Solihull School

Normally long arduous expeditioning has been reserved for the Sixth Form but last summer I wanted to give Middle School students the opportunity to experience its hardships and pleasures. We often take long flights to far off places hoping to get away from other schools but of course they do the same thing. As the trip was going to be a mere 3 weeks, we opted to visit Norway. In the end this gave us a wilder experience than any of the more exotic locations. The trip was going to be fast paced as everyone wanted to spend as much time “on activity” as possible. So we had only four downtime days in the whole trip. We left within minutes of the final end of term assembly and did not stop until 1.30am the next morning when we arrived at the youth hostel. It was also an early start next morning to sort equipment and buy food for the 5 days of sea kayaking, along the narrowest, deepest fjord in the world. By midday we were on the water for our very short 15 mile trip to just acclimatise us. The Kayaking had been a real success and enjoyed by all. We had managed to visit parts of the Fjords that normally are inaccessible to motor boats. Could the next phase match this? We had planned to spend 5 days on and off the glacial ice field. However, the weather being perfect meant we could do a West to East transverse of the ice followed by heading north towards one of the highest peaks sticking out from the ice. It was a new experience for us all, living on ice for 5 days. It made you wonder how Antarctic expeditioners survive for months at a time. I will leave the students to explain one of our typical days.

Day 11 - Saturday 18 July: Ed Johnson
After the exhausting 10 hour hike in the unrelenting sun the day before, we weren’t exactly firing on all cylinders the next morning. The night was, as usual, cold, and the ground was uneven. However, we dragged ourselves out of the relative warmth of our tents to be met by a grey morning and a chilling wind, and packed away our kit. We roped up for the second time and set off at 9:15, yet again behind schedule. And so we set off into the vast sea of white, making up for our late start with a quick pace, occasional stopping to re-hydrate. We stopped for our first snack break at 11:20, taking on fuel as we approached the rocky peak of Brenibba, which means “Peak in the Glacier”, the highest peak we were going to conquer, standing at a massive 2017m. Although visible against the whiteness, it took until 1pm to reach the rocks, a couple of hundred metres below the summit. There we took off our rucksacks and the constricting harnesses. Having had to melt snow for water at the last campsite we were relieved to find a small stream where we replenished our dwindling water supplies. We then made for the summit, leaving our bags by the stream. After the breathtaking views from the top of Kjenndalskrunan the day before, we didn’t think that anything else could come close - how wrong we were. We spent at least an hour on top of the exposed peak taking pictures of the panoramic view. We could see for miles. We thought back to when we had begun the trek at a mere 300m, as we could track the route we had taken over the four days from our campsite to the peak of Havganosi standing at 1455m. Eventually, we returned to our bags and had our second food break, thinking that the day was done. In fact when we reached the campsite half an hour later, problems arose when checking the ground for crevasses. Every couple of minutes another ice axe would sink deep into the snow, signalling a weak point in the glacier. We moved to a different area but still there were worrying signs. We finally set up camp at 5 o’clock in a confined area of safe ice. By the time we left the ice on the final day of this phase everyone was extremely tired and in need of 24 hours rest but saying that they had all enjoyed one of the most exciting and adventurous experiences a school pupil could have. We still had a final phase to complete where we intended to walk down a remote valley making multiple river crossings of glacial melt water in the hope of accessing a blue ice glacier that the students could walk up. This valley is one that is very rarely visited by anyone including the locals, so we were going to be on our own for another 5 days.

Day 15 - Wednesday 22 July: Nick Wall
We started the day with a giant sleep-in, all the way until 9:30. At this point we were all refreshed and ready to go. However we still managed to leave later than we planned, as most of the packing couldn’t be done until the tents were down and some tents had people still sleeping, packing or lazing inside them. The snacks were handed out early in the morning. We were told to go ahead and find the path but after 15 minutes of walking we had a gap in the group and offered to be the back markers. Over the next hour we were walking at a steady pace, however I was immediately starting to regret my decision to eat all my snacks within the first 20 seconds of their arrival into my pocket. Eventually we had lunch at the side of a river that would have to be crossed after lunch. During lunch we put on our sandals to save our boots from getting drenched. The river was absolutely freezing; I have seriously never been so cold in my entire life! After 5 minutes of hell we sat on the river bank deciding whether to put our boots on or cut our feet off to save us from the pain that the river had caused us. While continuing our trek to our campsite Gemma kindly reminded us that we would have to do it all again in two days time. However, those thoughts were quickly vanquished by the sight of our camping area so close. After putting up our tents we gathered in the rain to receive our bangers and mash with vegetable soup that went down very well with the group. Martyn and I found a cave to shelter us from the rain while we ate. After our food we ran to the dry comfort of our tents and fell into a deep and well deserved sleep.

Day 16 – Thursday 23 July
We could only go on to the glacier in groups of 6, which made it possible to rest for some of the day. The rest for me was really in the afternoon as I was in the first group to go onto the glacier. Wearing the crampons was easier than it first appeared as you didn’t need to stomp as much as you thought you would have to. The next two hours flew by as we walked past hundreds of cracks and took in the amazing views. We came to a very small pool of water and questions flew around like “Can we drink it?” and we watched Stu dunking his head into the freezing cold water, his face was a picture, I’ll never forget it.

We could not have had any better three phases on this trip and although they were exhausting it made the trip and also proved that with determination it is possible for 15/16 year olds to do anything. I was very proud of the group and all their accomplishments over the three weeks. I could not have done it without them. I also would like to thank Gemma Powell for coming on the trip as well and for all the hard work she put into its organisation.

Mr M Garner