Day 26–Accounting

November 30, 2011 7:26pm

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!

2 Responses to “Day 26–Accounting”

  1. Proud of you Bass. Wind or no wind, you still got 2 cheerleaders in Bali.
    Well, actually, your boy B is in LA again becoming an American citizen. 🙂
    Hang in there!

  2. Karin says:

    I guess if a lot of prayers reach the weather gods they cannot ignore them. And we’ll keep on praying 🙂

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