Full Transcript of Alpine Story with Tamsin Gay

Please note this talk was transcribed by a robot and then checked by a human. both are prone to errors, so please forgive any typos or poor grammar.

Louise Kennedy [00:01:52] Welcome, everybody. I'm super excited that you're joining us here this evening. So thank you very much. I'm not sure if you were with us last week, but we had a fantastic talk from Sylvia about Patagonia. And now this week we have in talking about Greenland. We had a sneak preview of this last night and it was brilliant. We we all loved it. And we're absolutely super excited to hear it all over again. So that's good news. Just before we start, it would be good to talk a little bit about who we are.

Louise Kennedy [00:02:24] And just to say that the Women's Alpine Adventure Club is a community that supports women in pursuing their outdoor goals, specifically around the alpine environment. So building skills and developing confidence in rock climbing, ice climbing, skiing, we hold in-person events every year, both summer and winter, with skills clinics, with guides, skill sharing as well amongst members. And then also on our Web site, we're busy working away now on our content. So we've got favourite routes from our members. So our favourite Alpine Routes. You can check those out with lots of beta and information and nice pictures. We've also got talks like this. We've got talks booked now all the way through till the end of June nearly. So every week we will be here in this same space.

Louise Kennedy [00:03:14] And also, we're making them available off line, if you miss them. And also, obviously, this year we were hoping to go to the Dolomites in September. That's going to be our next meet. And you know, who knows what's going to happen? I do not have a crystal ball, but I'm hoping that at some point we will be able to get out and meet up this summer, even if it's locally and do some fun stuff together. But in the meantime, we thought we would work on this online content.

Louise Kennedy [00:03:44] So we really hope you enjoy it. And I'm going to handover in a minute. But just to take you through a little bit, zoom. I think that's really just to say that it can be quite distracting if you come in and join or if your audio is on or your video is on.

Louise Kennedy [00:04:03] We definitely want you to ask questions. And we're going to have some time for Q&A at the end. But for the moment, just so that we don't distract Tamsin, it would be great if you can have your videos and audios off and then we will be taking you through how to raise your hands. So in the Q&A time, Jenny will explain, because I actually I don't know very well how to raise your hand digitally if you have a question and then we'll call on you and we'll be obviously happy to answer your questions at that stage and turn on your mike and on your video so that we can see your lovely faces. All our talks will be recorded so that we'll be publicly available. Just so you're aware, I'm sure that nobody will be giving Tamsin too much of a grilling at the end. But obviously you will be Live on Facebook. So I was going say, please do not swear, but I can't guarantee that Tamsin won't. Enjoy. And I'm going to hand over to Jenny.

Jenny Dart [00:05:08] Hello. Thanks, Louise. I'm busy trying to add people I'm not very good at multi-tasking. I'm thrilled to have you join us tonight for a second alpine stories. Really excited. Tamsin is a British mountain guide and she's recently qualified and she has been part of our meets. She's guided on all 7 continents and is fantastic, whatever the conditions. I remember the first time I ever saw her right in the Scottish winter. I'm not sure she'll remember this. I was being blown off the Fiacaill ridge in the Cairngorms at the time. Tamsin was cruising up, bringing these boys up, just looking extremely capable and just looking like she was loving it. And I found that really inspiring. And it was years ago and I still remember it to this day, say Tamsin has climbed and all seven continents and she's done quite a lot of TV work. And she just loves being in the mountains. She's currently in Scotland on the farm where she grew up after having to come back from France. And Tamsin has actually got a family history of going to Greenland for expeditions. So her dad and her mum and they have been on expeditions to Greenland not far from where she actually was on this expedition. Say, that's really cool. And we're really excited to have Tamsin talk. Tamsin, turn on your video and your mic and then let's kick this off. So I'll be back at the end. We'll talk back questions and stuff then. So welcome, Tamsin. Thank you very much. Let's go.

Tamsin Gay [00:06:53] Thanks very much, Jenny. Quite a build. And good evening and welcome. I hope you're all keeping well in these rather peculiar times. I must say, it is strange for me to be here being beamed into all your homes as very odd not being able to get an audience reaction. And in fact, it feels a little bit unfair, actually, that you can see me and I can't see you. So I want you to let me know if there's anything going wrong. Like the audio doesn't work. Well, the videos don't work. Or God forbid, I've got bit lettuce in my teeth or a bogey on my nose. Please do drop me a message by the messenger. Like chat one of Lizzie or Jenny or Louise.

