This
was my second trip to Blue Lake following my first trip
in 2001 with Bryan. This time Swiz mountaineer and French
connoisseur Patrick and me went as a single team of two.
Our trip to Blue Lake started in Guthega and after hiring
some gear in Jindabyne the two intrepid adventurers spend
two hours packing and sorting gear at the lift station before
setting off to some of the best ice-climbing and worst weather condition ever seen at Blue Lake. Never mind the
blizzard conditions for the next few days. Even though the
approach to the lake was hard due to our heavy packs, excellent
navigation by Patrick got us to our campsite below the mouth
of Blue Lake in just over 4 hours. This time we chose a
conspicuous house-size boulder for what seemed a perfect
wind-shelter.
Unfortunately once the wind direction changed
and the bulk of the snowfall hit us, the bowl in front of
the boulder filled up quickly through the vaccum-effect
of spindrift and ended us burrying us alive during the night. We spent
the three nights in our tent surrounded by raging wind currents
and only braved the storm to get some water and for a few
ours to check out the near perfect ice-curtains. Patricks
secret stash of Swiz chocolate kept us alive in between
horrendous meals of corn-beef and maggie noodles. This was
before the gourmet meals of the Bryan period. On the last
day the crescendo of wind reached its peak and dumped enormous
loads of snow on our tent. We had to clear the snow every
few hours throughout the night and eventually fell asleep
in a state of exhaustion. We woke up
in darkness wandering what the time was! It was late but
the darkness surrounding us was muffled by the thick air saturated
with carbon dioxide. Once Patrick removed the door from
the tent the gravity of the situation became clear - we
were completely burried under several metres of snow. We
literally had to tunnel our way out of this white sarcophagus
from within the tent. Patrick began to shovel snow inside
the tent and tunneled through to the outsideworld.
He disappeared ouf sight and shouted for me to follow. Outside
lay a perfect world - the snowstorm had cleared but our
time was up and we had to return to our families. The sun
dazzled us with its brightness and the ice teased us with
its splendour. We vowed to return again to perfect conditions
at Blue Lake. 2002 taught us many lessons about tent location,
vigilance at night and how to best preserve a minimum amount
of Swiz chocolate for a maximum number of lonely days...
