert who was on our expedition.

The decent was much quicker and we were back for lunch.

We learnt the first of what was to become our daily ritual on the boat .... that is washing your boots and gaiters in soapy water and then rinsing them off. Sounds strange but this is done to keep the boat clean but also to stop us carrying bacteria / deseases from one part of Antarctica to another.

In the afternoon we had our first Antartcica briefing which was about what to expect but also the important safety on a boat. It started with a risk assessment in which the riskwas red - Death. Jumpers briefing started "Antarctica wants you dead" this is very true as the water is between 0 - 5C, there is a freezing wind chill that makes it feel like -20C and there are a few dangerous animals like elephant seals.

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