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.