Summiting Boulder Hill
The journey began with a two hour Hagg ride over the sea ice, down a fjord and eventually along a narrow fresh water lake, Crooked Lake.
When we arrived at the bottom of Boulder Hill we parked the Hagg, put our packs on and headed off on foot with cameras in hand.
Our 1.5km trek initially us took through a narrow gorge with a frozen waterfall before spiralling around behind Boulder Hill and approaching the summit from the opposite side.
When we reached the 515ft summit we were greeted with spectacular views in all directions.
We could see straight down Crooked Lake with the Hagg parked at the bottom of the hill. We had a clear, uninterrupted view of the mighty Sorsdal Glacier only 1.5km away.
We looked down upon frozen, fresh water lakes at the bottom of the plateau and of course we could see the giant boulder sitting on top of the hill after which it was named.
I had been here nine years ago so it was a relief to see the boulder was still there, otherwise we would have had to have renamed the hill Boulderless Hill.
But if the views weren’t to leave a long, lasting impression, the weather certainly did. It was absolutely perfect!
We estimated the temperature to have been about -30 degrees celsius but with no wind and the sun shining intensely it was absolutely beautiful and it didn’t feel cold at all.
We hadn’t planned on staying on the summit for very long, just long enough to take a couple of quick snaps before descending, but after realising how special the moment was we decided to embrace the unique opportunity and stay for longer.
Eventually with camera memory cards nearly full we decided to hike back down to the Hagg.
Then we drove to Watts Hut where we stayed the night and played Uno until late. The card game was a midwinters gift from our chef…thanks Claude!
The following day it was snowing which wasn't the best for photography so we decided to head back to station.
Our adventure had been a success. We had summited Boulder Hill, taken some fantastic photos and were reminded how special and spectacular Antarctica is when the sun shines and the wind stops allowing you to pause and simply take in the moment.
Craig Butsch
