Schedule and Mailing Addresses

Many of you have been wondering where we'll be this summer and when. Well, here's the plan. If you're interested in joining us for a segment, or just want to send along a little package of goodies, check out this list. Packages can be addressed "Becky Peace or Nick Giguere, General Delivery". Be sure to allow at least 2 weeks delivery time.

Start - June 27

Bartlett Cove, AK - July 3
Glacier Bay N.P. and Preserve
Attn: V.I.S.
Becky Peace
PO Box 140
Gustavus, AK 99826

Angoon, AK - July 12
General Delivery
Angoon, AK 99820-9800

Wrangell, AK - July 26
General Delivery
Wrangell, AK 99929-9800

Prince Rupert, BC - August 10
General Delivery
Station Main
Prince Rupert, BC V8J3P3
CANADA

Shearwater, BC - August 25
General Delivery
Shearwater Marine
Denny Island CPS
1 Shearwater Road
Denny Island, BC V0T 1B0
CANADA

Sullivan Bay, BC - September 4
General Delivery
Sullivan Bay Post Office
Sullivan Bay, BC V0N 3H0
CANADA

Refuge Cove, BC - September 14
General Delivery
Refuge Cove, BC V0P 1P0

Home in Bellingham on September 25!

Off to Antarctica September 27th!

Two Weeks Away

This has been an unbelievably busy spring for Nick and I. I have been consumed with finishing up my last quarter at school and all the little details of graduating. Nick spent the month of April working at Mt. Rainier with pre-season preparations and then returned to Bellingham to dive straight into trip preparations. This has been a full time job for Nick for the last month and a half. I think he deserves a degree too (B.S. in Expedition Logistics?). Nick has also been spending a lot of time customizing his Pygmy kayak, see photos below.

We have been working and living in a friends finished barn in Ferndale. It's about a 20 minute drive to Bellingham, but we have more space than we need and Nick is able to work on his boat in the attached garage. We have both been pouring over all of the available resources that cover this trip, charts, guides, trip accounts, etc. We have also purchased an embarrassingly large amount of gear , but justify it with the thought that this will be our life for the next three months, and that we want to be comfortable with good quality gear. Nick has worked magic with some of the techie stuff, constructing a deck mounted solar panel that will charge a battery pack or directly to our electronics: VHF radios,

camera batteries, i-pod, headlamps, etc. We have also been working on our food resupplies. It was quite intimidating at first, trying to plan food for a hundred days, but we then figured out that we could just plan for about 6 fifteen day trips. That felt manageable. And of course there are all the little itty bitty details. Where are we going to sleep when we arrive on the ferry in Juneau at 1am? We can't leave our boats. How much toilet paper should we bring? Do we need a pruning saw? Can we eat mashed potatoes for three out of ten dinners? All questions that will soon be strikingly clear.

We hope to continue to make posting through the trip. We are currently following one gentleman's blog who is about a month ahead of us and paddling in the opposite direction. Otherwise we will do our best to send word along through various other means.

Spring Time So Soon

My sincere apologies to all of our dedicated family and friends who so graciously visited and commented on the blog, only to be bitterly disappointed the sheer lack of commitment of the authors (or perhaps, by myself). Although the 2007 Antarctic season is officially over we hope to continue with this blog through other adventures and quite likely additional seasons on the ice. We are both currently back in the states and settling down in Washington for the spring. I (Becky) will be in school at Western and Nick will be splitting his time between preseason work at Mt. Rainer and preparation for this summer's sea kayak expedition up the Inside Passage. Although we cannot be sure of Internet access and connections, we hope to offer at least a few posting of progress. Otherwise we will be in touch through traditional e-mail and the telephone. Our current plan is to depart June 18th, from Sinclair Island where we will hosting a graduation celebration and be joined by friends and family as we push off from shore and make our few first paddle strokes north. We will be busy compiling resources this spring and hope to post a few entries outlining some of the more essential aspects of our trip. Until then, enjoy the morning birdsong and the long dusky evenings of spring.

