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April 2003
Stepping onto the ice | |
|  | | The frozen landscape of Iceland - view looking west over Vatna |
| | Staffordshire student Hugh Deeming is preparing to embark upon an expedition across Europe's largest ice capto commemorate the death of his sister and raise money for a cancer charity. |
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| | Hugh Deeming's journals:
10/04/03
Perspective
This week it has been announced that David Hempleman-Adams has succeeded in reaching the North Geomagnetic Pole, solo and unsupported..
As I write, Pen Hadow is labouring alone across the Arctic ice toward the North Geographic Pole. He is averaging anything between 3.5 to 7.5km a day. In two days time Ben Saunders, the brother of a fellow student of mine at Staffordshire University, also sets off onto the northern pack ice. His intention is to be the youngest ever to walk unsupported to the North Geographic Pole.
The achievements and intentions of these men, and others, are a sober reminder to me that, when compared, what my team and I are undertaking is on a relatively small scale. This realisation however does nothing to diminish the importance that preparation will play toward our safety on the ice cap.
Though wind-chill temperatures may not fall as low as those experienced at 90º North, at an elevation approaching twice that of the summit of Snowdon, and positioned right on the North Atlantic storm track, our intended route will offer it’s own challenges.
This month has therefore been spent fitness training and revising self-rescue techniques learnt in Scotland. Jonathan and I have been to the peaks of Snowdonia and The Lake District practicing our navigation and Matt has been working on the southern slopes of Vatnajökull, running a research team in sub-zero temperatures.
Our list of sponsors has continued to grow in number, and I have been overwhelmed at their generosity. A few weeks ago now, Adam, a fellow student on my course, approached me. He said he had been watching the build-up to the expedition and felt he’d like to help.
He is a member of a local band, called ‘The Others’, and along with his fellow band members had decided to offer to do a benefit gig, in aid of The Royal Marsden Hospital, the expedition’s adopted charity. Now, on May 8th, there will be a concert at the Student’s Union at Staffordshire University.
Along with the live music there will also be a raffle and auction, with lots such as books signed by Ray Mears and Bear Grylls, and a T-shirt donated by Ellen MacArthur. This will occur one month to the day before our departure for Iceland.
My third year dissertation topic is slowly taking shape. Snow samples, collected at 5km intervals along our route, will be melted and brought back to the UK. They will then be analysed in order that I can hypothesise the processes and factors involved in the distribution of sea salts across the ice cap.
Research for this undertaking is like nothing I have ever done before. I can honestly say that the paths Higher Education can take you down are amazing and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone.
Next week I am on a field course in North Wales, and this is followed by a few weeks of concerted revision before exams at the end of May. It is quite amazing how quickly the weeks are passing… but I have to say, that tyre never seems to get any lighter!
Read Journal Instalment 1 here - 16/02/03
Read Journal Instalment 2 here - 03/03/03
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