Duse Peak, Wrecks, Reindeer Enclosures and Glaciers

October 8, 2011   

The South Georgia Govermnement is based in the Falklands and at the moment we have some visitors. Instead of cooking a normal Saturday night Sarah invited everyone to Carase House. As I am on earlies I insisted on providing dessert and bread. Below is the apple pie I made to go with homemade vanilla ice cream.

I made a rustic olive herb bread. Or rather it was a team effort as I made the dough and had it rise and then had to leave Ali to actually bake it as I rushed off to take a RAF Mountain Leader up Duse. He had tried yesterday but the route still requires ice axe and crampons so I was given the ‘job’ of taking him up. It was very windy at the top and the conditions were similar to when I went up a few weekends ago in terms of soft snow.

The view down to base shows how much the snow has melted recently.

I rushed on back and finished up making the apple pie before heading out on the jet boat (the RIB was also out with Rob and Matt) with the Government visitors for a tour of Cumberland East Bay. First we went to look at the wrecks on Morraine Fjord then on to Sorling to have a look at the reindeer enclosure. This is a fenced off area showing what the vegetation would be like without the reindeer. The beach was completely covered in Ellie seals which is vastly different from when we were on holiday a few weeks ago when there were only two large males.

Hard to see the Ellies in this picture on the beach!

This picture was taken by Ali a few months ago of the enclosure. As you can see lots of tussock inside and none outside.

Next stop was the Nordenskol Glacier which I mapped at the same time. I will put the figures together to see how much this one as retreated. The clouds were moving really fast over the Greene and Thatcher Peninsulas while down at the Glacier it was flat calm and beautifully sunny. On to Corral where we put a new first aid kit in the hut that Sam had made up and we spotted 20 or so reindeer on the hillside.

Back to base for a clean up and onto Carse House for dinner which is bound to be very tasty. 

Enjoy your weekend.

 

3 Responses to “Duse Peak, Wrecks, Reindeer Enclosures and Glaciers”

  1. mum October 9th, 2011 at 11:56 am

    Looks like the deer do the same to your tussock grass as they do to Lomita roses Love m and d

  2. Peter October 10th, 2011 at 11:28 pm

    Re. the unwanted reindeer. Given that deer can be farmed, and that their meat and antler products are in high demand (antler velvet is a major New Zealand export to China for medicines), could not the animals be shipped to the Falkland Islands and boost the economy there?

    Worth mentioning to the executive officer? It would save shooting them, and bring income to Falklanders.

  3. admin October 11th, 2011 at 1:19 am

    They tried that a few years ago I believe and a low percentage survived. The combined total of the two herds is around 3500 at current estimates.