Hillary's Sherpa

This past Sunday Scott Base celebrated its 50th Anniversary. As part of the celebration the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark and Sir Edmund Hillary came down for a visit. Hillary was part of the original Scott Base construction expedition in 1957 and was most recently on the ice in 2005. The Kiwis absolutely adore "Sir Ed" and made every accommodation to make his visit as comfortable as possible. This included constructing the "Hillary Step" which affords an easier ascent into the helicopters down here.

At 87, Sir Ed is not as agile as he used to be, but maintains his commitment to the NZ Antarctic Program and the preservation of Ross Island's historic huts. On this visit, speaking at Shackleton's Nimrod Hut at Cape Royds, he asked that the British Government offer more financial assistance towards protecting and preserving these monuments to Antarctic exploration. Currently the maintenance of these huts is headed by the New Zealand based Antarctic Heritage Trust.

Pilot Paul Murphy and I felt privileged to have such a living legend aboard our aircraft.

For those of you who are reading about the "Forgotten Men" of Shackleton's Ross Sea Party, here is a photo of the Aurora's anchor. Imagine the despair you'd feel to wake up and find no ship attached to this giant hook!

Climbing the Matterhorn

Happy 2007 Y'all!!

There has been lots going on the world lately. A huge thank you to everyone back home for keeping in touch.

Nick here, Becky has been banished to the South Pole Station for the next two weeks. Perhaps she'll be able to post from 90 degrees South, but until then you're stuck with me.

There has been lots going on back home of late. A huge THANK YOU to everyone for keeping in touch and sending prezzies and treats!! Getting news from home means a great deal.

Congrats to Stefan and Rebecca who were married on the 6th of January. I'm sure that it was an awesome party! Wish we could have been there. Please no photos of the powder on Mt. Bachelor!

Congrats to Paul and Jessie on their engagement in India. Paul, I understand your ring fetish completely, read on! Will there be dahl bat at the wedding?

And hip-hip-hooray to Ma and Pa Dodd of Napa!! Becky and I can't wait to instill some wanderlust into the youngster. Better start saving now!

And, in case any of you missed it, we have a celebrity in out midst. Ol' TOC has gone primetime! Click here to read all about Dr. Terry's lifesaving (no joke!) antics on the Big E. Thank you to Michael for allowing Beck and I to follow the series. Congrats T on your accomplishment! And nice hat!

Now for the latest from the Ice.

On December 27th I had the opportunity to join Becky for an evening at her field camp in the Dry Valleys. Surprise!!! Rather than wasting the 24 hour daylight by sleeping, we decided to climb a nearby peak known locally as the Matterhorn. We departed the Lake Bonney camp at 7 pm, crossed the lake ice, humped up a steep scree slope, kicked steps along the edge of the Matterhorn Glacier, scrambled a ridge and finally climbed some steep, but blocky rock to an airy summit. Becky fairly dragged my sorry arse up the whole thing, she was charging!! The windless air was cold, but the sky was cloudless and the midnight sun, bright. It was one of those climbs that just gets more interesting the higher you go. The rock up high on the Matterhorn has been "ventifacted". That is, it has been sculpted and carved by the wind. Imagine climbing granite that looks like swiss cheese. Absolutely surreal.

On the summit, Becky sat for a moment to admire the view and sign the register. I fumbled around in my pocket for a small box. There, in the middle of the night on a peak in Antarctica I asked Becky to marry me. Shouted from the mountaintop, I think her "yes" could be heard all the way back at camp!! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!
We spent the next three hours skipping back to camp in a euphoric haze brought on by bliss and sleep deprivation. Then, after a few hours sleep

it was time to get back to work. Thanks again for the comments, congrats, and e-mails. Oh, and check out the new PeaceNick Image Gallery, its listed with the links on the right of the page.