I've just been sent a link (thanks Ann!) to a stunning set of photographs by Camille Seaman entitled "The Last Iceberg". They were taken at 78° North around Svalbard and Greenland in the Arctic, and at 78° South off the coast of Antarctica, as part of a larger series called "Melting Away".
In my (admittedly amateur) experience, it's surprisingly hard to take evocative photos of lumps of ice, but Camille has produced some utterly haunting works of art.
"Nick Cave once sang, 'All things move toward their end.' Icebergs give the impression of doing just that, in their individual way much as humans do; they have been created of unique conditions and shaped by their environments to live a brief life in a manner solely their own. Some go the distance traveling for many years slowly being eroded by time and the elements; others get snagged on the rocks and are whittled away by persistent currents. Still others dramatically collapse in fits of passion and fury.
The Last Iceberg chronicles just a handful of the many thousands of icebergs that are currently headed to their end. I approach the images of icebergs as portraits of individuals, much like family photos of my ancestors. I seek a moment in their life in which they convey their unique personality, some connection to our own experience and a glimpse of their soul which endures."
Last up, I had the pleasure of having lunch today with the inimitable Kenton Cool (arguably Britain's top mountain guide, one of the world's top alpinists, and the only Briton to reach the summit of Everest five times). Sat in my local pub on a grey London afternoon with our pints of bitter, the polar icecaps and the high peaks of the Himalayas couldn't have seemed further away, but the conversation sparked some rather ambitious ideas. One of those moments, and one of those days that almost left me pinching myself, and that reminded me just how lucky I am to be doing this stuff for a living.
I raced in the Ballbuster Duathlon yesterday, the second time I've competed in this epic event (the first was in 2005). At 40 miles (64km) in total (8-mile run, 24-mile bike, 8-mile run) it's not spectacularly long, but what makes Ballbuster so formidable is that those 40 miles contain a combined 875 vertical metres (2,870 feet) of climbing, and that it's in mid-November, around narrow, potholed lanes that seemed covered in wet leaves and horse droppings.
I called my brother afterwards to tell him how I'd done and he signed off saying "Isn't it great it when you set yourself a goal and then go on to achieve it?" My goal was to finish in under three hours - a bit of a step up considering my 2005 time was 3:15 and that I came 77th that year, but I finally grimaced my way under the line in 2:57.33 (coming 21st), an 18-minute improvement. [Disclaimer: geeky detail follows that may be of more interest to athletes than to my regular audience.]
It wasn't a perfect race - the bike leg of the 2005 Ballbuster was the only time I've had bad cramp during a race, and it happened again yesterday. The last run was tough, and I'm not sure I took on enough fluid or calories throughout the race (750ml of carb drink on the bike, two half-cups on the run legs and about 250ml of water at each transition, so roughly 1.2 litres in total, or 240ml per lap. I saw a couple of the leaders running with small drinks bottles and ignoring the cups at the one drinks stop, and that's definitely what I'd do next time round. Food wise, I had a gel halfway round the first run, the carb drink (High5 Isotonic) and a Powerbar on the bike, a gel at the second transition and the last gel halfway round the final run. 716 calories in total, which at 238 cals/hour is theoretically perfect, though I seem to be able to tolerate 250 -275 cals/hr when I'm going hard and another gel at some stage (or carb drink during the run legs) would have been ideal.
I was pretty slow in the transitions (and forgot to remove my spare tube, CO2 canister and tyre levers at the second one, so I was carrying some excess weight up the last hill!) but in all, pretty chuffed with how it went. Next year I'll be in Antarctica, so perhaps I'll break into the top-ten in 2009…
Inspiration for the start of a new week: an update from Alex Vero, who I wrote about back in March, and who seems to be bouncing back after a summer plagued by injury, self-doubt and nearly 20 pages of (mostly) abuse on a running forum after publicly stating his goal to run as close as he can to a 2:15 marathon. He's just cranked out a 1:13 half-marathon, which is pretty tidy in anyone's books, proving once again that it's not the critic that counts…
Explorer's Arctic quest pole-axed
A British explorer who plans to trek to the North Pole to measure its melting ice cap has been criticised… Pen Hadow was accused by Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas of using the quest for the sake of an adventure. "Exploration of the Arctic should not be seen as a glamorous adventure but rather needs to be serious and co-ordinated scientific effort".
I find Lucas's argument baffling: the world desperately needs more field scientists, and if we're to have a hope of engaging a generation that are less in touch with nature than ever before, then I can't see how making exploration look more boring is going to help. In a world full of vapid celebrity, footballer's wives and pop stars staggering out of rehab, a glamourous and inspiring spokesperson or two is just what climate science needs right now.
I've just been sent a link (thanks Ann!) to a stunning set of photographs by Camille Seaman entitled "The Last Iceberg". They were taken at 78° North around Svalbard and Greenland in the Arctic, and at 78° South off the coast of Antarctica, as part of a larger series called "Melting Away".
Ben Saunders is the youngest person to ski solo to the North Pole and holds the record for the longest solo Arctic journey by a Briton.