Mount Owen

Message from "Sledge Echo" - 05/01/2012:

Yesterday Roger and I climbed up the tallest peak in our immediate area, Mt Owen. It is about 1135m at the summit, although one of our reasons for going up there was to take a GPS receiver to check out the exact height. I need to know the altitude of each sample I collect, and accuracy is important. Unfortunately this meant Roger having to carry the Trimble GPS up to the top, and it weighs 12kg!! I gave him the option, but he wanted to do it.....or at least that's what he said in the morning!

We had a long day out on Mt Owen, and didn't get back to the tent until 9.30pm! However, it was very enjoyable. It took us 3 hours to get up it, during which time we climbed mostly on ice with crampons and ice axes, roped together in an 'alpine pair'. The views were very good, across Johnston Glacier which is very crevassed - some of the slots in it are big enough to fit a house inside! I found it exciting going up Mt Owen because it is marked on the map as granodiorite, but I was unsure if anyone had been up to check, or whether they had just looked through binoculars and guessed. It was granodiorite, but had been very heavily metamorphosed in places, so looked quite different from the other rocks I had visited in this area. I was happy at the top though, because there were several erratics - unlike the other peaks I've visited here. That made my work easier, although the strond wind on the summit ridge counteracted that somewhat! One of the best moments of the day was when 4 snow petrels came close to us. they are completely white, and quite small, and they circled overhead, probably wondering what on earth they were seeing. It was nice to see them, because they are the first signs of life (apart from lichens) we've seen in this area - in fact, they are our only companions within a 300 mile radius. I am now keen to find out where they are nesting because I might be able to sample some of their stomach oil and date it with radiocarbon to see when they first started nesting at the site (this tells me the minimum amount of time that that site has been free of ice, which is useful for my work). I have an idea where they might be nesting, but whether I can get there is another matter (Roger can decide).

Today we have had strong winds yet again, and decided not to go out considering we didn't get to bed until 1am last night and the wind makes work very difficult indeed. So I am typing up my notes and will later enjoying reading my book and relaxing a little. We hope to move camp later in the week - I will keep you posted.