In November and December a group of seven ski mountaineers, Grae Allan, Roger Everett, Dee Gaffney, Jim Lindop, Béatrice and Bernard Lochet, and Derek Osborne, led by Manu Rioualec and me, were in exceptionally icy waters aboard the good ship Podorange. The ice prevented all vessels from moving south of Cuverville Island (which is pretty far north), and the suboptimal weather only provided one clear day out of a total of 12 days on skis during our visit.

We enjoyed some fine skiing from anchorages in the bay at the head of the Sikorsky Glacier, south of Cierva Cove. Our first day was on the 495m peak to the east of Charles Point (UTM/UPS WGS84 20D 0598239, 2876691), which we named “Gentoo Peak.” This summit offers numerous great ski lines, and by Antarctic standards the crevasse hazard is easily manageable. Our second summit was a fine little peak of 797m to the south of the bay at 20D 0600812, 2876126. We climbed an easy snow ramp in wind and poor visibility, hence the imaginative name “Windy Top.” We also enjoyed the 450m hill to the north of the bay (20D 0601834, 2879854), though lack of visibility made it infeasible to ski the lovely line straight out to the sea. We named this summit “The Faff.”

Lack of visibility was again a problem when we tried to explore the mountains to the south of Tournachon Peak. There is certainly fun to be had within this extensively crevassed area, but we were unable to make any ascents.

Our plan now was to head south to well-known objectives, where we might achieve something despite the weather. During this period we contented ourselves with a summit on Rongé Island that skiers call Mt. Tennant (quoted ca 688m), but which is in fact a completely different peak of 730m to the east of Tennant at 20D 0515320, 2825106. We refer to this peak as “Tarka Lookout”: It gave a fun day’s skiing but most importantly a clear view to Brabant Island, where Chiriguano Bay looked ice-free and the Solvay Mountains most enticing.

Making the very best of the most beautiful day of the trip, we ascended an unnamed 1,343m peak between Mounts Ehrlich and Cook on Brabantthat we called “Nevis Australis” or “Mt. Jenner” (20D 0524556, 2857727), as it lay at the head of the Jenner Glacier. Subsequent research has led me to believe this was not one of the many summits climbed during the 1984-’85 British Joint Services expedition to Brabant, but I cannot be sure. The highlight of our trip was the sixth ascent of Parry (2,520m), Brabant’s highest mountain.

Jim Blyth, France