Day 17
Lat S83deg 10.746’
Long W80deg 30.200’
Altitude 1162m
Daily distance 14.29nm
Mileage continues to creep up but today saw the wind return. It grew steadily and a couple of hours before I stopped for the day it was beginning to blow drifting snow. It looked quite ghostly at first but then became more consistent. It made for a chilly camp pitch but i’m now in the cosy confines of my tent where the sun is able to penetrate the fabric but the wind isn’t.
Mid afternoon was a bit frustrating for just under two hours when I seemed to be skiing through softer snow and slowed progress briefly. Nice bit of height gain though and it didn’t come with the same sastrugi as the two previous days have. However, there are still pockets of quite large sastrugi which are easy to see in these conditions but should the visibility drop then they won’t be something I’d like to find myself in.
You constantly scan the terrain in front to pick the best way through but it can be deceiving depending on the sun and where the shadows are. A lot of the sastrugi is quite flat so you can just plough through but others are angular and can unbalance you and your pulk too. Percy went on his side three times in quick succession today thanks to them.
The strengthening wind also brought up the wind chill and break times became less and less enjoyable. However, once I get going again, within 15-20 minutes i’m back up to temperature. I must admit that I’d rather ski cold than hot like yesterday became. I quite like the feeling of being cold right at the start of each session and then feeling the warmth slowly creep back again from the exertion. It reminded me of the Ready-Brek advert where the young boy had a cold blue glow until he’d eaten his Ready-Brek and then the glow turned red. Only a certain age group will remember that!!
Went through 83 degrees south today too. Another milestone but there’s still a long way to go!
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