In May 2014 the Nottingham University mountaineering club received an email from John, an alumnus member, setting us a very interesting challenge based on a “unique and slightly odd opportunity”.
Background
John had been a member of a student team from the University of Nottingham which conducted surveys of Tunsbergdalsbreen glacier in Norway in 1959. At the end of the expedition they left stores and equipment at their base camp on a rocky headland situated near the top of the glacier. They expected to return in 1960 and use these supplies but funding was cut and so the stores were never retrieved. Bearing in mind that the survey base camp is in an area which is now in part of the Jostedalsbreen National park it was felt important to retrieve the stores and return the site to pristine condition.
Starting in 2009 a new climate change project involving the Glacier Museum, the UK Field Studies Council and Brathay Exploration Group has sent young people to survey the lower part of the glacier but the debris and stores of the 1959 camp further up the glacier were not located.
More recently John and Derrick, the 1959 survey leader, now in their mid-seventies, returned to the area in order to locate and orchestrate the removal of these stores. However, they were faced with difficult weather and although they made it to within 2 km of the site they were forced to turn back, tired and wet through. After this John thought it would be good to involve current members of the University of Nottingham mountaineering club and sent us an email. John asked if we could send a team to find and document the 1959 glacier survey camp. Ben and Claire and I readily agreed to go…
Arrival in Norway and Glacier training
For the first few days we planned to go to the glacier museum and then undertake a two day glacier training course.
Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th September
We flew from Gatwick to Bergen, picked up a rental car and after some time driving around were able to buy a road map and some lunch. We then set off for the Jostedalsbreen national park; we drove past impressive scenery of mountains, Fjords and through numerous long tunnels but were less impressed by the persistent heavy rain.
After spending the night at Fjærland campsite, we visited the Glacier museum next door. The museum has a display about the 1950’s glacier surveys and even have one of John’s ice axes on loan.
After visiting the museum we drove on to the small village Gjerde, where we camped at Jostedal Camping. The campsite has a large communal dining room and kitchen.
Monday 8th & Tuesday 9th September
The next day with improved weather we had glacier training on Nigardsbreen with our guide Tshering Pande Bhote (IFMGA) from Nepal. Reassuringly When I asked him about his high altitude experience I found out he had summited Everest six times.
In the morning we practised taking and tying coils, and crampon and ice axe techniques before covering movement across crevassed blue ice.
The next day we practised more in the crevassed areas and then did an abseil followed by some steeper ice climbing. Tshering led first, setting up a bottom top, and we then climbed up before taking turns at leading.
I had previously been on a Conville course and climbed in the Alps, whereas Ben and Claire had not. I did wonder how much I would learn on the course but it turned out to be a lot.
Trek and search
Having completed our training we could move onto our mission to find the base camp.
Wednesday 10th September
The weather was now warm and sunny. After packing at a leisurely pace we drove to Røykjedøla valley, where we would start our trek. Setting off in the midday sun, we followed a trail up though a steep woods and to some shepherds huts. We then followed the valley which continues to rise before reaching several lakes (at an elevation of 1100 m). We camped near the largest, arriving shortly before sunset.
Thursday 11th September
The next day we went to the head of the valley and travelled up the col overlooking the Tunsbergdalsbreen glacier; from here we ascended to the top of the peak. We took some photos and tried to recreate the same shot as one of the photos from the 1950’s.
Next we descended to the col and the went up the other side, scrambling up a steep and rocky slope, before reaching a snow field. We carried on to the highest point of the trip (1576 m), before descending to the glacier. We then roped up and crossed the glacier.
I was leading the crossing and was initially disappointed that the ice was thin and there appeared to be patches of rock but this soon gave way to thick ice, with deep holes and crevasses. Near the end we had to negotiate the largest crevasses on the crossing and then reached the rock island. Here we proceed to search for the base camp site. We had been told it would be the obvious site to put a camp but whilst we saw several good sites and walked towards others which appeared better from a distance we found much of the ground sloped downhill. Dark clouds had started to form and, keen to not be separated from our tent by poor weather, we set off back along the glacier. We lightened our packs by leaving our climbing gear under a large boulder near the glacier before ascending back up to the high point and then descending the snow slope back to the valley head and tent.
