November 7,2011

S70°56.597 E011°26.795

Elevation 3002 ft

It is hard to rationalize why individuals feel the need to submit themselves to some wretched feats of torture for the mere objective of reaching a goal. Yet this is a characteristic deeply ingrained in the human psyche, as universal and timeless as existence itself. To prove something; to stand out; those are the more obvious reasons but they don’t tell the whole story. It would be too simple, besides, there are many ways to stand out, and if this were the reason, more people would be doing it. In fact, there is a gene that activates at the sight of a mountain peak and dictates the will to climb it; or a frozen body of water and suggests swimming across it. In this case, something undefined allowed the thought of crossing one of the more inhospitable region on earth germinate in our mind and join the company of other crazies for whom this seemed to be a perfectly sound idea. It isn’t. And today illustrated why. In stark contrast to yesterday, we woke up to howling winds lashing at the tent making a move out of the reasonably comfortable den sound utterly uncivilized. But the inescapable truth about this type of effort is that the miles don’t cover themselves; and waiting only means more work to follow. Getting up to the plateau with 400 pounds in tow is to enter a world of pain. The winds which reached forty miles per hour today ad a frosty touch to the set up. But it was the surface that we encountered in the second half of our six hour venture–about four and a half of which spent walking–that could break your spirit were it not for the hard nose stubbornness required in this type of effort! For once, this plays to one’s advantage…

The sastrugi was so tightly weaved together that for the last two hours of our traveling day, virtually every step was a battle. Each foot of distance won with back breaking effort, motivated simply by the will to put one foot in front of the other. The sledges locked into every single depression, often both at a time. It seemed absurd. Occasionally I would look towards Eric and see him crawling on his knees to get past a one to two foot section. In spite of the absurd nature of our situation, I could not help but be awed by the visual context of the snow drift backlit by the sun’s low angle, cutting a silhouette of his body, amidst the sound and the furry of this wild environment. The battery on my camera had just given up, and I was too cold to dig up for a replacement. Another one that will live only in my memory–sadly. The curse of the image hunter.

We pushed for 30 minutes beyond yesterday’s time, and set up camp as the sun set behind the hill we will have to climb tomorrow. It is 8:00PM, and the sun will rise again in three and a half hours.We have covered 4.2 miles.

November 6, 2011

S70°53.402 E011°32.633

Elevation 2568ft

The climb up the glacier is slow, exhausting and every bit as excruciating as predicted. The day started late given the iridium phone failure and the stellar rescue from Andrei and the folks at TAC. A big thank you there! To see two modified 4X4 pull up next to camp is a little like seeing the fourth wall drop to realize that you are living inside a movie set and reality, it turns out, is on the other side of one of those flats! It also saved us an hour skiing there and back. We’ve had difficulty uploading the blogs and lost another hour inside the tent.Other than that, sleeping was heavenly! The first hours were cold, but the sun rose around 2AM and began blasting the tent. By 6AM, it was cooking in there. We finally left around 1PM and the first part of the day was very warm–around 8C minus, with full sun and no wind. Out here, given the arduous nature of the effort, this is T-shirt weather. In fact, both Eric and I spent a couple of hours without shirts or gloves and I cursed not having shorts with me! Even then, sweat was dripping onto my glasses, and my hands were overheating. The grade started increasing, and the pull worsened accordingly. Each sastrugi depression was good for the sledge to jam to an abrupt stop. I have twio secondary smaller sleds in tow of the big one and often got the double jam! Later in the daay, I simply released the small ones and covered the distance twice. Finally, around five O’clock, Novo disappeared behind the crest of the long fought hill. Theree was something really bothersome about traveling for two days but never losing sight of the station! The wind picked up as the sun lowered its arc and with it the temps dropped to minus 15C.With 20 knots of wind, this ostensibly feels like 25C below. We pushed until 7PM, adding one more hour to yesterday’s time. Still, given the steep grade we are facing, we covered the same distance–about 5 kilometers. It is grueling! We have chosen a route that costs an extra two days of travel in order to mitigate the higher risk of crevasses. They’re around–but so far have been playing nice. Another ten days of this gring and we should start kiting…

November 6,2011

S70°51.333 E011°32.992

Elevation 2128 feet

The six hour night flight was little help in the way of sleep. Still, eager to get on with it, and invigorated by the fresh air, we made final adjustments to the sledges, strapped our skis on, and clipped into the harnesses, and bid farewell to our friends before taking off towards the glacier. Our cargo amounts to just about 400 pounds each on the nose. Over flat terrain, the pull is considerable. As the grade starts to rise, the weight becomes torturous. Add to this the very uneven nature of the ice defined by the wind features–called sastrugi–and before long, the sledges get stuck time and again, forcing a stop, backtrack to lift them by hand, and get moving again. The wind which started light has built to a steady twenty knots, and while the mean temps are still very manageable at 10 below, the wind chill is dropping them by another 15. Given the exhaustive effort required to pull this weight, the cold only sets in on the breaks, which we take every forty five minutes. Unfortunately, we will not kite right away as we need to clear the glacier’s crevasse fields. Time stretches to a stand still: five minutes feel like thirty, as we laboriously gain elevation, gluttons for punishment. The air is cold but very dry. Given the nature of our start, I have had too little to drink and my legs start to cramp up. The sun begins a fast descent below the horizon and after a little over five hours, we call it a day. Not a moment too soon! We have covered about five kilometers. We set up camp one in a hurry to heat up a hot drink. My legs are spent. First challenge, which could have crippling consequences: my iridium phone which worked at the station well enough to send the last dispatch, is now NG. Impossible to switch it on; different batteries, a recharge–nothing does it. With only one phone, the expedition is in serious jeopardy. Outside, the wind is howling. Without the sun, the temperature inside the tent is frigid. In the morning, I contact the base to see if they can spare an iridium or a PLB. Luck is on our side, with only five kilometers they drive one over. We are back on for another day of pain!