Ice Fall in Norway

Ranulph Fiennes's account of an expedition which he led in 1970 to the Jostedals Glacier in Norway. The purpose was to survey the glacier and estimate its rate of movement since the last survey, and also to collect specimens of the miniscule forms of life which survive in that bleak environment.

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In the autumn of 1970 Ranulph Fiennes led an expedition to the Jostedals Glacier in Norway. He and his companions parachuted down onto the dangerous ice surface, their purpose being to survey the glacier and estimate its rate of movement since the last survey, and also to collect specimens of the miniscule forms of life which survive in that bleak environment. Having completed their research programme in dreadful weather, they had to climb down a sheer icefall, and then negotiate a river full of rocks and rapids in rubber dinghies which they were testing. This is Fiennes's story of the expedition.