Tamsin Gay [00:07:40] Then let me know. You can also put any questions through the messenger like channel. Answer them. It was better to come at the end. Right. So before I start, there's something you should know. And that is that I am imagining all of you naked, which can kind of get you might be. Actually, I knew I am from the waist down. Anyway, let's get onto topic. So the reason I'm here is to that trip I did to Greenland two years ago. So I guess I kind of forgot about it. But then because it's filmed, because it's for the BBC, a year later, it popped up on BBC Two, no less. And I guess I've been asked a lot of questions about it since then. So it was for the BBC and UK TV and it was with a guy called Steve Backshall. Steve is like a famous TV presenter. I had to Google him. It's OK. So he's also a naturalist, naturalist. So he is a wildlife expert and an adventurer as well. So he was making a series of programmes. There's a series of ten. And this trip to Greenland was one of those episodes. And it was in an endeavour to get a new client, a new peak climb. So an unclimbed peak. And so that would fit in with the rest of the series, which was called Undiscovered Worlds. So that was following Steve because he travelled around the world doing amazing sort of adventurous feats like cave diving.

Tamsin Gay [00:09:14] He did a first river descent, swimming, volcanoes, that sort of thing.

Tamsin Gay [00:09:20] So this was the unclimbed peak version. It was my job to get him up the peak along with the cameraman and another presenter. So it was actually my friend Libby Peter. She's a mountain guide. It was Libby Peter's gig. And she invited me along, which is great. I really enjoyed the trip and appreciate that. So when I was employed to do this, I guess I didn't think I was gonna be on the camera. I thought I'd just be doing my usual guiding, like looking behind a rock. And occasionally you might see me scamper past in the background. And I say to all my family, friends or family, that was me, that's me. I was on BBC Two. But in the end, it turns out that the BBC wanted Libby and me to do pieces to camera and they told me, in fact, that they use all the footage of me where I wasn't swearing, so apologies in advance if any swear words slip out and try and contain it. Sorry to my mates, kids. Put some money in the swear box later. OK.

Tamsin Gay [00:10:24] So I guess I am. Yeah. That program aired last year. It's been aired several times since it reached an audience of over half a million people worldwide. So had a lot of questions about it. I'm always getting asked is Steve Backshall a nice guy, that kind of thing. How did you get down is another popular one? So I guess this slideshow is my opportunity to give you my version of events and give you a little sneak preview of the trip. Right. So. Oh, yeah. This is just this sneaky slide I slipped into saying hello to my friends with kids who I think are watching. So I'll let you find your names on there. And this, by the way, is the Greenlandic flag. Looks a bit like the Japanese flag but it is the Greenlandic flag. Easy mistake to make. And so I will talk a little bit about where we went and talk about the team, the team dynamics, the fact that we met a polar bear, the fact that we flailed about in the mud in our underpants whilst crossing a river. And a little bit about my parents trip that they did to Greenland 50 years ago. So moving on, by the way, somebody else is operating this slide. So occasionally I say, oh, moving on or. Next slide, please. Just if you wonder why it's not me clicking through the slides. Thank you. Okay. So, yeah, before we go any further, I'll just give you a quick video clip so that you can get an idea of what the Greenlandic landscape looked like. And this is taken from the helicopter as we're taking off. And I think kind of the anticipation is building as the helicopter revs up or does whatever it does is quite reminiscent of the excitement I was feeling at that time. Good to meet these celebrities. 

Tamsin Gay [00:12:14] And they going to guide this guide to what this peak will do. A little bit reminiscent of how I'm feeling now. To be honest. OK, here we go then. Lizzie with the video. Thank you. OK. So hopefully that gives you a little idea of the feelings I was having as we were flying  in Greenland at this point, flying in to meet the celebs and hopefully it gives you a picture of Greenland. I'd like to introduce you to some of my favourite friends I made whilst we were in Greenland and the Muskox. So I love the Muskox. I didn't know that these guys existed before I went to Greenland and they are comedy chaps. So said they look like the way a Big Woolly dress, a big hairy dress. And a little bit like the, you know, those Chinese puppet dragons you see at Chinese festivals. I kind of imagined two men to get out from underneath and walk away and just beautiful as well. I think I find them quite magnetic in some way. So I guess one of reasons and I like them is that the way they look. But there's also some interesting features of them that I'll go into later. And they have an Inuit name coming, Umingmak, which means a fluent in Inuit, which means bearded one. So this is a great picture. So I was walking along and it just happened to walk over this and I like it because it looks like a muskox looking same in death as they do in life. You know, you can still see the shape of its horns and head and everything. So I think that's quite a beautiful picture. I think it features in the film, actually, doesn't it? The other unique thing about muskox is that they have a strong, musky odour, as you might guess from the name. And so the men, the male, they emit these musky odour during the mating season in order to attract the ladies and not unlike us after two weeks without washing in Greenland. And in fact, oh, there's another chap who gave us off a strong male musk. That's Aldo, actually. He was the other television presenter. Don't know why they picked him. So moving on, why did we go? Oh, no, no. Before we go, this is this is the muskox in action. I love this little bit video and we'll show it twice. So it is a bit blurry. So hopefully you can get an idea of what's going on. But you can see that we saw this from helicopters. You can see a herd of buffalo and they run away from the noise of the helicopter. And then Mr. Muskox, musk ox takes a stand and faces off to the helicopter. So if you could play the video. Lizzie, thank you.

Tamsin Gay [00:16:28] OK, we'll play again.

