November 26, 2011

S74°16.386′ E011°.48.553′

Elevation 11003 feet

(Luke, I’m Your Father)

Given how predictably the wind has shut off at 17:30 or so the last few days, we decided to leave earlier with the intent to gain a hour or two of travel time. Setting up and breaking camp takes longer than one would assume. Everyday, you set up house, which isn’t to say we air the sheets and set the table. But bringing in sleeping pads, bags, cooking gear and communication devices; setting up solar panels, electronics and personal effects; hanging gloves and clothes to dry; melting snow for water–AND THEN airing the sheets and setting the table!–takes time. From the moment we wake up, until we are out on the trail, which generally includes time to write the blog and upload images for transmission, it generally takes about two and a half hours. Writing typically happens in the morning because the tent is too cold in the evening–generally about 20C below by the time we shut off. Sleep time means full facial cover and a hat; you cannot shove your head in the sleeping bag–tempting and warm though it is–as the breath turns to steam which eventually will turn to frost…

When we left in the morning, the wind was blowing timidly; worse, its angle had shifted twenty degrees further East, which meant that our tacking angle was pushing us farther and away from our bearing. With the light wind, gaining upwind ground is even more difficult: it is slow and painstaking, and this time yielded questionable returns. We switched from the 13 meter Frenzy’s to the big guns, the 14 meter Yakuza’s hoping to gain speed and upwind tack. In the end, all this achieved was more pull, more work on the legs and no upwind gain. We switched back, but again, impossible to gain ground. By 16:00 after a lot of work, we set down and called it a day. The wind was there, just poor direction. I hope this will not be the trend. Our research and past accounts points to a wind angle more in the North by now, but this is yet to materialize. We quit early, which this time, enables me to write this updates on the day rather than the next. That is the silver lining. There’s always one…

We traveled 27.4 kilometers–even if somewhat in the wrong direction. Enjoy your weekend everyone; I hope it is warm!

November 25, 2011

S74°02.449 E012°05.765

Elevation 10969 feet

(Eric snacking on a break)

ALC is our expedition code name–acronym for Antarctica Legacy Crossing. Daily, at 21:00 GST, I put in a call to Andrei, the Russian search and rescue base manager to communicate our GPS position. If he doesn’t hear from us within 24 hours, he will initiate an S&R mission based on our last communicated position. When I mention on tonight’s sked call that we have traveled 75.3 km, he seems genuinely excited. It is so far our personal best, but pales in comparison to most days on Greenland. Antarctica has been very different so far. Apart from much colder temperatures for a similar seasonal time period, the combination of terrain and the cargo we are pulling for an unassisted 85 to 90 day mission puts a dent on racking up the mileage. The wind was pumping for most of the day, but we can’t seem to get past a 18 kilometers per hour top speed. The sastrugi has been virtually absent all day, which is a blessing. I am assuming that our altitude–we rose another 400 feet today, and are over 3600 meters–has a lot to do with it. It has been replaced by a combination of soft powder and patches of glazed ice. The powder slows the progress, while the ice offers moments of weightless glide. As the hours progress, I cannot stop making mileage versus days calculations, figuring the realistic daily average needed to reach our goal. The hours roll, one into the next, and depending on the wind gusts, and our speed of travel, I fluctuate between feeling like a truck driver putting on the miles, or a riders of the apocalypse, flying over a ocean frozen in time and space, headed on an abstract mission, nowhere in particular, in a world void of beings. Looking to my right, for most of the day, I see Eric, about 75 feet away, gliding over the ice, and I have to say, it looks pretty awesome. When the sun peaks out of the low clouds, I see my shadow on the ground, holding on to the kites bar and realize that I will be chasing it for another 60 days or so.

We are 1282 kilometers from our first destination: the Antarctica Pole of Inaccessibility…

November 24, 2011

S73°25.968 E011°02.761

Elevation 10562 feet

After last night’s rib incident, we were slow out of the tent, allowing the morning to psyche myself up. The sharp pain was a sobering reminder that this inconvenience will likely be with me at various stages for the remainder of the trip. We are about twenty five percent into it, so the next sixty days or so.

On a long trip such as this, one is constantly faced with doubts and the looming specter of failure–especially in the beginning. Each equipment failure, or physical ailment leaves room for questions as to the feasibility of the objective. The is a lot of fixing gear, and time versus distance evaluation. And twenty days in, these thoughts are at the forefront. Overall, while our distance has been hampered by weather and terrain, as well as the weight of the sledges which slows our speed, I remain optimistic about our chances.

Conditions were kinder to us today, as we still gained elevation and the demolition derby gave way to more of a rally analogy. The surface smoothened out, and navigation, while still requiring pointed attention, is much more relaxed than in days past. Additionally, we are encountering much softer snow, and large patches of powder. The wind was with us for most of the afternoon, until it shut down, unceremoniously at five thirty, thereby shortening our day by two needed hours. Still, the sun was out, which made for a pleasant day of travel, and as the ice glided below our skis, we push further into the heart of Antarctica. We covered 52.3 kilometers today, and rose 460 feet in elevation. We have traveled 305 kilometers since Novo. A long way to go…

It’s Thanksgiving today in the US. We had rice&beans! Happy turkey day, everybody!