Børge Ousland

Camp 9: We are pretty happy with today. 16 kilometres was good as the conditions were far from ideal. We started out in white-out and that lasted the day. After lunch the wind picked up, and continued to do so. One hour before planned, we camped out of security as everything was just white chaos.
The snow today has been like glue. It has stuck to the skis all the time not respecting our ski wax at all. But, that made the small grey ones wake up. We experimented with both sun screen and sausages and had great success! – Things like that is not bad for the spirit.
The routines today was Thorleif in front. He did marvels. The two first was tied up, while the last was left to ponder the world. In the end we the thing was to count the teeth. Our tongs agreed on 16 apiece both up and downstairs.
We have 12 km to a fairly serious pass. We would love (meaning neeeeeed) better weather for that. But it does not look good. Outside now all hell is loos.

Camp 8, and Thorleif reports: We had a staggering 50 cm of snow last night, so the hope of real progress was not great in the morning. But 16,5 km was good. As it turned out, the weather was very warm so that the snow packed up well and gave better conditions as we went. – We even had a good spell without jackets!
But, then it changes again. First white-out came sneaking, then a full blast snow-storm came out way. It was 3 wet gents that hit camp at 8 pm after 9 hours of labour.
In fact, we have had more drying of wet clothes and equipment than expected. That has resulted in two things: One is hat the morning session takes longer than planned. Sometimes as much as 4 hours. Then secondly we use more fuel than we normally do. We have brought some extra, but have little to spare.
We would not mind a somewhat easier weather pattern, but all in all we are very content with progress, spirit and the whole experience.

Camp 7: Never a dull moment! This day was packed. We started out in poring rain, dressed up in rain ponchos! But, now being up on the plateau, conditions are good. That was until we got white-out. Then we had to get the rope out for safety. That was just as well, as I nearly ended up in a crevasse.
We navigated on following a route plotted on the satellite photo we have. It is a very good route, and now at 1200 metres we believe the last crevasse is behind us.
But all of a sudden everything broke up and in seconds the clouds parted, the sun came out and huge mountains on all sides came and went in mystic and cloudy light. I have never ever seen the shades of blue that we were treated to.
We are now well over the St Raphael glacier and are eating kilometres. Everyone has found a good rhythm and we are coping extremely well with both the tough going and the sudden weather changes. And that is just as well, as at the end of the day it all changed again and we camped as huge wet snowflakes fell.
Bengt sends his greetings to wife and kids, Thorleif to the store and I to Max and Eva-Liv

Camp 6: What a day! It has been one of those rear days that completely overwhelms you. The sun was out. And together with black clouds, blur icefalls, white snow and raging mountains that plays hide and seek in low clouds and fog it was a light show like no other.
It was even nice and war. For several hours we were just strolling around in our under shirts and even got a solid tan.
The distance is just 4 km, but that was due to 2 small but wild icefalls. Lots of crevasses and most hidden in loose snow meant we had to have max security and even use ice screws.
Now we are in camp, enjoying dinner. We are on a beautiful flat plateau and have packed the crampons down for good. At least till we reach the other side.
Can’t wait for tomorrow.

Camp 5, Bengt calls in: The day has been very good. Started out in good weather on crampons and ice axe. Carried the first load tilt the snowline and returned for the second run.
Then the bliss started. We put on belts, sledge and skis! It was a wonderful feeling to do that after all these days as ‘tramps’. The snow and ice conditions seems to be quite ok, so we are hopeful of good progress further on. Today we did 6,5 km. Not very much, but still better than all the other days combined.
I must say the landscape and trip so far has been mind bugging. The contrasts and dramatic, and just like a fairytail. The weather has been more familiar. Just like at home in Trønerlag in Norway… a little of everything all the time.
Everything is fine, apart from a small burn on one foot due to spilled hot water. But it’ll grow.
As we are out now free of all the mountains we have better satellite signals and send some new and old pictures. Enjoy!

Camp 4: Another long day, but better. All in all we progressed just 1 kilometre, but the everything was better. The weather was good and stayed dry all day, which meant we have now dried everything.
But the best thing is that we now believe we are done with heavy carrying up all the mountainous passes with difficult climbing. We did not loos out direction at all!
Today we even had a good spell on snow! But before we came to that we passed over a brow and had the mist stunning view yet. The hole forest, the fjord and the rolling glacier under us. Spectacular!
Tonight we have the first camp on snow and ice. That is a very good feeling, and we are looking very much forward to getting on skis proper.

Camp 3: Today we managed just 1 kilometre in a total of 9 hours! That should say everything about the going down here. Even thou the rain forest ia behind us, is is so lush and difficult to find a way forward. At times we also have to harness up for safety and one time we even had to go onto the ice itself to find a way.
But for the second run today we found a better path and saved some time.
All in all, not very impressive progress, but great work and very high spirit. We are definitely getting higher and closer to the plateau.
Sorry, no photos today either. There are way to many and high mountains around us for transmitting anything other than short messages.

Camp 2: A hard days work. Coming straight out of the rainforest, the weather has not been on our side today. That did not make things easier, though, we climbed some 800 metres, covering 12 kilometres in 11 hours.
The going is spectacular and we have had to harness up quite often. The camp is not quite where we had planned, but it is still very good, and we are very pleased to have carried all out gear with us. Tomorrow we will continue climbing and hope to reach the plateau in a few days.

Today we have had one of the most stunning walks in my life. Everything has worked out as planned and we have camped in a very lush jungle like forest. It is mild, beautiful and very exotic.
From here we have carried 30 kilo of gear all the way up till the glacier. To come straight out of this green and onto a dramatic, white and rolling glacier is an experience worth a hole trip.
Tomorrow we will move all the rest up and get some snow and ice under our feet.

Finally on our way. Sunday after noon the ferry steamed out from Puerto Montt. This very scenic voyage takes you normally all the way down to Puero Natals, but we will jump ship close to St. Raphael. There we will be taken ashore in a rubber dingy to start out real trek.
We have already been up on the bridge for a briefing with the captain to ensure our selves we all are coordinated on the exact coordinates. In this area you find hardly any roads og other means of transport. The ferry is IT, so we have one chance to hit our spot.
So for now it is just to lean back, enjoy the ‘cruise’, observe that the landscape looks very similar to Norway and take encouragement from the snowline that keeps creeping closer and closer to the water.