On wednesday Richie the outgoing electrician (he has been here for 25 months) took up the Hodges Challenge. The course is from the back door of the museum at Grytviken to the summit 607m and back to the museum. The record was set in 1998 by a soldier based at KEP who summited in 31 minutes and did the return trip in 50 minutes. Richie was a minute slower on the way up however, he took 5 minutes less to descend. Doing the return trip in a stunning 46 minutes. This is an amazing feat to be able to run down the scree slop at that pace without being hurt badly on a fall. Next challenge for Richie when he leaves here – on monday morning – is the london marathon.

Picture by Alastair Wilson