Louise Kennedy [00:16:39] He's a brave boy. Yeah.

Tamsin Gay [00:16:43] And so I don't know. That was pretty exciting, if you like. You know, you're meeting a prehistoric animal for the first time in your life. So where do we go? We went to Greenland. So the next slide is a little map of the world. Just in case there's any confusion about where Greenland is. I thought I had better do a bit of research for left the UK. It's good to know where you're gonna be working. So Greenland is the world's largest island. You can see it from the white on the on the map. The three quarters of it is covered in an ice cap and other good things to know about Greenland. It's where the polar bears live. So I made your little mantra for this polar bears. They live in the north. Penguins in the south. Penguins inside. Penguins inside. That's the sort of thing you should know when you're about to meet a famous TV naturalist, naturalist. So I'm out of interest. The polar bear with its tongue sticking out, that's the Greenlandic coat of arms.

Tamsin Gay [00:17:48] Next slide, please, Lizzie.

Tamsin Gay [00:17:53] Okay. Yeah. So this is a map of Greenland. An arrow is pointing at where we went to that little peninsula, which is Jameson land. So we never made it onto the ice cap. Oh, I'd love one day to go back and do some expeditions more inland. But we stayed in this area around the coast about halfway up on the east. And we've kind of fjords and islands and so on. And then it's quite large peninsula. The little red dot is the airport called Constable Point, where we flew in most of the population of Greenland live on the West Coast. And despite 56000 people who live in Greenland. So so we were on the remote side. I actually you know, I keep wondering, I keep going to Google List, find out whether they've been affected by coronavirus or that it might not made it up there. And it's so sparsely populated. Perhaps it's not such a problem for them. Other Greenlandic facts, the highest point on the island is in the north. So that's three thousand six hundred ninety four meters. We got to about around 2000 meters. Once you were about the height. Will tell you more about that later. So that's above sea level. What else can I tell you about Greenland? That's about all my facts at the moment. So if we move onto the next slide. Yeah. Yeah. This is a bit of an aside and a side slide. And we went so we went we flew to Iceland on the way to Greenland and then when we're there. Despite being real expensive, we went out to eat a few times and this was quite common on the menu. You could pick up a spot of grilled whale.

Tamsin Gay [00:19:33] Of course, where in fact, Guillemot, you know, you'd be desperate surely to eat a Guillemot. Anyway, that was just an aside. And I thought quite interesting. You know, you just wouldn't see anything like that in the UK these days.

Tamsin Gay [00:19:48] Right. Okay. Onto our next slide. So this is a little bit of a zoom in map. So we zoomed in here right into the north west of Jameson Land. When we were dropped off where that red triangle is and we walked north up the land until we crossed the river, Schuchert Dal. So Schuchert Dal the glacial valley that has this river running through it, which apparently never been crossed before. Apparently crossing the river is like a thing, like a world first thing to do. So we did it.

Tamsin Gay [00:20:20] And then we crossed just above to a valley entrance called, Kortadel. And that value led us up to the coastal glacier, which you can see if you look closely at the map and to our peak, which will ultimately be called celiac. Okay. Peak Gay Peter. And I'll tell you a little bit more about that later on in the talk.

Tamsin Gay [00:20:49] Right. Yeah, if you could move on to next slide, thanks very much, The team. So there were eight of us.

Tamsin Gay [00:20:59] All from rather different backgrounds. Most of us haven't worked together, kind of some of the TV crew had worked together before, but certainly Libby and I haven't worked with the TV crew or much with each other, actually, although Libby is responsible for some of my training and assessment in becoming the mountain guide.

Tamsin Gay [00:21:18] So we had with us the two presenters.

Tamsin Gay [00:21:24] OK. So, yeah, onlookers left that Steve Backshall in the blue. So he is probably pretty like, I think to be known first and foremost as a wildlife expert and he really is knowledgeable. So you can point out a plant and say, hey, what's that, Steve? He'll know the Latin name, what it's doing there. What it brings to that ecosystem. And he's happy to answer answer ridiculous questions as well, such as in an animal deathmatch. Who would win a polar bear or a muskox? And currently, the two are unlikely ever to meet because the polar bear spends its life out on the sea ice. It's dinner, fishing for seal, fishing for fish. And the muskox live inland a little bit higher up in warmer temperatures where they can eat grass and so on. Although apparently they did meet and they did have that it be quite a match. So he was happy to deal with questions like that probably because he's also a children's presenter. So your kids might know him from the world's deadliest 60 programs. Right. On the right, here we've got Aldo in the yellow jacket. So Aldo is an ex Royal Marine sniper. He's also kind of TV hard man. So he does programs where he races somebody through the jungle for some reason to finish first. Not quite sure why. And in fact, just fully came way to Greenland. And he was there two weeks before me making a kayaking program with Steve. Just before he did that, he was in an underground bunker where he had to be deprived of light and all sort of sensory stimulation for 10 days. It was a it's an experiment, but a television program as well. So he went from that straight degree where it's 24 hour daylight in the summer. So quite a shock. And that's why. So one pasty and he's Glaswegian and like most Glaswegians, typically good natured and funny. And married, just in case you were wondering. And so the next person, next important person in the team is Rosie. The team was so lovely. Everybody is really nice, really relaxed, chilled out. And I think that's why we were successful in the end and what made it just so enjoyable. So Rosie is kind of the most important person there, really. She was the director and the producer.

