Day 29

Day 29
Lat S85deg 44.653’
Long W81deg 04.931’
Altitude 1549m
Daily distance 13.02nm

Was delighted when I opened the tent this morning to see a horizon and features in the snow more than a metre away! No sun though and it teased all morning, eventually making an appearance and then visibility was back to normal. After this the going was good, only the fresh snow becoming a hindrance.
A few hours before the end of the day the gradient increased. Not quite like yesterday morning but enough to make you earn every step with the fresh snow. For only 100m gain in height it was a real chore and it’ll be the same in the morning to start with too. According to the map it should get to 1600 metres then ease so not too much more for now hopefully.
As it started pretty much wind free I was in my base layer for most of the day. The wind did start to pick up later so I added a mid layer and then my down vest. By the time I stopped to pitch the tent I felt pretty warm but then I really cooled down when putting the tent up. Should’ve changed for my jacket but misjudged how much it was blowing and the wind chill temp was minus 23. With the sun still out it’s a very cosy tent now so all good.
I decided to up my hours to 11 today. It’s not a panic but I’m conscious of how much food and fuel I have and after the whiteout you just don’t know if there’s anything else around the corner to slow you down. I have food for 50 days and can eek that out if needed and I’m still on the 2nd of 3 fuel cans. I don’t want to get caught out and trying to claw mileage back later will be too late. So today I did four 90 minute sessions, two at 75 and then had the power hour at the end. Taking breaks off gives nine and a half hours of actual skiing. Will see how it goes but after four weeks I’m feeling pretty good without any major issues but it’ll mean less down time and less rest.
My Spotify account has been suspended as of yesterday. If you haven’t been online with it for 30 days it stops even if you’ve downloaded the songs. I found this out just days before I left so dug out my old iPod nano and threw some music onto it hurriedly. I’ll dig that out and give it a charge but got plenty of podcasts to listen to. Most of the funnies have been listened to so I’ve got a few dozen geeky history ones left now. Probably listen every other session as ear bud batteries don’t last all day.
Well I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas Day and Santa is kind to you all. I don’t feel the remotest bit festive but there’s some Christmas cake and whisky awaiting me tomorrow evening so looking forward to that!

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