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Wales
The
first major practice weekend in Wales. The team departed
in convoy from London late Friday evening and arrived
5 hours later high up in the Welsh Mountains.
A busy day started at 6am with a 6 mile run and continued
after a hearty breakfast with basic safety and survival
techniques, such as roping-up and ice axe arrest. The
team will be roped together in threes when they make
the final ascent up the glacier in October. If anyone
slips down a crevasse, he will be supported by the other
two in the rope. Ice axe arrest is an emergency precaution
against slipping down an ice bank; the ice axe is held
across the chest, with the point facing away from the
shoulder into the snow.
The
weekend is topped off by a lengthy talk by one of the
leading experts in the field, who has been up Mera himself.
One piece of information hits home hardest; "at
the summit height,
there is only 44% oxygen, only 1000m below what is known
as the Death Zone."
Scotland
The
second and final training weekend took place over the
Easter Weekend. The first night was spent in a motorway
services car park, just south of Glasgow, on the only
patch of grass available!
In
spite of the long drive and few hours sleep the team
headed into the Cairngorms at lunch time. Having prepared
for the worst Scottish Highland weather we were surprised
to be walking in temperatures in the high teens, however
there was a lot of old snow on the high ridges. Over
two days the team were able to test their fitness and
basic mountaineering techniques previously taught in
Wales.
The
third night and final day was spent in the luxury of
a romantic highland lodge, with log fires and whisky
(and Tequila!) care of the kind hospitality of the Hogg
family.
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