December 17, 2011

S80°55.392 E041°19.709

Elevation 11677 feet

The wind was still strong when I woke up at 6:00 this morning. The sun was baking Eric’s side of the tent, as has been customary for the early mornings given the orientation of the tent; the wind determines that, and since we have been in a North-north-west system for the last couple of weeks or so, it is a de facto condition that his side gets the morning heat, provided there is sun. On my side, there is about a 10C degrees difference which can sometimes be advantageous. I sneaked a look outside. A cloud bank was headed our way, and the wind was blowing snow over the ice with about 14 knots. Given our late stop last night, I let Eric sleep another ninety minutes. I seems that we are in a new system, and today’s wind looked here to stay for the day.

Next, I undressed my toe to have a look. Another sigh of relief: it looked stable, having not changed in the last thirty six hours. Two days ago, the dead cells were spreading overnight. But that development has stopped, which means two things: 1- we have managed to contained the injury with the new boot configuration; 2- the frostbite, given continued care and protection, has initiated its healing cycle. In the worst case scenario, I might lose a few millimeters from the top; in the best case scenario, it will re-grow and I will lose some sensitivity in that toe. Either way, this is very good news.

We were slow out of the tent, and when we finally got out at 10:30, the sun had totally disappeared. We rigged the thirteen meter Frenzy’s and faced another downwind rodeo over some pretty chewed up terrain. We were rockin’ and rolling over the sastrugi on a very bumpy ride that required full concentration at all times. The last two days have seen some of the sportiest rides of the trip; not especially fast given the direction of travel, but a real workout. Additionally, since we are moving with the wind, it feels less cold (you don’t feel the wind) which in this case isn’t such a good thing given how physically taxing the ride is. I was sweating bullets, which is not good for the breaks: that is when the body rapidly cools down, in spite of the mild 20C below–outside of wind-chill. The other inconvenience of downwinders, is that the steam from your breath travels in the same direction and at just about the same speed, which makes fogging of goggles very difficult to avoid. I switched to my REVO’s which have been custom vented and managed all day to keep them fog free. They worked great! Downwind travel is slow–basically the same speed as the wind. After two hours, we had covered twenty four kilometers and the effort was considerable. But the good news was that, again, my right foot was warm in the boot, and did not even require thirty minute breaks. Between yesterday’s very cold temps, and today’s mild ones–no cold feet. It seems that we have regained control of the narrative! The wind dropped long enough for us to switch to the fourteen meter Yakuza’s, but soon grew again to blowing snow. On the downwind tack, we are forced to ride at a ninety degree angle to the sastrugi around here and moving at eighteen kilometers per hour in this terrain made for a wild ride! I was concerned with the crack in my sledge, since at that speed, it is difficult to avoid the occasional airborne, and sometime flip. The shake of the sledge is so intense that the cargo is subjected to a real work-over! A bag of peanuts will literally turn to butter! And I am not exaggerating!
The wind was growing, but the visibility closing in and by 17:00, we decided to pack it in. Good thing, as thirty minutes later, we were in a complete white out–our first since we’ve been here. Evidently, we are still in a stormy system. Upon speaking with Andrei, our search and rescue coordinator for our daily sked call tonight, I find out that Novo saw winds of forty-six meters per seconds today! That is roughly 165 kilometers per hour! I hope that isn’t headed our way… Luckily, we are now 1442 kilometers from there–hopefully out of reach. Right now the winds are howling outside, and the tent is shaking pretty nicely! Sounds like it will be a loud night. But most importantly, this evening’s inspection confirms that the toe is stable–no spreading of the bite. There will be no toe loss–that’s a promise!

We have covered 57 kilometers today and are 260 kilometers from our first destination: the Pole of Inaccessibility. The mission is carrying out as planned. We need to average 45 kilometers per day to reach the South Pole on January 11th. We are then planning twelve days to reach Hercules Inlet, and complete the first East-West transcontinental crossing of Antarctica. We have just past the mid point of the trip…!

December 16, 2011

S80°32.428 E03°12.416

Elevation 11629 feet

“Don’t lose your focus. Nobody wants this more than you do. Don’t lose your focus. Nobody wants this more…” Those words I kept repeating to myself as we bucked over the ice, riding the tail end of a storm that had, earlier in the day, sent us packing back to the tent. Flying the nine meters were already more forgiving than our brief morning session on the six meters, but this remained one of the more challenging kiting days of the expedition. Powerful guts, and almost a straight downwind tack displayed where the Ozone Frenzy’s earned their name: in those conditions, they were super twitchy. And a downwind tack means you are virtually not edging the skis as you are moving in the wind’s direction. Edging creates a resistance to the kite’s pull on which to set your balance. Without it, you are at the mercy of the guts jerking you forward while riding over the sastrugi: it’s a wild ride–exhausting, exacting and intense!

