Svalbard 2018 and 2019

I met Chris in Svalbard as I was invited to help with his field research project which entailed drilling to the base of Kongsvegen, a 300+ metre thick glacier. My role was to sort out the borehole sensors, get them installed in the borehole, wire them up to the dataloggers and hope that it all worked! I dont mind admitting that I was a little nervous given a long break from this sort of work and having never met any of the team members previously. I needn't have worried, as Chris was immediately hugely welcoming and I knew right from the outset that he was a very special guy; very obviously competent, the sort of man you knew you could rely on come thick or thin, always ready to have a proper belly laugh and just a pleasure to be around. I worked with Chris in 2018 and 2019 during two very intense field seasons in the High Arctic where time pressure was always upon us and the chances of success (drilling to the bed of a 300m thick glacier and successfully installing sensors in the resultant borehole) very slim indeed.

Amazingly we did succeed in 2018 (2019 was ony partially successful) after undertaking the longest day of work (fieldwork or any other work for that matter!) in my life and I suspect everyone else's too! The picture here shows me and Chris sheltering from the wind and sub zero temperatures after our successfull drilling campaign, doing some electronics with the borehole sensors, which required glove removal and dexterity - always a challenge in these freezing temperatures! Every day was full of laughter and smiles with Chris, despite the pressures of the project.

For example, as a elatively inexperienced snow scooter driver, I was moderately terrified by a stretch of scooter track we had to traverse every day, which went high over some sea cliffs and entailed the scooter driver stepping off the scooter on one side, so that both feet and all bodyweight were on the up-slope side, leaning out as far as possible, whilst hands remained on the handlebars to keep the skis of the scooter in the tracks; failure here would have meant leaping off the scooter, hoping you didnt slide down the slope as you did so, and watching your scooter career down the slope and into the sea below! (and having a very difficult conversation with the Norwegian Polar Institute about a lost, very expensive snow scooter!!). Chris took this all in his stride as you would expect. I on the other hand, dreaded this section, especially as we had to traverse this route twice each day! We therefore christened this section of the route 'the cliffs of doom' and had a massive laugh about it every day - and even the last contact I had with Chris a couple of months back entailed reminiscing fondly about our daily battle with 'the cliffs of doom'!!

I also remember high fiving as we finally found a solution to our question to get a datalogger to talk to a Raspberry Pi chip in the small hours of the morning and again, much laughter and smiles and references to MacGyver (which was a new TV programme to me that Chris introduced me to!) as we lashed together bits of wire and electronics to get the thing working. It was the ability of Chris to inspire confidence and self belief in others that got me to levels of datalogger programming that evening I'd never previously reached, allowing this MacGyver lash up to work!

These were short field expeditions, but I feel hugely privileged to have spent time working with Chris and enoying a massive amount of laughter in the process! I've never met anyone who exuded such confidence and ability as a leader in the great outdoors and the brief times I spent with Chris will remain as some of the happiest moments of my working life and without doubt, standout field expeditions in my Arctic fieldwork career thanks to the friendship, support and encouragement that Chris gave so freely.