Frozen Five all together!

The whole Frozen Five team has met up in Grenoble for a 1-week preparation trip in the Vercors range of south-eastern France. The trip will take us over a karst landscape, with many fissures and joints being good alternatives to the crevasses we expect on Svalbard’s glaciers. Sleeping in our brand-new Hilleberg tents, skiing on our fresh Asnes skis and being together with the rest of the team will for sure bring up the expedition spirit.

The trip is also a second test run for our tracer, provided by Guardian Mobility, that will allow our readers to follow our progress. A daily transmission will provide the position of the tent. You can see the beta version of this system by clicking here. We welcome any comments.

As funny as it sounds, we’ll be simulating various scenarios that may be encountered on our trans-Svalbard expedition. Amongst others, we’ll simulate polar bear encounters (who gets to be the bear?), something that may seem funny in the context of the European Alps, but is a serious danger in the High Arctic.

More to follow next week…

The Frozen Five Team

Arêtes du Gerbier: a preparation of the prep trip!

The Frozen Five are congregating around Grenoble for our preparation trip. Before we all meet up on Saturday to discuss gear, food, safety, logistics and undertake a preparation trip, Lucas and Kim embarked on a little adventure of our own.

While the weather is still somewhat lacking in Arctic proportions (it's reasonable to ski in t-shirt), we've nevertheless managed to make a nice excursion to the Aretes de Gerbier in the Vercors range. This beautiful knife-like ridge was traversed together with Lucas' friend and expert mountaineer Marine. Lucas' description of "an adventurous day... 11hours of climbing, on an icy ridge", fits the trip perfectly.

Cheers,
Kim & Lucas

Less than 3 months till F5 starts!

Our motto has also been "better late than never", so please accept our somewhat delayed best wishes for 2007! In typical Frozen Five fashion, we've welcomed the New Year from 5 different localities, all of us trying to seek out the snow that's somewhat lacking this year.

The transition into 2007 also marked the start of the last 3 months before the expedition. To remind you, we'll be leaving Longyearbyen on the 29th of March 2007, at precisely 12:45pm (weather-dependant, of course). From experience, we know this is the most hectic period, with last minute preparations, training commitments and the period of saying goodbye for 2 months.

We wish you all a happy new year, most of all good health, lots of snow and happiness. For our sponsors, we also add a wish for successful business!