Tamsin Gay [00:23:58] Out of interest, actually, most of the production team, the people back home, were if you were doing the editing and the other mysterious television things, they were the majority of them were female. And it was. They are employed by a production company called True to Nature, which is run by women. So I don't think it's a coincidence that a lot of the lead women adventurers in this program were female. So we had Hazel Finley in taking Steve to go climb in Oman. We had a girl called Salomon Gomory in taking Steve down to a new river in some way. I can't remember. It's good to look it up. And then there was Katie Fraser, who is a brilliant, apparently underwater film camera lady, an underwater camera lady. And she went see when cliff diving.What's it called when you go into caves on the water? And she filmed a lot.

Tamsin Gay [00:25:02] So I don't think that and that was just because True to Nature is largely run by women. I got the impression that Steve Backshall actually was also pushing for that. I'm just interested in diversity and coming at things with different angle and possibly because his wife is an Olympic rower. Anyway, a bit more about Rosie. So I admired her leadership basically because she's so calm and unruffled. She could do anything. So she'd be doing camera work. She'd be overseeing the whole project. She'd be cooking. She'd be pulling a pulk. And quite technical person as well. Doing digital things with electronic equipment. And I'm not sure I could have done those two camera pieces so well, if it hadn't been for her, encouraging, kind of slightly cajoling, questioning style. So and calling the editing afterwards. That's what helped me in making that program. So the next person on the team is Keith Partridge. Okay. So it's Keith's birthday when we're out there. He's watching the movie. So Keith is a very experienced expedition cameraman and he's done a lot of filming for BBC and the National Geographic. And I wouldn't be surprised if he watched an adventure film where Keith did the camerawork. What I found impressive about Keith, I don't know if he knows this, but when you're working with other film crew or on a film, on a photography shoot, you often asked to repeat the same things to do, to do the same activity or to say the same things where Keith seems to be able to get really good footage on the hoof and he doesn't ask you to repeat things all the time. So that's pretty refreshing, actually. He's also really good company and a nice, kind man. And a lot of these photos, all the good ones, anyway, are taken by Keith. So thanks, Keith. The next slide, we have a little clip of something.

Tamsin Gay [00:27:13] Okay, so there were two technical guys and John Lipsey and Stuart Troll behind the camera. So and that's why I haven't got any photos of them. They were like just digital wizards. They are responsible for sound and for the drone mending electronics things in the middle of nowhere. You know, I think was an expedition. They work hard to stop all of us because they get up during the day to all some things, pressing buttons and that sort of thing.

Tamsin Gay [00:27:46] And then in the evening, they'd be nerding in the tent to let midnight or something when we will just. And again, really great guys up for anything. And you know to them. It's actually quite new to be skiing, poking, doing anything related to the mountain. So they did an extremely good job. I think.

Tamsin Gay [00:28:05] Finally, the guides show. This is me and Libby. So Libby is one of my heroines. If you're watching. Anyway, I'm embarrassed now.

Tamsin Gay [00:28:19] Okay, so she. You know, Libby with the rock climbing guide book, you know, the red one. If you prefer, below this, the red one. What's it called? Rock climbing, essential skills and techniques.

Tamsin Gay [00:28:31] Lizzy's holding up for me that basically it's the Bible. If you're gonna do any assessment in the UK, you need to learn that book cover to cover. It's got the answers. And she's also really good company, really encouraging and really good at hugs. So it's wonderful to have her along and like I said, her gig. So it was great for her to ask me longwe had a right laugh, actually.

Tamsin Gay [00:28:56] Also, Libby took a bit of a fall, I don't know, she did this on purpose. She looked after Keith so that I got to strap myself to the two celebrity hunks. And yeah, there was another mountain guide there actually. Phil, who he is like a Greenlandic expert. And quite, quite understated guy. Another like gem, really beautiful soul and really helpful for me and Libby. You know, lots of beta, lots of helpful tips and advice that is quite common amongst guides, I guess, to share all of that kind of information, such as which is the front of the pulk thing. That's quite handy. Neither Libby or I had ever pulled a pulk before.

Tamsin Gay [00:29:53] So that was the team, the job. Okay.

Tamsin Gay [00:30:00] Yes. For me, the crux of my job was getting these guys up a peak like Keith is quite an experienced mountaineer. And Steve as well, but kind of getting a less experienced group, a peak in the middle of nowhere and getting footage of it and doing something new that we didn't know anything about. I mean, that's quite a coop, to be honest. So I thought just to put that job in context, I'll tell you a little bit about my job as an IMGFA, a guide. So that's an internationally recognised qualification. It's expensive to do and takes a long time to get. And the bulk of the job is really about looking after people like really caring about people making sure that they are physically comfortable or physically comfortable as possible. There's always gonna be a bit of discomfort and type 2 fun in mountaineering and I think we all know that. And also making them safe and and really caring about how they feel are enjoying it.

