The title is referring to the CO2 monitor which we shoved down the exhaust of Prion’s webasto heater. The exhaust kept on belching out black smoke and then catching alight when we tried to use it. After talking to the Webasto technical advice team Matt and I testing the exhaust as they requested however, it came up as unreadable do to the pure amount of soot. Matt cleaned out the exhaust hoses on both boats while I replaced all the reverse steering cylinder hydraulic oil on the jet units of Pipit. The oil had taken in some moisture so it was mayonnaise consistency. The port one was an easy job and the system bled of air quickly however the starboard one required a little more persuasion. So we had a Friday of getting the boats ready for a weekend of boating.

The RFA came in Wednesday night an anchored off Hope Point. Like last time we provided a taxi service to the shore for them on Thursday.

They did launch there own RIB however, after they flooded the engine we ended up towing them in gusting 40 knots back to their ship.

It was a little tricky getting them in line with their hoist system but all went well and they were soon hoisted up and safely back in the rack. As there were only 40 of them it was an easy day with not many runs to get them in to see the museum and send postcards.

Photos by Sam

Yesterday we had the day off as there was a lot of boating last weekend for those who weren’t camping and this weekend there will be boating. I pulled a pulk over as there was a bunch of items we wanted to leave in the hut.We skied over to the hut and had some lunch in the sun before donning snow shoes to Evans Lake.

Ali, Sam and I had been wanting to climb onto Spencer peak for a while and as Ali also needed to collect the monthly fur seal faeces samples we decided to stay over the night in Maiviken. Just above Evans Lake we removed our snow shoes and took out our ice axes to use as a walking stick more than anything. The snow was quite soft so we went for the scree slope with a small amount of snow it was hard going at some points as the snow would slide over the unconsolidated scree making the footing unstable at times. We came back down a gully full of the soft snow with Ali trying to bum slide a little. Check out Ali’s interactive panaroma of the ridgeline at http://www.amwphotos.co.uk/360panoramas/20110809-Spencer_ridge/20110809-DSC_2738_Panorama.htm

Sam’s picture of me surveying the amazing view out Cumberland Bay from the ridge

View down over Maiviken Lakes from the ridge. Picture by Sam.

When we got down we were just a little too late to see the penguins jumping out of the sea but we still saw them heading to their rookery for the night. Picture by Sam.

The sun setting behind the mountains on the Busen peninsula and the many mountains inland to the west of Thatcher Peninsula. Photo by Sam

Sam’s picture of the hut lit up by the tilley lamp with an almost full moon. We use the tilley for light but it also creates a lot of heat making the hut warm and drying off your socks and gloves after a day in the snow.

The wind howled all night and we were up early to get the collections done and get back to base. The morning light was spectacular. We put on snow shoes for the trip from the hut down to the beaches where there were quite a few skittish young males furries.

On the way back after getting Ali’s poo the gusts of wind were strong – blowing the snow around and unbalancing us on our skis. The overnight wind had created large strastrugi icy sections and deep drifts of soft snow. The pulk was difficult to manage on the traverses as with rope leads instead of a solid lead and no runners it went sideways down the slope trying to pull me over. With a small load it didn’t matter too much though.

We left the hut planning on possibly climbing an unamed peak from Deadmans however, when we got there there was blowing snow from the plateau below the summit and the sky looked a little ominous and with a forcast of 30 knot winds we decided to head on home. Well the sky cleared to beautiful blue and there was no wind but by then we were back at Grytviken having snowshoed in deep snow from Maivaten.

This is Rob and Andy next to the remains of the old ski jump at Grytviken.

The cove was full of pancake ice in the tidal area but pretty solid thick ice covered the rest of the cove.

As it was Sarah’s birthday I made limoncello cookies and we presented her with her gift made by Rob, Tommy and myself. The present is made with recycled materials – the ice tongs are an old baking tray, the glasses and ice bucket from Navy Rum and London Gin bottles and the wood base from an old bedstead and mahogoney from the fishing vessel wreck. (Picture by Pat Lurcock)

There is nothing better than climbing up a steep tussock slope first thing in the morning with an almost 60lb rucksack on your back! The views were stunning across Cumberland West Bay which made up for it though. The tussock is also strong enough that you can use your arms to help pull yourself up the slope.