This morning showed promise as the wind had manifested early in the night, growling and shaking the tent. By 5:30, I woke Eric up. We’ve had luck with early sessions before, and a lot was riding on today’s session: testing the new boot and ski; making up for lost time; and, most importantly, monitoring the frost bite after a day on the trail. The later kept me tense through the night: if unable to contain the injury, I would be forced to abort mission and call in a medivac. Over the two and a half hours it took us to get ready and cook water, the condition kept building. By the time we stepped out, the horizon had closed up with a bank of fog, and snow was blowing pretty hard over the ice. After deciding to downsize to the thirteen meters, we then opted for the nine’s and settled on the six’s! Visibility was quickly closing in, and the wind had built to thirty five knots. With the wind-chill, the temperature had dropped to below minus fifty five. And those are the conditions in which we launched our kites, both Eric and I wearing a different boot on each foot, and riding two different skis! It was almost comical. The two skis are completely different; one for back country, long and pretty stiff; the other for freestyle, super loose, short and very flexible! Additionally, the mountaineering boot has no support–it is not designed for skiing! We lasted about five minutes! The six meter Frenzy’s were zipping across the air, and with the reduced visibility it became clear that this could quickly take a wrong turn. We packed the kites and set the tent 978 meters from where we had left!

The wind was still building and by the time the tent was up, we were in a full blown storm. Antarctica was serving up a special we hadn’t seen in about twenty days. It was 9:00 O’clock, and from inside our thin shelter, the day seemed shot: we went back to sleep. At least Eric did; I thought this would be a good opportunity to lay down, and listen to music. Well, music is never as good as when you can’t have it! My iPod has been having tantrums about the temperature, and chose to have me pay for it by cutting off tracks unexpectedly, and then refusing to play altogether. I fell asleep with the headphones on, and twenty minutes later was suddenly woken up by Bob Seger blasting out “Against The Wind”–which it chose to play three times in a row before shutting down altogether!
Well, that was my morning. I finally joined my fellow traveler in a nap. At 15:30, I stepped outside. The wind, while still strong, had dropped considerably, and visibility was restored to about two kilometers. “Let’s go for it”, I told Eric. I was eager to test the new boot system, as well as–needless to say–put in some miles. By 17:00, we were launching the nine meters for the wild gusty ride described earlier. We pushed until 20:00 and managed a modest 31.7 kilometers. But at least we were out of the tent, and, thankfully, my toe never got chilled!That was the best possible outcome to this chilly sortie, and the best news of the trip so far. Eric, in lending his boot, may well have saved the expedition. While we are both awkwardly dealing with riding two different skis, my boot, at least, is warm enough on his foot. Meanwhile, if storm chasing is not as fun as it sounds, the mission–that I can tell, at this stage–continues. We are back on track!

December 15, 2011

S80°23.8123 E037°42.613

Elevation 11570 feet

Last night’s positive assessment of my toe condition was somewhat diminished this morning upon inspection. It is hard to tell whether the dead cells are continuing their degenerative cycle from prior damage–even within the contained environment of the tent–or whether yesterday’s travel damaged the toe further setting off more degeneration overnight. It remains that dead cells have extended further over the crown of the toe which has hardened into a shell. As such, ghastly though it looks, the injury is relatively contained. The imperative is to protect the next layer of skin from further cold exposure. The main concern with a frost injury is to prevent it from reaching the bone; consequences then can be dire. Luckily, we are not there. Nonetheless, the situation did require further assessment, and we decided to stay in the tent for the day, especially as winds were light.
I am taking this situation very seriously, and have no desire to lose a toe! I am interfacing with frostbite experts and providing them daily photographs of the condition. At the same time, the time has not come to throw in the towel.
I am somewhat perplexed about the steps that led to this, as my other toes have been exposed to the same conditions without displaying any signs of injury. I have not found my boots systems to be especially cold, but to mitigate the risk Eric and I will switch one boot. He is wearing Millet mountaineering boots, which are not especially great for skiing but are very warm. My foot is bigger than his, so we have reconfigured the inside with felt liners and a different socks system. Tomorrow, we will give that a shot and both wear different boots on each foot; different boots with different bindings, and different skis! Whatever works! We are a stone’s throw away from the POI at this stage and will take it one day at a time. Needless to say these are tense times. This is the time to dig deep: great achievements never come cheap. But if you have a moment, put in a good thought our way. Tomorrow will be critical.