Crossing the Antarctic Peninsula

“THE NEXT big adventure we saw was to attempt the world first crossing of the Antarctic Peninsula,” Peter said.

Dividing Chile and Argentina, the Andean Mountain range goes underneath the Southern Ocean in a horseshoe shape, and comes back up as the Antarctic Peninsula, which runs all the way towards the pole.

“Our plan was to be dropped on the eastern side in a 47-foot yacht called Tooluka. Paddle our kayaks to get access to Victory Glacier, which runs at a fairly steady gradient up to 6000 feet and at

6000 feet, up above the clouds, we could just walk on what they called ‘The Catwalk’ in the 50s – a two-mile wide, narrow strip of land on top of the mountains in the clouds with Western Antarctica on one side and Eastern Antarctica on the other. You walk on this little catwalk to get towards the end of the Peninsula and then drop off on the western side.

“Anyway, that was the theory… it just didn’t go like that.”

Dropped on the ice, Peter and Jay paddled ashore and crossed a ridge onto Duse Bay.

“Duse Bay, means sweet, sweet bay – it wasn’t very sweet.

“The ice we were walking on broke off and started drifting out to the Southern Ocean. The same area Sir Ernst Shackleton was stuck for 528 days with 27 men – the famous story of Endurance.

“Jay and I struggled to get off the ice and get to Antarctica. In the end we had to hop into the water, paddle downwind in our overladen kayaks to get to any land.

“Before we landed on the formerly untouched landmass of Vega Island my kayak sank with me in it. The reason – it is so cold your hands are frozen and every stroke you take the saltwater freezes on impact, little drips on your beard, on your chest, down your arms and on your skirt – heavier and heavier… in the end it sank.

“But then, what happens, is you get a certain level of stability at a certain depth of water. My sleeping bag (front) and my Pelican case with all my camera gear at the back, which are air locked, created the stability that I needed, three feet deep, and all of a sudden the kayak just stayed still.”

Water up to his chin, Peter headed for an iceberg 10 metres away…

“I grabbed the ice pick from my deck, whacked the side of this iceberg and just held on. Hypothermia was kicking in. Jay came along, hops out of his kayak, and helps me out of mine, we hauled his gear up, we hauled mine, and we looked around and saw that in our haste to pull the kayaks out my right ski boot, my sleeping bag and my kayak skirt were drifting off in the ocean. Without them you’re dead…”

Emptying Peter’s kayak on top of the iceberg bobbing in the ocean eight feet above water. Peter jumped back in, and Jay pushed him over the edge – seal entry.

“I got to my sleeping bag and boot – the skirt was not essential – and went back to the iceberg.

“We’re both hyperthermic – we had to make camp on an iceberg. Hopped into our sleeping bags in wet gear and you have to keep shivering until it heats up your skin.”

GPS in hand the pair established at 4am the following morning they’d be tangential to the uncharted Vega Island.

“We didn’t know what was at the other end – all we knew was that we had to traverse it. Each day praying that the other end was a decent descent not just a sheer cliff.

“It was a beautiful day that day – a good descent. Antarctica calmed down for us and we hopped in our kayaks and paddled as originally intended.”

Re-entering the Peninsula at Victory Glacier, Jay and Peter climbed above 6000 feet over the following weeks.

“I took a shortcut to try and gain some time – it was an epic journey, and we were running late. We were doing some very steep descents, abseiling with gear, ice picks and ice screws…

“We saw a great big crevasse ahead of us and I said to Jay, it’s not safe to walk today – let’s stay put. I stepped out of the tent to get lunch and in the five minutes I was out of the tent an avalanche took me.”

Dug into a cave, and inside the tent, Jay was none the wiser that Peter had been swept away by an avalanche and so too their sleds.

“A few moments later, Jay looked out and noticed the sleds are gone and so am I… You could see there had been a scar from the avalanche. He knew I was either dead, buried 12 kilometres in the mountain, or dead, buried in the crevasse.”

A miracle survival, Jay used the only rope he had to get to the edge of the crevasse where he peered over and spotted Peter’s bloodied body.

“He can’t get there with his rope, so he takes my ice pick and his and does a one-way trip to a dead friend… He finds me alive…

“Jay spent the next three days getting to me, keeping me alive and feeding me through a straw.”

Suffering post traumatic amnesia, Peter cannot remember the six days from the avalanche.

“During that time, Jay made a radio call to our support vessel, Tooluka, they sailed through the night and put ashore Jay’s brother – Andy, John and Nigel, who trudged up the mountain to get to us.

“They’d taken a door off the yacht and a roll of gaffa tape, and that was the stretcher – all they knew at that stage was that I had brain damage and a broken back.

“When they got to me, they strapped me to the door and the three of them using very inventive engineering pulled an 85kg guy vertically up the cliff, out of the crevasse over the seaside and begin their descent towards the ocean.

“In the meantime, it had become a whole ordeal in itself – a military and political operation. The cruise vessel Marco Polo had been sending helicopters alongside the Chilean army, but none of them could help because it was too close to the mountain. By the time they got me to the coast, the Chilean army were able to send a helicopter, and airlifted me to King George Island with Andy, who had tachycardia from the exertion he had gone through to get to me.

“Then my real journey began… my journey of ABI (acquired brain injury).”

A multi-part series on Peter Bland’s fascinating life tune in next week for part four – The Recovery.

If you would like the opportunity to join Peter on his next adventure ‘Northern Enlightenment September 2023’ to the Arctic, head to leadershipgroup.com.au.