Tamsin Gay [00:31:05] You know, again, you're not always going to enjoy it, but it's not you know, they're paying you to have a nice time. It's often their holidays. So taking care of all those things is important. And then sort of your own performance and competence, whilst you have to reach a reasonable standard, that's not actually as important as the looking after people you normally operating well within your comfort zone. So you've got lots of capacity to look after people and keep them safe.

Tamsin Gay [00:31:33] I guess my job I spend the summer in well most of the year actually in European Alps. So in the summer I tend to do things like working on, say, six week courses where I'd start the week. We might look at mountaineering skills and then do a few warmup routes and then by the end of the week perhaps to a full size meet peak quite solve common objectives for people or very common objectives. People want the Matterhorn, Mont Blanc, the Eiger, things like that. So not the Eiger by the North face by the Mitellegi route, which is a little bit more straightforward, still long, still pretty arduous. So that's the bulk of what I do in the summer and in the winter.

Tamsin Gay [00:32:17] I do a lot of ski mountaineering journeys. I think the reason for living, actually, and I take people into a piece terrain and look after them and teach them about avalanche safety and operating safely in the mountains in winter. And if we get none of us know what's going to happen in the future in terms of coronavirus. But if we end up in a situation where we're not able to travel outside the UK, but we can't travel within the UK and I'm available to take you mountaineering.

Tamsin Gay [00:32:47] If you've got any Munro's you want to bag, you want to visit the Cuillin ridge and perhaps do a Cuillin traverse. I've spent a lot of time up there. We can do that. And to get in touch my contact details that right are at the end. And sadly, I don't find much time for my own mountaineering goals anymore. And because I work because it is expensive and long to come qualified. So now I just graft. So in terms of this job, I am on this next slide.

Tamsin Gay [00:33:22] And OK, so this is a picture of the summit ridge. And you can see Libby guiding Keith up here.

Tamsin Gay [00:33:33] Oh, thanks, Kirsty. Kirsty just said incredible photo in the chat. Kirsty and I went to school together. And so you can see Libby guiding Keith up with Summit Ridge. So how do we get. How do we pick the peak? Well, when we first got dropped off and Schuchert Dal at that little red triangle, we were lucky enough to have a helicopter disposal probably paid for by BBC licence payers money. But because they're so expensive to run, we have to do this really quick recce. To have a look at what peaks we might be able to climb. So we went up and Libby and I had to kind of use this telepathy between us to say, that looks good. That looks good. I love that one. So literally, we did that and she can't hear anything. Anyway, everybody else was there with us. We couldn't really discuss things perhaps in the way we'd normally like to. So we said, right I to do and we could do this, that that in that a lot of options as backup options, which is really important when you mountaineering always have plan B, C, D, E and so on. And so that's how we picked the route. Yeah. I went to when we first approached the route, when you actually set off and we just come to the bottom of our choice. There was an avalanche really near the route that we were hoping to take. So, um, yeah, we literally we had to look around and look all of those other plans. ABC DEF and so on and make a choice. And there was this ridge behind us. So I pretty much turned round looked at the ridge and went right, that's what we're gonna do. And of course, you still want to produce some you know, you've still got to produce what you're being paid for. So the reason I picked that ridge was because I knew we'd be safe from avalanche danger. We'd be safe from rockfall, which was an issue.

Tamsin Gay [00:35:25] The only way we get hit by anything, because it's quite an easy angle ridge would be if one of us knocked something else on top of the other. But that was unlikely.

Tamsin Gay [00:35:35] So really, it was a case of just tackling it by being careful, moving delicately and staying together the whole way up.

Tamsin Gay [00:35:44] I think the most likely thing that could have gone wrong. Oh, yeah. And you can see from this slide is that somebody might step on something that gaveway beneath them. So often one person will be on the one side, the ridge.

Tamsin Gay [00:35:57] The rope would be going over the ridge and we'd be somebody would be counter-balanced on the other side. So if somebody did slip, then you held by the whole ridge to the mountain. We did most of it. We move like that. Am just checking my auto cue. OK. Yes, in this slide here, a lot of the ridge looked like this big pile of choss interspersed with breakable crust. We kept the crampons on all the way up. Useful in the snow but more useful on ground like this, I was you know front pointing up here. I guess when I'm working, I'm used to like this bit just being at the front and staying in charge. That's a guides job, really. So you can stay in total control. We can make the right decisions about safety. Finding how you going to overcome certain obstacles and keep everything moving at a reasonable pace so you're not out for all hours. Although you're often out ten, twelve hour days. But that's just how long these things take. And so in this situation, I had to cough and guide from behind.

