First Ascent – Batterbee Mountains – Mount Bagshawe
Brian Hill, Alistair Linn and Malcolm Macrae
November 8th
(surveyor), Malky Macrae (tractor mechanic) and myself as GA. Ali Linn (geologist) from Stonington arrived in late spring to geologise on the fossil beds to the north of the Bluff on the western side of the sound. With George and Paul heading up the sound to Ablation Point to set up a tide gauge (the shelf ice in the sound being tidal), us three were to motor across the sound on the Fox Trac to Horse Point to measure accumulation along the line of glacio-poles. From there the plan was to travel back down the sound and then up the Otter Glacier just to the south of Bagshawe to Castle Nunatak near the head of the glacier to check the depot there in readiness for the summer parties sledging down from Stonington.
We motored easily up the narrow Otter Gacier on November 7 in beautiful weather with the Fox Trac hauling two sleds in tandem. The surface was easy going with very few cracks and the scenery was magnificent with cliffs towering up on either side with those on Mt. Bagshawe nearing 4,000 ft. We reached the depot and found everything in order. To the east the glacier merged with the ice plateau and it was surprising to see so many other nunataks despite the map annotation of “Flat plateau with isolated nunataks”. To the west we studied the southeastern slopes of Bagshawe and thought we could identify a possible route through an easy looking ice fall to a col between the main peak and an approximate 6,500 ft peak to the east. Another easy looking but steeper ice fall led up from the col to the main summit ridge. Both ice falls looked free of avalanches and the route looked feasible. We turned back down the glacier and camped near the foot of the lower ice fall.
“Sunday 8th Nov. Another beautiful calm sunny morning. Away ~9:45 for Bagshawe. Walked the mile or so to the foot of the ice fall and col on the SE side of the ridge between Bagshawe and Point 6500. Saw a cornice avalanche off the latter peak. The col was without difficulty as the ice fall was heavily drifted up but we had to rope up to cross the narrow crevasse at its lip. We kept the rope on as there were a few more crevasses but they gave no trouble. A steep ice field/fall then led up to the ridge of Bagshawe. This again was not difficult. Unroped. The ridge was long and pretty uninteresting. It was broad and there was much giant sastrugi with thick hoar frost and one or two easily negotiable mushroom things.
All along the ridge it was misty with no views but the sun managed to shine through it. Visibility was only usually about 100-200 yards. Just as we reached the top we broke through the clouds and had wonderful views all around – across Alexander Island and the mainland plateau. It was gripped rigid! We reached the top -3:15, – 5 ½ hrs climbing. (We carried full rucksacks of climbing gear, rations and sleeping bags in case we were caught out). We spent ~ ¾ hr on top, an occasional slight wind and mist but otherwise very sunny and a very blue sky. As soon as we left the top we were in mist again. No difficulties on the way down and we jumped the bottom crevasses. ~ 3 hrs descent back at ~ 7 pm. Camp in sunshine but windy. Gusts increasing as evening wore on.
Monday 9th Nov. An epic night if ever there was one. The gusts increased in force, and possibly because of our day’s exertions at a higher altitude we were unable to sleep – knackered though we felt. Ali eventually made a brew at 3 am – and the sun was shining. We turned in again but still unable to gonk. The gusts increased to 60 or 70 knots – no steady wind just gusts. Then at 5 am a box blew off the valence by the door and the valence blew up and the guys slackened. We all dressed and Malky and I rushed outside to re-secure the tent. Malky spent a considerable amount of effort and time on it. We had another brew and at 6 am turned in again with the weather getting really manky with snow and spindrift. Slept till 11 am. Day of wind and mank and snow – lie up. Heard avalanche.”
Many of the details of the climb I had forgotten but will always remember that night of wind. It was impossible to sleep because of the suddenness of the gusts. While we were out securing the tent the visibility was actually not that bad but it was a wild scene with long tails of snow and cloud tearing off the mountain and cliff tops and the whole surface of the glacier was covered in 50 ft high snow devils like some weird movie set of hundreds of ghostly Ninja soldiers whirling down the slopes with arms and legs flailing wildly about.
The wind slowly abated during the 10th and we were able to decamp and get underway by about 5:30 pm. In fact, it turned out to be a sunny and pleasant trip down the Otter until we reached the sound at about 7 pm and weather began to mank in again. We headed straight across the sound reaching the Bluff at 11:45 after a day’s run of 34 miles. There was a final red evening glow over the Batterbees until once again it started to snow.