Claire of the Antarctic

In my final email from Antarctica I wanted to remember by dear friend Colin Shackell, an incredible doctor and amazing friend. Colin and I worked together at Salisbury Hospital, working our way through GP training together. Tragically Colin died of a brain tumour in September 2008, aged only 30. He was a true inspiration to me and has helped me out even when down here, where his stethoscope has been living in the surgery with me.

I had always wanted to run a marathon and discovered there was one the weekend after we return from Antarctica, so in the midst of midwinter madness I signed up. Consequently on Saturday 16th April I shall be running, or trying to, around Exmoor in search of the perfect cream tea as part of the Endurance Life South West series. I thought I would raise money for Salisbury Hospice where Colin spent his final weeks, where they cared for him so considerately and put up with the succession of friends and family who flocked to see Colin.

So, if you would like to help Salisbury Hospice help other people suffering terminal illness then please click below…

http://www.justgiving.com/Claire-Lehman

With thoughts of Colin, pint in hand cheering on the rugby!

I cannot believe that I am writing these words, that eighteen months has passed by and that the big red taxi going by the name, RSS Ernest Shackleton, is waiting for us at the wharf. My Antarctic tenure is drawing to a close and in three weeks time, if all goes to plan, I shall be walking back in our green and pleasant land! It is hard to convey the feelings that abound right now, sheer excitement at the prospect of being back amongst my friends and family, being reunited with loved ones and seeing trees again, let alone the chance to consume inordinate amounts of fruit and green leafy vegetables ( Of note I hasten to add I am obviously far more excited about seeing friends and family than consuming apples!). At the same time however I am also aware that I may never see Rothera again, although I am contemplating coming back when I am old granny on a cruise ship and revisiting my old haunts, and possibly even skiing Stork Bowl again! I cannot be too sad though, because at least I have had a chance to explore Antarctica, live and work here, run amongst penguins, boat amongst whales, sleep near seals, ski up majestic peaks, fly beside incredible icebergs, descend into crevasses and explore the blue caves below, live with just 21 other people for 7 months and survive to tell the tale. I am just incredibly grateful that I have had the opportunity to be here and I am exceedingly grateful to those who have supported me throughout my time here, emails, care packages, telephone calls and carrier penguin post, thank y’all!

To take full advantage of the slope height we had to summit an area that was a little too steep for skinning up, fortunately because the terrain had already been sussed out by the mountaineers for crevasses we were safe to climb on foot carrying our skis… hoping we were not going to drop them as the bowl runs straight into the sea!

The abscence of ski-lifts necessitates alternative means of slope ascent, fortunately with mountaineering skis and skins we shimmied our way up the slope to enjoy the virgin snow.

Fortunately the weather remained fair for our final weekend in Antarctica with Saturday proving to be a particularly dingle day, so as soon as work was finished after Saturday lunch a group of us, Tamsin (Wintering Meteorologist), Ian and Tom ( both wintering field assistants i.e. mountaineer), Kar en ( summering communications officer) and myself headed up to Stork Bowl to enjoy potentially our last off-piste adventures for a while (save for the wintering lot who are about to embark on six months of incredible adventures). There had been some fresh snow fall recently so the powder was deep and fine, perfect!

Winter is definitely approaching as the increasing duration of the nights indicate and although I miss skiing until midnight the return of darkness does bring some benefits; beautiful skies and eventually stars. It was quite strange about a month ago to see the first star I had seen for three months!

As we navigated the narrow channel into Lagoon bay the local fur seals came alongside to investigate their new visitors, literally jumping out of the water beside the boat. Adelie penguins in varying stages of moulting looked on at us whilst we tried to work out how best to moor the boat for the night.

Seeking to make maximal use of my last weekend at Rothera I headed out on a RIB to Lagoon Island, about four kilometres south of base. The weather was perfect with barely a cloud in the sky and the sea was calm, perfect for my first try out of the new engines on Erebus which were quite impressive, and I am delighted to say start by virtue of a key rather than a pullcord.

Fancy dress parties are par for the course here be it a beach party in the midst of winter or a 10Km race around the runway, however as yet we have not fully explored the concept of skiing in fancy dress. To rectify this I raided the fancy-dress cupboard and packed a bag of delights to augment our skiing attire for the mad hatters tea party. Here Karen, our comms officer, myself and Simo, the new marine assistant, are seen modelling this season’s Rothera skiwear! We do have a pantomime horse in the cupboard and I am wondering whether we should up the ante and attempt to ski in this before I leave, with only a fortnight left before I depart this amazing place we must act soon!

Hummingbird Bakery-esque cupcakes from The Penguin Bakery were another creation resulting from gifts from afar, cupcake cases and crystallised rose petals were indeed very Claire-gifts, thank you! They also helped fuel some extraordinary skiing, helping me realise a ridiculous wish to ski in fancy dress…