Tamsin Gay [00:37:10] That is the expression I'm looking for. So I would have to let Steve or Keith lead the route, which I never do when I'm guiding, and it's quite nerve wracking because it basically means relinquishing control. But we needed to make Steve and Aldo for the program, lead some of it and give them the opportunity to kind of experience the authentic emotions that you would feel when you're on the lead.

Tamsin Gay [00:37:36] And so for me, that actually the hardest part of that whole expedition, because that's it. Let go control in my field of expertise. You know, I was worried about my peers and colleagues watching the film and seeing some kind of crazy, unorthodox rope work. You know, my mind was justifying things all the time. So I'm balancing that and still doing a good job as a guide. It's quite mind bending to me. I guess luckily I'm really comfortable on a mountain in a remote place. And in this case, on the mountain for 30 hours, much more comfortable, in fact, doing that, that I am sitting here public speaking to that.

Tamsin Gay [00:38:16] And if you could move on to the next slide.

Tamsin Gay [00:38:26] Right. Oh, yeah. This is nice. This is a digital experts, and so sadly for them, whilst we were climbing, they had they were out of their comfort zone, really a they weren't getting to through their nerding, but also they, I think a self-confessed nerd. But that's just like a compliment. Not so. And so they have to wait for us in the cold in a pretty uncomfortable situation on the glacier, and they had Phil looking after them during that.

Tamsin Gay [00:38:51] The reason I had this slide in was really just to me to mention something about being adaptable and how important that is in the mountains. I think I've already covered it a little bit in terms of having lots of plans. And so, for example, in this situation, we went at night, although it is daylight, 24 hours.

Tamsin Gay [00:39:14] It was 4:00 in the evening. The hope being that it would be colder, temperatures would be colder. So we were less likely to have to deal and deal with avalanche hazard. Well, rockfall, because snow and ice would be holding everything together. I mean, as it happens, because we were up there for 30 hours, such long hours, we ended up descending in the midday in the heat. But we were able to pick a nice little safe route down.

Tamsin Gay [00:39:44] And so this next slide, this is. Oh, yeah, this is just to talk. I want to talk about Keith. In fact, it's amazing that he got the footage that he did. He's very keen to tell me about. I forgot that you would be listening to tell me about his 300 millimetre zoom lens. Very big. Very heavy. In fact, like Keith had the hardest job of us on the actual route because he was carrying a rucksack of. I don't think we agreed it probably 16-18 kilograms in weight. And none of us had anything like that in our rucksacks. So he had to look that up and have the presence of mind to gather all this amazing footage. And I'm amazed by what he produced. And, you know, as a mountaineer or any of us, if we went flying that route, it would probably take us about 10 hours. But because we were trying to get footage, I think we were on it for 30 hours. I'd say we're trying to do all sorts of things for a single team in the valley, the radios. So as a mountaineer and a guide, it's really hard.

Tamsin Gay [00:40:51] I find it hard not to just push on you so used to just push me in front, get the job done. It seemed a little bit unnatural to me to hang about filming.

Tamsin Gay [00:41:03] And so I know that, on telly it looked quite treacherous and like a pretty reasonable, reasonably impressive undertaking in itself getting up that ridge. But for Libby and I, we were completely, completely within our comfort zone at all times. And I think achievement actually lay in managing to achieve a proper mountaineering objective and make a film about it and get people who aren't particularly mountaineers up it.

Tamsin Gay [00:41:41] And by the way, I don't think that, you know, in the film, sometimes Steve and Aldo, looked really frightened or at least a little bit anxious. And I don't think that's hammed up or fake.

Tamsin Gay [00:41:53] I think literally all because your fears is relative to your experience, isn't it? So for them, it was quite a new undertaking. So, yes, an intended danger reassembles is no point at which Libby and I felt worried or scared. I mean, I think it's fair to say that we were worried at times that we might not get up the ridge, that we encounter some obstacle that was impossible. Although, you know, I was 95 percent sure that we could do it. In fact, I was bloody well going to do it and I'm going to take it with me. And I think that that's partly that's how I see my job, that it's my job to be completely determined to push on when everybody else is having doubts, because I know it's possible. So I think that's probably the strength ultimately that I brought to the team.

Tamsin Gay [00:42:39] And I I guess it's just a case of climbing uphill, but also keeping everybody safe at the same time and trying to get the footage sorted out. So in terms of the we need if you have somewhere remote or you're trying to. Gather TV footage or something like that, you usually have to lower your objectives.

Tamsin Gay [00:43:01] So we did that here in terms of mountaineering. But we still did a journey, a proper adventure. You know, I'm really pleased with it. I just think as well we should be grateful that we were being paid to the mountaineering, because often when you do TV and film work, when you work in an office, I guess it's not quite rewarding. You know, you have to make things up. So you might dangle somebody off a boulder for hours on end and try to make something look like something else. Where he he genuinely, actually authentically did you mountaineering achievement.

Tamsin Gay [00:43:37] Right. So the next slide. Gold.

