Keith Salmon did his first hill skills course for the visually impaire ( Vi) in 2000 here at Glenmore Lodge. It was supported by the MC of S. Keith had been struggling with guilt about whether he should even be walking in the hills, but the fact that two organisations were putting their name to such a course made him feel for the first time he had just as much right to be in the hills as fully sighted people. That one week course changed his life because it wasn't a walking holiday for visually impaired, it was a practical course to learn skills for the hills that was adapted for visually impaired people.

This year Keith came back to do a talk to the (Vi) course and this is an email we received after the event:

''It was fantastic speaking to some of the group and it made me realise just why I'd got so much out of the two Vi courses (summer and winter) that I did at Glenmore. Even though I'm visually impaired myself, hearing everyone talk about their first two days on the course made me realise that it really doesn't matter that someone has little or no sight, the average group of Vi people will have the same amount of determination, the same amount of enthusiasm and the same amount of 'bottle' as any average group of fully sighted folk. Glenmore Lodge is the right place for this course and in supporting it as you have since 2000 you have, I'm sure, made a great deal of difference to a lot of people ....keep up the good work.''

Finally, to coincide with Keith's painting exhibition - yes painting! - he has just launched a new website dedicated to the Scottish Hill paintings he is doing. It contains around 80 of the paintings and drawings which show well on screen. They are really worth a look The address is:

www.keithsalmon.org

posted by glenmore @ 9:36 am  0 comments

Crossing Greenland

Well it’s great to be back and not heard the ring of a phone or seen a computer for 6 weeks.

Crossing Greenland is one of the great ski Journeys of the world. Most cross the ice cap on what is known as the A1 route. The start and finish are easily accessible, we wanted to follow the original route taken by the Norwegian, Nansen in 1888. It is slightly shorter and further south so the start and finish points are difficult to get to which is why no British team had done it before and it was last done in 1988.

It is exactly 500 kilometers, rises to 2800m and took us 27 days. We each pulled 85 kilos of food and equipment in two sledges. You eat around a kilo of food per day which was mostly dehydrated main meals with choc bars, nuts and raisins, cheese, butter, biscuits and salami, still lost 10 kilos! We skied mostly by day but did a few nights as well, one of which we followed a northern lights display for several hours. At best we covered 120km in 4 days, at worst we covered about 25km in 4 days as we hit crevasse field after crevasse field as we neared the western edge of the ice cap.

Lowest temperature was -22 with a 15 mile an hour wind giving something approaching a wind chill of -60. We all got frost nipped fingers and toes, but nothing more serious than that.

I have not quite got the word enjoyed into a description of the trip as yet. The journey is not renowned for it’s views, the slide show could be a picture of the east coast, one of a white horizon with a blue sky and one of the west coast. That would do the whole trip a disservice though, a 250 km boat journey south through icebergs down the east coast to the start was magical. After 20 days, seeing the mountains of the west coast was quite special, as was stepping off the ice onto dry land and a few days later reaching the coast and seeing our pick up boat coming into the fjord.

Not sure I would do it again as the adventure has gone, I know I can do it. It is interesting though, you cannot do a self supported expedition on foot for much more than a week unless you are on skis and can pull all the food and fuel you need. Also every member of the team has to do every step with all kit and food. There is no heading down to base camp or a requirement to just get 2 to the summit but then there are no issues of altitude or avalanches and you don’t all need a great deal of mountaineering experience.

Nigel Williams
Head of Training

posted by glenmore @ 5:11 pm  0 comments

Kayaking the Cape
Cape Farewell – The Southern Tip of Greenland

By Doug Cooper


As explorers mapped the worlds Oceans and coastlines they discovered certain major headlands that were formed by countries and continents extending into great oceans. These headlands became known as ‘Capes’ and around the world there are a few that stand out – Cape Farewell is one of these. The southern tip of Greenland can be an inhospitable place and heading south into the Atlantic from it the next stop is Antarctica. This mass of water, frequent storms and ice have sculptured Cape Farewell into a formidable line of cliffs, mountains and turbulent reefs and skerries.
For many years I have planned to try and kayak around this Cape, few have done it before and it is certainly not a place for the faint hearted. To be successful around the Cape you need a blend of skill, planning, luck with the weather and luck with the ice. This year a team of nine kayakers from the UK managed all of these components and paddled around the Cape.
Led by Doug Cooper who was on his tenth Greenland expedition the team set off from the most southerly Greenland settlement, Appilatoq, and spent 15 days on the water. The conditions were some of the best for over 10 years and with settled weather and very little sea ice to cause problems the team were able to paddle on most days. The first major headland before Cape Farewell is called Cape Christian and this was paddled round and an amazing campsite found before the wind increased to about Force 6. The following day the wind had gone and the fog had arrived, the team navigated onto Cape Farewell. A storm beach gave a landing just before the Cape to rest as the fog cleared. Rounding the Cape in sunshine the extent of the coastlines exposure was clear for all to see. It was another 5 hours before a landing could be found, with massive ice bergs all around and the Atlantic swell making itself known. The weather was as good as it could get in this part of the world and the scenery and paddling had to be some of the most spectacular on the planet. Cape Farewell was in the bag and the final big headland of Cape Hoppe on the south east coast was also soon to be paddled around.
Having paddled the Capes the team spent a few days exploring on up the east coast before returning to Appilatoq via the famous shipping through rout of Prins Christian Sund. This immense fjord cuts through the south of Greenland from the east to west coast and save ships having to go round the notorious Cape Farewell. This said the fjord is still 600 metres deep, flows at 5 knots in the narrows, has glaciers cascading into it from all sides, is often blocked by ice and can funnel winds in excess of 100kph. So again it is not a place to take lightly, as at one point the paddling team found out with force 8 catabatic winds from a glacier causing a forced campsite having hauled the kayaks a shore at one point.
On the 22nd August 2009 the successful team returned to Appilatoq being one of only a few groups to have paddled the Cape.

posted by glenmore @ 11:55 am  0 comments