A Glimpse of a Bygone Life on the Shetland Islands, Plucked From the Trash - The New York Times

A Glimpse of a Bygone Life on the Shetland Islands, Plucked From the Trash - The New York Times

LONDON — After working for years at a recycling center in the Shetland Islands, at the northernmost reaches of the British Isles, Paul Moar is used to helping the public get rid of unwanted items.

But when an older man walked into the recycling center in Lerwick, the capital of the archipelago in the North Atlantic, carrying two large bags heaving with old photograph slides, he quickly realized that this intended trash might be worth keeping.

In the bags, he found a wealth of old pictures of the Shetland Islands taken in the 1960s and ’70s — old farmers shearing sheep by hand, views of dirt roads winding between small stone houses, and fishers rowing small dinghies ashore.

Hopes Fade For 3 Missing Climbers On K2, Last Seen 3 Days Ago - Rock and Ice

The picture of strength and health - each of the three men lost on K2.  Those who climb these mountains are that.  If you click through for their photos you'll see what I mean.

Why one would try to climb a rock like this in brutally cold weather I do not know.  I can only guess that if you have that kind of strength there must be great joy in experiencing it, in building it, exulting in the glory of the vistas.  But the cold...wind...Maybe it's the solidarity too.
John Snorri site

Hopes Fade For 3 Missing Climbers On K2, Last Seen 3 Days Ago - Rock and Ice

As of 3:30 am, Monday, February 8, 2021,(Pakistan Standard Time), John Snorri, Muhammad Ali Sadpara, and Juan Pablo (JP) Mohr Prieto remain missing, with no trace of them found after multiple helicopter searches.

We are learning more about what happened at the Bottleneck directly from Ali’s son, Sajid. Of note, he said he and his father were climbing without supplemental oxygen but had a bottle in their pack for emergencies. Also, when he left the three missing climbers, they had no radio or satellite phone. He believes they summited and had an accident on the descent in the Bottleneck, but he cannot be sure.

There has been no official communication from Snorri or Ali or JP’s home teams to the public.

After Sherpas triumph, three Climbers lost on K2

Missing on the mountain

February 6, 2021

With options for travel few, and Everest closed, alpinist adventurers settled on the idea of a winter assault on K2 which had never been climbed. Some signed on with Seven Summits Trekking., American Colin O'Brady pitched his own effort as a first - like his Antarctica trek and his rowing across the Drake Passage team.  [Since his "first" solo crossing of Antarctica I've been following Colin O'Brady on IG - with a bit of skepticism prompted by his shameless self-promotion.  It appears that there are a lot of critics.  See The problem with Colin O’Brady National Geographic.]

But the glory was taken by a team of ten Sherpas who accomplished the first successful winter climb to the summit of Pakistan's K2 - the world's second highest mountain.

Fortunately he has avoided death on K2. When he got to the Base Camp the ten Sherpa Nepali team had already summited, so no record there.  O'Brady, like his climbing partner,  Jon Kedrowski @drjonkedski headed to the high Camp 3 (24K feet).  But after four hours Kedroski decided it was not to be.  Kedrowski retreated safely.  O'Brady climbed to Camp 3 - 24,000 feet.  Then he too decided not to try to summit.  Bulgarian Atanas Skatov @atanasskatovathlete descended an hour earlier but fell to his death, his body recoverd by a Pakistani helicopter.  

Alas three other climbers unwisely took the risk.  Thirty hours after leaving Camp 3 for the summit their GPS trackers had died, and likely the climbers John Snorri (Iceland), Ali Sadpara (Pakistan), and Juan Pablo “JP” Mohr Prieto (Chile). It now appears that there is no real hope.  A Pakistani helicopter was able to get to only 7,000 meters, 3,000 below where the last GPS signal was received.  Ali Sadpara's son Sajid - who had turned back when his oxygen regulator failed - has now retreated to camp 1, holding out no real hope for his father and fellow climbers.  A rescue mission is underway.

 

Harvard Medicine Prof. Alex Goldfarb Found Dead on Pastori Peak, Pakistan

Alex Goldfarb Found Dead on Pastori Peak

Dr. Alex Goldfarb - attempting the first winter climb of Pastori Peak (near K2) - has been found dead, having fallen off the mountain.  Two of his rescuers - who found but did not retrieve the body - are themselves now missing on K2 which they attempted to summit.