Tamsin Gay [00:43:44] So the next slide. And. OK. So this is me and Aldo didn't have a crush on him at all.

Tamsin Gay [00:43:53] So this is us reaching the summit and sort of getting that beautiful sense of arrival you get when you get to the top of any hill. I think whether it's and you peak in Greenland or the lump that you're always going up at the back of your house. And so. So, you know, I just enjoy that whole process. And in the past, I think I've disappointed friends and family because I can't or I still have a bit of an inability to appreciate scenic beauty. [00:44:20]So for me, it's often about the process and the technique to use and the feelings that you have and the sense of achievement and enjoyment of the physical endeavour. [11.3s] And I think for a long time, it's just because of landscapes, beautiful landscapes. Granted my parents too late to drag me around here and visit by boat and on foot my entire childhood. So I spent most of my time kicking around outside and I just didn't notice the differences, really. You see that just a spoiled brat. And so I guess even I could appreciate the beauty here and all the standard cliches apply is breathtaking. It was stupendous, magnificent, awe inspiring, all of those things, but also tinged with a certain sadness because it may turn your mind to climate change. In terms of my job, I guess I often feel like I am literally standing in the middle of global warming. [00:45:23]So I work mostly in European Alps. And there we are. When you are working is not uncommon to spend the whole day hearing continuous rockfall. It's like distant gunfire. [10.4s] And you can tell that the glasses are receding, the grey, the gritty, and you just have the slight sense of, yeah. Things are moving and changing.

Tamsin Gay [00:45:46] And [00:45:47]even if you're a climate change denier, you can't deny that things are changing and the temperatures are going up. [6.1s] So in 1994, when I was 14, don't do the sums. We went to visit Germany on a school trip and went to see the Mer de Glace. So am I now. Glide guide the valley launch on skis, which finishes down the Mer de Glace and at the point where you get out, where you finish compared to 30 years later. So less than 30 years actually, has at that point is 180 metres lower than it was when I was there 14 years ago. That's 180 metres of melted ice in just a short period of time. You know, I can I can tell. I can see it in Greenland. It felt no different, really. And I wouldn't be surprised if that quarterdel glacier with the wind on it was very small glacier. I'd be surprised if that was gone in the next 10 years. Be great to be able to take Trump there so he could witness the mountains literally falling apart in front of us. [00:47:01]You know, you can see the snow on the ice, which is the glue that held the mountains together for millennia, melting and things falling down. So we have that sort of exhilaration of achievement. But it was contrasted by the melancholy about global warming. [15.8s] Really. Right. Moving all. So. Oh, yes. The naming of the peak. We. It's called Usiliac, but we call it Peak Gay Peter. It was 1978 meters above sea level.

Tamsin Gay [00:47:40] We reckon we actually forgot to check our altimeters on the summit of the peak. We didn't even think about it, to be honest, so we had checked our altimeters earlier in the day and we knew that most of the surrounding peaks was a little bit higher than where we were standing where 2000 meters because some of those have been climbed. We thought it was probably about 1978 metres and it's just total coincidence that I was born in 1978, so that's how I remembered it. And so and so actually in reality it got called Usiliac, which is Inuit for firstborn son. And Steve Backshall called it that, i was asked a lot actually whether he was hamming it up in terms of emotions and feelings and so on when we made that film. And I don't think he was he shed it tear. It's off the peak on film. And he I think that's because his wife was six weeks away from giving birth to his first born son.

Tamsin Gay [00:48:41] So I think he's alloweda little tear isn't he? okay.

Tamsin Gay [00:48:46] Thought you might be interested to know about know what mountain looks like. Is it anything in the BBC footage or got any other photos of what it looked like? So this is our peak.

Tamsin Gay [00:48:57] So we went up that we the left looks fairly easy angled and then we descended down the back down and snow and on slopes which eventually met up with the glacier. And then we skied out from there.

Tamsin Gay [00:49:14] Right. Okay. So. So that was our peak. But 50 years ago. Mum and dad went to Greenland. And what I wanted to show you some of their slides and the slides, obviously, and to show the differences in global warming. But you can't you can't tell from them like I guess they're in black and white anyway. And it's so specific to the area you're in. But this this is that my mum sitting outside her tent and in the lowlands. And that's the kind of area that the muskox would hang out down there so that I can include it. There's a bit of muskox from then. They look at same muskox do these days.

Tamsin Gay [00:49:52] So I guess my mum and dad, this is Mr. and Mrs. Gay. They made me the wonderful person I am today. Okay. Got all of those ones out of order. Okay, so the helicopter this. Yeah, I just thought this was interesting, actually. So this is the helicopters that my folks flew in in 1961.

Tamsin Gay [00:50:14] And then the rather more loaded looking helicopter that we used in 2018.