We made our way from the beach to the summit of Camp Peak which was one of the nicest summits that both Rob and I have done since getting to South Georgia. This is the view down into Maiviken with the frozen Maiviken Lake to the right and Spencer Peak with Repeater Ridge.

The view from Camp Peak out the entrance of Cumberland Bay to the Southern Ocean.

From Camp peak we waded through a lot of snow up to a Col which had to precipitice of a drop to Maiviken for us to contemplate with our full winter packs on so we retreated a small way down and went back up to the ridge and over another Col. This dropped us into the top end of Boulder Pass.

From there we donned snow shoes as the snow was very deep and we worked our way through the plateaus and lake once more towards the shore and round the North end of Maiviken Lake to the hut. We got to the hut in time to have a civilised cheese and biscuit break in the sun while sitting on the bench I made at the beginning of the year.

Rob went out onto the lake with a shovel and ice axe to see how thick the ice was under the blanket of snow. It was very solid good quality ice and took a lot of twacks to finally get through in a small 1 inch hole! It was about 8 inches thick 200 feet from the shoreline.

We had a great dinner of soup for starters and custard sponge for dessert each with a different main course. After a few games of cards it was time for another good night sleep.

This is the RIB after Rob, Andy and I were taken over to the North side of the Thatcher peninsula and dropped off for two nights camping on Friday afternoon. Tommy and Matt Holmes wrapped up warm and decided to stick it out the whole trip on the RIB after saying jet boats are for ‘girls’!! The RIB and jet boat then headed across the way to Busen Peninsula to pick up Robert and Maureen which was the reason for the trip after their five day holiday over there. It was -8C on Friday not warming up even during the day.

We left our overnight kit and firewood in the cave on the way past and got dropped off further down the coast to walk back with day packs only up Papua Valley and down Curlew Valley to the cave on Friday evening.

It was snowing and quite windy as we walked around the base of Stenhouse and up to the col between Stenhouse and Camp Peak. With just our day sacks it was easier to get through some of the snow drifts which were at some points were up to my waist level!

We didn’t hang around the Col for long as the wind was blowing the snow all over the place and we wanted to drop down into the lee of the ridge line.

After 2.5 hours walking we made our way to the beach down the last steep tussocky snow covered slope and enter the cave through the small slit in the rock.

The cave goes back quite a distance and in the back it is sandy and dry. There were a few icicles hanging from the roof that had formed ice domes on the ground beneath. So we sent up our bivvy bags in the back with our down sleeping bags inside and it was a really good nights sleep listening to the waves lapping in the enterance off the cave.

We were able to dry our gloves and socks next to the fire which burnt till we went to bed at 9pm. As Rob says he loves camping as you get to go to bed at 9pm and gets lots of sleep!

Saturday morning was beautiful and sunny with blue skies it had snowed overnight and with high tide you had to nip out of the cave between the waves so as not to get wet!

I will put Saturday’s pictures up in a few hours but must nip off for Sunday roast dinner at Carse House. Hope you all had a great weekend.

This is Sam’s guide on how to make a movie in 48 hours with all the out takes from our attempt at Popeye! Enjoy.

We got yet more snow last night and today the wind gust over 50 knots. Unfortunately this made the snow slabby so the sking wasn’t great today however, the skinning was a hard workout as the tracks were covered by the wind driven snow on our return.

Rob made the track to Grytviken and I made it back. The pancake ice covers the beach at low water in this picture and as you can see there is sun over there so each lunch time I try to migrate to the sun at Grytviken.

Yesterday I did a bunch of small jobs I have been meaning to do for a while. I made and installed a bracket for one of the lifebouys over at Tijuca jetty at Grytviken as well as making a throwline bag for each of the bouys.

As it was going to snow again I shovelled all the snow off the jet boats so they wouldn’t become overloaded and installed a new anode holder on one of them.

Other than that I have been in the chippy shop making a tool for Ali’s science that he will be doing again in the spring time and a birthday present for someone on station.

After lots of hard work by everyone on base we present to you our 48 hour movie entitled ‘Popeye the Whaler Man’. The 5 elements this year were Popeye, a chocolate bar attached to a shirt, the phrase imbibe rapaciously, a saw and the sound of a dripping tap. Enjoy!

To see the entries from the other Antarctic Stations see http://blog.cupojava.net/?page_id=123