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Field
Training and The Framnes mountains - Part 1 (part
3 of 4)
Sunday 28th Nov 99
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continued
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Walking
along the wind scour - in the afternoon
After
we had setup camp, we went for a walk using crampons across
melt lake, to a wind scour below Fearn Hill. A wind scour
is an area of ice near the edge of mountain or rock where
the wind rushes around and prevents the snow/ice from forming
against the rock. Also, during the day the rock is warmed
up and melts any ice that forms against it.
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The
wind scour in the morning sun
This particular wind scour was quite small - but it was still
very impressive at about 8 metres high!
We
were able to easily walk over the ice and up the ice surface
of the wind scour because we were using crampons attached
to our boots. Crampons are just a series of spikes that are
attached to our boots that dig into the ice and secure our
foothold.
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Crampons
provide a secure foothold on the ice - making it easier to
admire the patterns in the ice of the melt lake
Walking
in crampons can become tiring because you have to constantly
make sure that you lift and place your feet properly - and
do not catch a crampon spike on your legs, or when walking
around the camp site that you don't step on anything that
doesn't like having holes put in it !
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On
the other side of the melt lake, and up a short scree slope was
another melt lake. Roger had brought a pair of ice sea skates that
he made with him along and tried them out on the melt lake. He had
made his own special pair much longer than normal because the surface
of the ice is ablated by the wind (covered in small cutouts) and
you need a long blade to bridge the peaks of the ablations and give
a smooth ride.
A
panorama of Fearn Hill - Upper Melt lake - with Roger ice skating
(on the right in the red)....
Up
behind the melt lake was a saddle (in the centre of the picture
above). Since it was an excellent day for exploring, we walked around
the side of the melt lake and up the rock covered portion of the
snow. The wind scour on the right of the picture is about 40metres
high - something to explore next time :-)
Email
continues in part 4
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