Helicopters departed Skardu today and picked up John Snorri and Sajid Sadpara, who had quickly volunteered to help, from K2 Base Camp. High winds aborted an initial flight, but on a subsequent pass after the winds had calmed, the pilots spotted rags of a tent. On a third and final flight, they saw Goldfarb’s body. Since his body was visible, he likely fell off the mountain rather than into a crevasse, as had been feared.

In these times where every action first appears on social media, Snorri quietly volunteered for the rescue, and according to journalists close to Szlanko, Snorri has now made room for the surviving climber, Zoltan Szlanko, in his own tent at K2 Base Camp.

Clarisse Cremer - first woman to finish Vendee - breaks Ellen McArthur record

News - Some highlights of Clarisse Cremer's Press Conference - Vendée Globe - En

12th place Race time: 87d 02h 24m 25s  Thirteen boats still racing

Clarisse Cremer, 12th on the Vendee Globe, said the key objective has been achieved, finishing the race. She received a message from Ellen MacArthur congratulating her on her race which she said she was more excited about than her 12th place or being first woman! Here are a few snippets of Clarisse Press Conference which available on replay on the social media channels. 

Your knowledge and relationship with your boat?
When I started sailing with this boat in July 2019 I did not have much time to learn this boat but many other sailors on this Vendée Globe did not really know their boats much better than I did. But there is nothing to replace spending so much time solo on the boat in demanding race conditions. At the start I would not say that myself and the boat were in any kind of fusion, I was quite scared of this big machine, but now sometimes I feel it is not that big any more, you get accustomed to it and find your marks. But technically I still have a lot to learn and that was what required the most psychological work for me accept I could not master everything. I still have elements missing and am not up to a level with my boat. I would like to know it better still.

How was the finish?
The finish is filled with so many emotions because you are always worried about not finishing, all the time it is in your mind. When it is finished and when you succeed it I a lot of pressure gone away. And the Channel, well it was a big shock!

Are you proud?
Yes I am proud to have managed to look after the boat from the beginning and to finish. But now I am realising with three months of experience now I realise how I did not know how to do everything on board at the start, even if I was prepared. It is a pleasant feeling to know you have mastered the subject, that you mastered your boat but I am still fascinated by these boats. This morning I was in 40kts and I was nor even afraid, these beasts are made to go around the world, they are fascinating machines, objects and so there is a pride in having brought it and myself back safely and correctly.

On Ellen MacArthur’s record and her message?  
It is true that I beat her record, but the record was 20 years ago and they are two completely different editions of the Vendée Globe the boats are completely different, the length of the race we saw this time is not representative of the intensity of the race and what skippers are able to do. And so yes I am happy, it is fun this sentence ‘the fastest woman around the world on a monohull in solo sailing’ but it is an additional thing which is fun, but to have a message from Ellen MacArthur that is really something big for me.

12th or the first woman, what is more important?
The number 12th is not that important, the goal was to finish the Vendée Globe. Having finished in full race mode and having sailed well and the fact of being the first woman that is just the cherry on the top. We are not very numerous and yes people speak about us more because as the first woman it highlights the project. But on the water I never tell myself anything is different because I am a woman. I have a boat and if competitors are men or women I don’t think about it on the water, yes it is a subject we end up talking about a lot, but it does not affect the way I race at all. Being the first woman is good, but it was never my first objective and my thoughts are still with the women who are still on the water and others who we expected great positions from, Sam and Isa who were not lucky and had damage, but to have the courage to set sail again and finish the course.

 

The Owl by Edward Thomas | Poem of the week: | The Guardian

A tawny owl Photograph: FLPA/Alamy

Poem of the week: The Owl by Edward Thomas | Books | The Guardian

Selected by Carol Rumens

The Owl

Downhill I came, hungry, and yet not starved;
Cold, yet had heat within me that was proof
Against the North wind; tired, yet so that rest
Had seemed the sweetest thing under a roof.