Tamsin Gay [00:50:22] Right. OK. So we can move on here. We're gonna do the river crossing. Shame. Yeah. This is what gets everyone's attention, really, isn't it? So it was genuinely unpleasant. It's really cold glacial melt. Some of it was an on like hard, spiky rocks underfoot. So you feel freezing. And it was like being stopped in the feet with a knife or something like that mermaid story. And then on top of that, every now and again, you'd hit these areas of quicksand where I genuinely thought, oh, shit, this this is possibly going to be the [00:50:58]end. I'm going to die floundering around in my underpants in the middle of nowhere. But at least I was gonna do it with a half clad model from Men's Health. [9.7s] So Aldo Kane here made it onto the cover of Men's Health recently with a six pack. I don't think we need to see more pictures of us blundering around in our underpants. Right. The bear. I mean, I've seen a polar bear. I think that's amazing. This is a photo to illustrate the size of the buggers.

Tamsin Gay [00:51:38] So, you know, you can see it there compared to Aldo's hand. They are big beasts. And I've got some video footage here of when we actually saw the polar bear.

Tamsin Gay [00:53:05] So that was our polar bear. And. Yeah. It's exciting. We were standing on top of the shipping container then wondering if polar bears can climb ladders and in fact, I had to think you hear me saying I was just there a minute ago. I mean, Libby and Phillip would manage on top of the shipping container. And I can walk across the snow without a bear breathing down my neck feeling.

Tamsin Gay [00:53:34] And they shout to me get the guns, get guns, get the flare in place. And so we Libby and I I'd actually had all this training about how to shoot both of us. So, of course, when it comes to security, you can't put flares, with dropping things, guns going off all over the place. And so I managed to get lucky and get on top of the shipping container. And I'm actually. So. So these pictures of Libby and I doing guns practise. [00:53:57]So I figured, like, if a polar bear attack is imminent, I'm probably better off just to shoot myself or shoot Libby and leave her as a snack. [9.9s] Although although, you know, she's just gonna be the entree. And so basically after that, we had to then sleep in that shipping container. And I reckon a polar bear would open that like a tin of beans. So it would just walk in the side. But we had to do something to feel comfortable, whether we managed anything effective or not, I'm not too sure. So here's a video of our polar bear defence systems.

Tamsin Gay [00:57:07] You never know when you're gonna have to appear on national television in your underpants. Always wear your best knickers.

Tamsin Gay [00:57:51]  Finally, I would just like to say a couple of thank you's. So the first one is to Keith Partridge. Phil Poole, Libby, Peter Alden, Steve and me. Thanks. Thanks. So I haven't asked the permission beforehand. I'm begging for forgiveness afterwards. So thanks very much, guys. Also the other thank you is to and Lizzie and Jenny and Louise.

Tamsin Gay [00:58:26] I say sort of twice now I can think of situations where I've been surrounded by this kind of very supportive female strong team. One of them is that the team did TV production team, true to nature, and one of them is the Women's Alpine Adventure Club. And, you know, they they have pretty much meant to be through putting this presentation together.

Tamsin Gay [00:58:52] My God, Google slides by and supported and encouraged me the whole way through. They do that for all of us.

Tamsin Gay [00:59:01] You know, [00:59:01]I think the reason the club's working is because it's so vibrant and lively and encouraging and enthusiastic and kind of accepting of everybody. And I think realising that people have strengths in different areas. [11.2s] So, you know, perhaps, for example, you might be a little bit out of your depth giving us SlideShare resume, but you can be a really good guide. So I just appreciate that they have the insight to see that and were willing to mentor me through this process. So thank you for me, but thank you for all the women who you reach out to through this club, a real hope to support in the future. And I really hope it keeps going from strength to strength.

Tamsin Gay [00:59:42] Thanks, Tamsin. And we really appreciate you joining us. We really do. It's been it's been super special or even the second time around. And we really appreciate you putting the effort in, because I know, you know, I feel very, very comfortable in the digital world, slightly less comfortable in the mountains. And I know that it's the exact opposite end of the spectrum for you.

Lizzie Barile-Page [01:17:26] OK. So thank you so much. I really enjoyed this week. I got to spend a lot of time with Tamsin, but thank you so much from us and all the club members for taking the time and and putting this together because it was fantastic. And it's it's always wonderful to spend time with you. And I'm so glad that we got to share a little bit of time with you, with everybody else. So thanks again and thanks to to Jenny. So if you liked what we're doing, then, you know, support us telling friends. Follow us on Facebook. We have a page and a group. And also on Instagram, we have a newsletter so you can stay up to date so you can sort of find it. Go to the Web site. Women's Alpine Adventure Club, dot com. And then you'll get all these sort of community updates. The other thing we wanted to share is Tamsin's contact information. And that way you can hire her for all of your your guiding needs. She's fantastic fun, as I'm sure you can tell from this talk to be with and even more so when you get to go out and go into the mountains and have an adventure, so do get in touch with her. If you've got questions or what's a great day? And again, thank you guys so much. Thanks for joining us and hope to see you here next week and every Thursday until the end of June. For more women's Alpine Adventure Club Alpine stories, have a great night, everybody.

Louise Kennedy [01:19:05] Bye, everyone. Thanks for joining us.