Day 15
Lat S82deg 42.347’
Long W80deg 27.615’
Altitude 1069m
Daily distance 14.21nm
Yet another cracking day on the big white
treadmill.
Weather continues to hold so praying it stays. Don’t get me wrong,
it’s pretty cold still and the slightest of wind can punish anything not
covered. The start of each session takes a while to get warm again too as the
exercise draws blood from the extremities initially but minor issues
really.
Daily mileage is creeping up, so happy with my ten hour days. Not
a great deal of downtime as on top of the ten hours there’s setting up and
taking down camp, melting snow for drinks and rehydrating food and updating the
blog. I also have to call into Union Glacier at a predetermined time each night
to update my position etc. If I miss two consecutive check-ins then this
initiates an emergency response. There’s also a little bit of kit admin to tend
to so last night I was topping up fuel bottles from the jerrycans, removing boot
liners to help them dry and stop them swelling, and I also had a skin on one of
my skis showing signs of coming unstuck. I’m so glad I screwed the ends of each
skin to the skis otherwise this one would’ve been off. If not fully stuck down a
tiny bit of snow can get under and then a bit more and so on until you have a
section not adhering to the ski. Easy fix. Into the tent to dry it out then some
adhesive spray does the trick.
This isn’t every evening so it’s also nice to
have time to relax, listen to a podcast or some music or just read a few pages.
Think it’s import to enjoy the trip and being in this ‘tent bubble’ allows time
to reset.
Two weeks in so fresh pants and socks have been called up. Sounds awful wearing them for that long (since I flew in on 23rd Nov actually!) but it’s a pretty sterile environment and although I probably don’t smell of roses, they aren’t about to get up and continue on their own! Wet wipes keep up basic hygiene but that’s about it apart from brushing teeth. Still, it’s just me so not like there’s anyone to upset!
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