Then at the inn I had food, fire, and rest,
Knowing how hungry, cold, and tired was I.
All of the night was quite barred out except
An owl’s cry, a most melancholy cry

Shaken out long and clear upon the hill,
No merry note, nor cause of merriment,
But one telling me plain what I escaped
And others could not, that night, as in I went.

And salted was my food, and my repose,
Salted and sobered, too, by the bird’s voice
Speaking for all who lay under the stars,
Soldiers and poor, unable to rejoice.

Edward Thomas (1878-1917) is among my favourite poets, one of those whose revelations never become predictable (Emily Dickinson is another). Thomas, perhaps more stealthily, regularly delivers a surprise, a lyric poem which, if it were a gift, would be wrapped in honest, glitter-free brown paper. You open the parcel to find a poem which is so unexpectedly truthful and nuanced it suddenly seems hair-raising. The Thrush was the last Thomas poem featured here: this time, it’s The Owl.

Jean Le Cam 8th across the line but corrects to provisional 4th overall on Yes We Cam! - Vendée Globe - En

Four years ago Jean LeCam was rescued by Vincent Riou. This time he was the hero who rescued Kevin Escoffier .whose boat broke up in huge seas 450 miles south of the Cape of Good Hope.  The 61 year old, sailing his fifth! Vendee Globe was in an older, non-foiling boat yet on day 80! he finished eighth - a mere 10 hours behind Yannick Bestaven, the winner of the 27,000 mile solo unassisted circumnavigation.  

In what is the greatest sailboat race ever 61 year old ​Jean LeCam - sailing a non-foiling boat - ​was one of eight!!! sailors in the 33 boat fleet (only 7 have retired!) to finish on day 80 of the 27,000 mile solo circumnavigation. 1920 hours - yet only 10 hours separated first and eighth!

LeCam  was given corrected time for the diversion - making him the fourth place finisher.  Actually he should get a gold medal as the first in a non-hydrofoiling boat.

News - Jean Le Cam 8th across the line but corrects to provisional 4th overall on Yes We Cam! - Vendée Globe - En

On a wet, windy, unpleasant Thursday night it was at 19:19:55hrs UTC that Jean Le Cam crossed the finish line of the ninth Vendée Globe to take fourth place overall. Although he actually passed the line eighth, with his time compensation of 16hrs and 15minutes he moves up to fourth, in fact missing the podium by just 3hrs 19 mins 43 seconds.

Racing on his fifth Vendée Globe, 61 year old Le Cam is actually only 10hrs and 09s behind the winning time of Yannick Bestaven. He now displaces Boris Herrmann to fifth.

Without doubt Le Cam is the popular hero of this Vendee Globe after rescuing Kevin Escoffier on 1st December when the PRB skipper was forced to take to his liferaft. 

After the line he said 

"This is a finish line like I've never passed  in my life. You will see tomorrow why. I don't know how I got here, honestly I don't know. But it's done! This is a deliverance certainly. This Vendée Globe has been a sick thing. I did it but with everything that happened. Besides, apparently I'm 4th! It's been two days that I have been pushing just to not to miss the tide. This morning Anne (editor's note Anne Combier, team manager) told me that I could get still ahead of Boris Herrmann. I had never imagined that! I was happy to be have been ahead of Groupe APICIL, that was the challenge between boats with straight daggerboards. This challenge was very much the race. These foiling  boats are a lot of puzzles for not much! Like computing software. But sailing is not an exact science! For me the single most important thing is that I gave the younger generations the idea that they could do the Vendée Globe with limited means. I have had testimonials from young people in this regard. I am happy because we have seen budgets going up and up and so this is a real victory. I went from here to here. But as I say if I say too much about it only makes me chuckle."

After his second place behind Vincent Riou in 2004-5 this is Le Cam’s second best result on the Vendée Globe and – ironically – improves on his sixth in the last edition on the same boat.

It is a remarkable achievement, reflecting a very smooth and accomplished route all the way around the world on his 2007 Farr design which originally won the 2008 race in the hands of Michel Desjoyeaux.
 

Le Cam’s race

The skipper had already said his goodbyes to his family when he went down alone to the pontoon on the day of the start, as if he was in a hurry to set sail, after spending so many months preparing the boat in a shed in Port-la-Forêt. He believed in his boat in spite of the fact that she was built in 2007 and very few people chose her as one of their favourites for the race.

