December 2, 2011

S76°23.165 E018°14.968

Elevation 11296 feet

With today came the epiphany I was waiting for. No, it was not the wind; as expected, it remained weak for most of the day, and shut off, as usual and on cue, around 17:00. The epiphany had nothing to do with external forces. Simply put: I surrendered. I adjusted my expectations, which had been optimistic to the point of naivete. Something about the definition of insanity–doing the same thing over and again expecting a different result. Well, expecting more wind when the signs point elsewhere resonates of the same. I expected the mental adjustment would come, as it has on every expedition. Given enough time, you find it within yourself to relinquish control and embrace all of it: the highs, the lows and everything in between. As we are now one third into the trip, the same basic laws of life apply. Roll with the punches, don’t be phased by challenges–they’ll always be there and eventually resolve themselves, one way or the other–and attitude is everything. And so today, upon setting off, I looked ahead at the endless sea of ice, and as my kite slowly lifted off the ground, I decided to love all of it. OK, music was a catalyst, I’ll admit it. But only insofar as smoothing the transition. My decision was already made: no equipment failure, broken bones or any amount of externalities can challenge the fact that, internally, I realize the extraordinary experience Eric and I are living–right now. Every day, we set off into a world that may as well be the moon. A world so antagonistic to any form of life, and yet we prevail. What’s more, it is a blank canvas on which to paint anything I choose, and re-evaluate the world in the way that works for me. My mind is serene, and as I stare into this frigid realm, I see freedom, not pain. Each foot of ground covered, however slowly, is another small miracle, and a victory that lives outside the records, the clamor and the validation. It is a victory of the self.

Now. About the music: happy, happy, joy, joy! Not since Greenland last year have I come to experience the perfect marriage of music with putting on miles. Think road trip without a road! Nowhere is music more transcendental than in a desert. And this ice desert is no exception. If you think the spiritual epiphany had to do with my iPod, you would only be partially right. In truth, the iPod stopped working two hours into our day–probably the cold. But it was enough to set the tone. To that effect, a huge thank you to my friend and favored DJ who provided playlists for the trip: Isaiah Martin–you rock! And to DJ Temple Monkey a.k.a. Beau Robb who is quickly climbing the list of my personal favorites–thank you for the beats!

There was a pocket today, by mid afternoon, when the wind picked up for an hour; the terrain smoothed out completely; with the wind in our back and even sans music, the scratching of the skis on the ice with the high pitch whistling of the kite’s lines provided the perfect organic sound, and that was a taste of perfection. Soon, it was back to the grind but somehow, today, even that felt right.
We traveled 73.5 kilometers and are now 967 km from the Antarctica Pole of Inaccessibility.

December 1st, 2011

S75°56.553 E016°12.944

Elevation 11277 feet

I’ll admit that there are moments during days like today when I can’t help but think that there are more productive ways to spend your time. The measure of one’s achievement, of course, is not defined by the glory days–anyone can shine on those. It is measured by the result, and the work it took to get you there. And today was the work; like punching the clock, and getting it done without much gratification. Winds at this altitude are expected to be light. That is the way the katabatic winds work: the low angle of the sun pushes cold air down; given its greater mass, cold air gains velocity as it rolls downhill, pulled by the same gravitational laws that hit Newton in the head with an apple. And given our altitude, there is not much more to go up, therefore not a lot of speed for winds to gather. But considering how light the wind was today, I wonder whether we will need a miracle to get to the POI on time–at the very least more prayers!

We set off in marginal conditions but managed to cover twenty four kilometers during our first two hour period. Over our second, however–what’s new?–the wind progessively dropped, and we managed barely eighteen. That is an average speed of nine kilometers per hour–an average! In reality, the last hour probably netted about five kilometers, down to a crawl. It is like watching paint dry, but with some added discomfort: a lot of stress on the knees; the back gets squeezed all ways by the harness–does wonders for sore ribs; and perhaps the worse is the tedium tha reaps havoc with the mind. Unfortunately my iPod, which showed full batteries upon setting off, died the moment the kite lifed off the ground. This was my first iPod day–which would have gone some ways in creating a diversion. I was left with all manners of psychological self-motivation which today, I will concede, amounted to little more than some cursing at the wrong end of spiritual contemplation! A consolation: heading with the wind means the cold is less noticeable: at minus 30C, even a light breeze cuts into the flesh like a razor blade. As well, the sun was out which made for a warmer travel day. In all we managed 43.1 in four hours before the wind simply shut off. We have covered 590 kilometers since we set off from Novo, twenty seven days ago. Still a long way to go. I did ponder on two pieces of gear that make my life out here noticeably more pleasant: my Northwinds over mitts made by my friend and Eric’s mother–simply the best damn over mitts I’ve ever worn, thank you Matty! And my goggles made for us by REVO, polarized and with remarkable definition; the best lenses on the market. Even better, they don’t fog up. Out here, equipment can sometimes put a smile on your face. And today it did.

November 30, 2011

S75°40.878 E015°03.356

Elevation 11212 Feet

Somebody’s wind prayers were answered today; but in a way commensurate with our age of lowered expectation and economic moderation! In other words, the wind did show but without much fanfare. Still, it was a northeasterly, which meant tailwinds and a more pleasant way to travel. The terrain has roughened up again, though nothing like what we experienced on that miserable day ten days ago. Besides, the sun was out, and while I am ever conscious to navigate around the steeper bumps in a constant effort to prevent further cracking of my sled, we did manage a reasonable 88 kilometers for the day. The wind progressively weakened until 17:00 when it shut off completely. This, by now, has proven to be the pattern–exactly why, I am not sure. Obviously it has to do with a thermal gradient, though I did not think these applied on the ice. We flew the 14 meter Yakuza’s all day. Thank God for those, as I have a feeling they will be our bread and butter until South Pole. It is amazing the pull they generate even in 8 to 10 knots of wind.

I am computing mileage and days every night, and based on a daily average of 45 kilometers per day, we should be able to make both poles. The winds are likely to be weakening however, especially between the POI and South Pole, a section which remains a large variable. For now, the target is to make 72 kilometers daily average until December 15, the date on which I would like to reach POI, 1080 kilometers from here. We will then have 26 days to reach South Pole, 800 kilometers further, with a daily average of 30 kilometers per day. This figures some pulling days when the wind is absent–and likely the toughest sections of the expedition, given the altitude, soft snow and temperature…
But for now, we focus on tomorrow.

PS Regarding today’s photo, obviously we are sustainable on the expedition, save the small amount of white fuel we burn (0.3 liter per day). But the flights to and from Los Angeles andd Montreal, including the charted flights to the ice, were made carbon neutral by our friends at Climate Partner. Thank you for that support!