For an insight into the funnier side of mountaineering adventures take a look at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJTzveLeWrnU
It can be found on You Tube under either: TiggerHart or Gopping Goats and Ice Cold Heads.
It ’s been a few days since I last wrote and several people have asked me why I haven’t been putting fingers to keyboard since my last blog. Well the answer is that every spare moment that I have had, has been taken up with trying to make the video link back from the mountain come to fruition. Trying to combine a 12-14 hour day job with putting together aspects of a major expedition are pretty demanding and it is only through the patience of those that are willing to support us that there is any chance of the whole thing paying off. It has always been my ambition to try to capture the ‘essence’ of the mountains, adventure, life on the edge through the medium of film. I had this ambition long before video became the norm and I spent a lot of time pressing the button of my manual camera in extremely rapid succession to try to capture all the moments that create the experience.
Kayaking around Alaska was an awesome experience. We went around the outside coastline, where cruise liners don't go due to the seriously adverse seas. On a couple of occasions we had Killer Whales jumping up around the boats. There was even a baby Killer Whale in the pod that investigated us one day! On another occasion we were paddling along and found ourselves within the circle of bubbles of a group of Humpbacks who were 'Bubble Netting.' We only just managed to paddle out of the circle before the Whales came bursting out of the water with mouths agape. If we had been just seconds slower, it would have made a truly stunning video clip; "Humpback eats Kevlar encased Human" would have been a dramatic title but I am glad that I wasn't made famous by that footage.
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