Expedition Report Oliver Vince, Glen Gowers and John-Henry Charles www.sledgereport.com Return to Vatnajökull Expedition 2019 Report Into the unknown. John-Henry and Glen push on through whiteout conditions during our first traverse of the Vatnajökull Icecap. 1 Return to Vatnajökull Expedition 2019 Report John-Henry, Oliver and Glen on the summit of ‘Dome 1’ on the Northern side of the Vatnajökull icecap. The cairn in the foreground is where the handwritten note from the 1932 expedition was found. 2 Return to Vatnajökull Expedition 2019 Report Our camp seen from above. This tent served functioned as a fully functioning laboratory for the first ever example of fully off-grid DNA sequencing. 3 Return to Vatnajökull Expedition 2019 Report The team relaxing at basecamp after achieving our historical, scientific and mountaineering objectives. 4 Return to Vatnajökull Expedition 2019 Report Our camp on the coldest night of the expedition: mid-way through the return icecap traverse. 5 Return to Vatnajökull Expedition 2019 Report The final sunset of the expedition. The sun barely dipped below the horizon before rising 20 minutes later. 6 Return to Vatnajökull Expedition 2019 Report The darkest that it got on the final night of the expedition 7 Return to Vatnajökull Expedition 2019 Report Contents 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 11 2 Expedition Overview .................................................................................................................... 13 2.1 Aims and objectives ............................................................................................................. 13 2.1.1 Historical aims ............................................................................................................... 13 2.1.2 Scientific aims ................................................................................................................ 13 2.1.3 Adventure and personal development aims ...................................................... 13 2.2 Location.................................................................................................................................... 14 2.3 Overview of expedition findings ..................................................................................... 15 2.3.1 Historical findings ........................................................................................................ 15 2.3.2 Scientific findings ......................................................................................................... 15 2.3.3 Adventure and personal development................................................................. 16 3 Expedition maps ........................................................................................................................... 18 3.1 Whole route maps ................................................................................................................ 18 3.2 Basecamp maps .................................................................................................................... 19 4 Team ................................................................................................................................................. 20 4.1 Oliver Vince - Expedition Leader..................................................................................... 20 4.2 John-Henry Charles - Technical Lead ............................................................................ 21 4.3 Glen Gowers - Scientific Lead .......................................................................................... 22 5 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... 23 6 Historical discovery ..................................................................................................................... 25 6.1 1932 Expedition..................................................................................................................... 25 6.2 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 25 6.3 Pre-icecap findings .............................................................................................................. 26 6.4 Icecap ........................................................................................................................................ 26 6.5 Cairn .......................................................................................................................................... 27 6.6 Re-photography .................................................................................................................... 29 7 Microbial research ....................................................................................................................... 32 7.1 Background ............................................................................................................................. 32 8 Return to Vatnajökull Expedition 2019 Report 7.2 Sequencing off-grid ............................................................................................................. 33 7.3 Preventing flowcells from freezing................................................................................. 33 7.4 Conducting solar-powered sequencing (solar-seq) ................................................ 34 7.5 Results ...................................................................................................................................... 35 7.6 Blueprint for future expeditions ...................................................................................... 35 8 Other scientific contributions .................................................................................................. 36 8.1 Drone mapping ..................................................................................................................... 36 8.2 Psychological surveys.......................................................................................................... 39 9 Mountaineering ............................................................................................................................ 40 9.1 Kverkfjöll .................................................................................................................................. 40 9.2 Svörtutirdar ............................................................................................................................. 40 9.3 Lava domes ............................................................................................................................. 42 10 Filming and photography ......................................................................................................... 43 10.1 Camera equipment reviews .......................................................................................... 43 10.2 Tips for future teams ....................................................................................................... 45 11 Financial overview ........................................................................................................................ 47 11.1 Grant funding .................................................................................................................... 47 11.2 Personal contributions.................................................................................................... 47 11.3 Borrowed equipment ...................................................................................................... 47 11.4 Expedition finances .......................................................................................................... 48 12 Training ............................................................................................................................................ 52 12.1 Group training (whole team) ........................................................................................ 52 12.1.1 Technical skills training, Alps - September 2018 .............................................. 52 12.1.2 Expedition ‘dry’ run 1, Cairngorms - January 2019 .......................................... 52 12.1.3 Expedition ‘dry’ run II, Peak District - March 2019 ........................................... 53 12.1.4 Wilderness ITC Level 3 First Aid course, UK - April 2019 ............................... 53 12.2 Specialized skill training ................................................................................................. 54 12.3 Examples of individual training ................................................................................... 54 13 Logistics ........................................................................................................................................... 55 13.1 To and from Iceland ........................................................................................................ 55 9 Return to Vatnajökull Expedition 2019 Report 13.2 To and from Höfn ............................................................................................................. 55 13.3 From Höfn to the Ice-cap .............................................................................................. 56 13.4 Timings ................................................................................................................................