The next day we decided to move our camp across the glacier. The previous day we had taken much longer than expected to get to the rock island and had only been able to search for a few hours.
We struck camp as the sun was rising over the valley and chose a third route out of the valley on to the north ridge, west of the snow slope. In warm sunshine and under blue skies we again passed over the high point at 1576 m before descending to recover our climbing gear.
Crossing the glacier with loaded packs and in the reflected light was hot work. The crevasses had moved but we had no great difficulty in crossing them. We camped at one of the spots we had found on the previous day’s search. There was a rock area to cook in and sit and flowing water not far away but the best feature by far was the fantastic view of the Tunsbergdalsbreen glacier. I set my bivi bag up in a nice sheltered spot and using a few slings, had a perfect setup, except for the fact the ground was not level and so in the night I kept sliding forwards. After dinner of ‘sausages, mash and onion gravy’, I set off to explore more and take a few photos, heading towards the high point which Ben had suggested might be good area for further search. Looking for signs of the camp I passed a small stone wall that I though could be man-made. Reaching the top I found some nails, a piece of wood and a short section of aluminium pipe and picked them up. There was also some burnt material. The sun was setting so I set off back to our camp; as I scrambled down I took one last look back and saw a heap of aluminium pipes. Satisfied I had found the 1950’s survey camp I returned with some pieces of evidence to show Ben and Claire. We turned in happy with the knowledge we had succeed with our objective.
The 1950’s survey base camp
Saturday 13th September
The next day I led the others to the camp; we approached by a slightly different route and now discovered various stores of supplies and stone wall constructions. I was relieved to see the debris had not all been removed as the burnt material found the evening before could have indicated that someone else had already done the job we had come to do.
In a corner there were shovels, picks and many rocks placed on top of plastic wrapping which had started to disintegrate. We carefully removed these and found the main stash of stores underneath. Most of the items were packed in large biscuit tins, some of which fell apart as we disturbed them, but many we still sound and contained remarkably well-preserved items, considering they had spent 55 years outside.
We found items such as ration bars, condiments, fuel bottles, candles, crampons and a torch complete with spare batteries and bulbs.
A large number of opened metal cans and boxes was found between some boulders and we presumed this was the ‘rubbish pit’.
We documented what we found and collected together all the wood. We then placed the plastic under a rock so it would not blow away. In the evening we burnt the wood and candles and enjoyed the fire [we had been given permission to have a fire].
After this we headed back to our camp.
Sunday 14th September
Pleased at having completed our objectives we packed up and started our walk back. We collected our stash of climbing gear and again crossed the glacier in the same place; we carried on over the 1576 m top, but this time decided to walk along the ridge called Tverranibba above the valley until we reached Røykjedalstølen. The ridge was rocky and the descent down was tricky in a few places with heavy packs. We passed the Shepherd’s huts and followed the path down to Snøtun, arriving back at the car at 5:00 pm. It was a long day carrying heavy packs and although we had eaten all our food we had each picked up a heavy pair of vintage crampons and cans as mementos.
We drove back to the campsite for a hot shower followed by dinner at the nearby Jostedal hotel.
Monday 15th September
We got up early and packed up for our journey home. We went via the Glacier Museum and enjoyed waffles and hot drinks whilst we told Pal Gran Kielland of our expedition and showed him our finds.
On the way back we were making good time until distracted by a truck weighing stop and I drove past our turning. We eventually realised the mistake and doubled back, which meant we had to skip the planned visit to the tea room to save time. We arrived at Bergen to meet some the only heavy traffic we had on the entire trip but reached the airport in good time for our flight home.