And yet, on the day after the start, Yes We Cam! led the fleet. Jean would lead the race on nine occasions early in the race. Two competitors took therisk of entering the eye of the first big storm: Alex Thomson and Jean Le Cam. “Jean is getting close to me. He is incredible,” said the British sailor. The Breton found it all rather amusing. “There are people who think they can plan everything, come out with all sorts of ideas and talk rubbish... Saying things may make people laugh, but everyone falls silent, when you do things. The old man is ready to put up a fight.”      

Jean Le Cam’s voyage down the Atlantic was impressive, with the foilers apparently afraid of burning their wings if they got too close to danger. Ashore, he has always been popular in France, never one to pay attention to what is expected of him and ready to joke about what you are supposed to do to fit in with society. The French adore his spontaneity, while the ocean racing fraternity loves his trajectories. He has the image of a bragger or a wit, but those who follow such races closely know that he is always consistent in his sailing.

His progress would however be halted on a night in November off the coast of South Africa. Kevin Escoffier abandoned his boat and jumped into his life-raft, with Jean twenty miles away. He changed course, spotted the skipper of PRB, before once again losing sight of him. When he found him again, he managed to bring him aboard his boat. “God, you’re aboard. That was close,” said Jean, who must have thought about his own rescue in 2009 when he was helped by Vincent Riou. After a scary night, everyone wanted to pay homage to Jean, including the French president.

With Kevin at his side, they formed a comic duo, and appeared to be enjoying themselves during their week together. When it was time for Kevin to go aboard the Nivôse on a sunny Sunday morning, Jean was clearly moved. “Searching for someone, spending a week together and then finding myself alone again, is not that easy,” he admitted. 

He got back into the race and had to deal with warm fronts in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, “where long surfing waves are just something you find in books.” He rounded Cape Horn (“it was not something to take for granted”) in 6m high waves and in 45-knots of wind. He would often find himself in a contest with other competitors, such as Damien Seguin, with whom he chatted, and Benjamin Dutreux, who “never eased off.” In early January, he said that it seemed that “there is no getting away from each other. Benjamin gets excited at times and gets ahead. Sometimes I call him up and tell him, what is this pact we have? It’s not working out. You are just doing what you want!” This was not Jean’s way of mocking, but rather his way of showing respect. He appreciated Benjamin’s achievement aboard a boat like his without foils.

His climb back up the Atlantic may well serve as an example to sailors learning their skills. Jean clearly enjoyed himself aboard his ‘Hubert’, the nickname given to the boat in memory of his friend, Hubert Desjoyeaux who founded the CDK yard. On the way back home, Jean explained he was in a good position, as he was “one of the chasers behind the pathfinders out in front.” The skipper kept pushing relentlessly and would remain close to the frontrunners, thanks to his expert knowledge of his boat. Reliability appeared to be worth more than flying at any cost.    

Key moments

Equator (outward bound)

4th on 18t November at 1319hrs UTC, after 9d 23hrs 59mins

Cape of Good Hope

6th on 2/12/2020 at 0452hrs UTC, 1d 05hrs 41mins after the leader

Cape Leeuwin

6th on 14/12/2020 at 0213hrs, 11d 21hrs 21mins after passing the Cape of Good Hope

Cape Horn

7th on 04/12/2020 at 2018hrs UTC after 57d 06hrs 58mins

Equator (return leg)

8th on 17/01/2020 at 1414hrs UTC after 70d 00hrs 54mins

Best 24-hour run

7t December at 0800hrs UTC: 459.61 miles averaging 19.2 knots

Vendee Globe: first four EIGHT finishers - around the world in 80 days!

Iceboarding Wordon Pond, Rhode Island

 The Ocean State has a lot of ponds - perfect for iceboating when a cold snap hits.

But that's kind of old-fashioned: ice-boarding is windsurfing with blades on the smooth surface of a frozen fresh water pond, like here on Wordon Pond, South Kingstown, RI.

Salla, Finland's coldest city bids for summer games - 2032

 Salla, Lapland, Finland ...plan your stay  July: Avg. high: 66 F Avg. low 55 F