The South Pole: Solo but not Alone: Day 14: Well, half of it

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Day 14: Well, half of it

84:55.816S 79:33.604W

Short update today, as weather has made me change my routine:

After a record-breaking 3.5 hours in great glide skiing conditions, averaging 3.5km/h, the visibility just went to shocking. There was no depth perception and I had to either go really slow or risk falling all the time.

I decided to set up tent, sleep for 5hrs and then get going at 18h30 with hopefully better light.

I've now woken, and will hopefully ski till midnight.

Next blog tomorrow evening.

Good luck H!

1 comment:

Pete JonesDecember 6, 2011 at 4:23 PM
Howzit Howard,
At least in the 3.5 hours of glide skiing you covered good distance.Nature will dictate what will happen.Good plan,change things hopefully midnight better
conditions.
Look forward to the next blog!
Cheers
Pete
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The Expedition Overview

on 20th November 2011, Howard is scheduled to fly to a point 82'10"S 065'00"W on the Ronne Ice Shelf just off the Weddell Sea. This is the official, 'edge of continent', Messner start point, named after the famous Italian mountaineer and explorer, Reinhold Messner who in November 1989, almost accidently established this start point and the route to the Pole.

Leaving the Ronne Ice shelf, the route skirts the western edge of the massive Foundation Ice Stream and the Transantarctic Mountains, climbing gradually to reach the South Pole at 9300 feet (2835m). Being only 900 kilomteres, this is a shorter, steeper, less traveled and more committing route that the more popular ones following Scott and / or Amundsen expedition paths, from the Ross Ice shelf.

The conditions are hard and icy at the start,and there is always the danger of deadly crevasse, hidden by snow bridges. Sasstrugi, sharp irregular grooves in the snow, are hit or miss for most of the trek but tend to reduce in the last stretch of the trip, which becomes true ice desert wilderness. The low pressure in the South Pole can make the altitude feel more like 12,000 or 13,000 feet, which makes the physical exertion challenging.

Howard anticipates taking somewhere between 30 and 35 days to reach the Pole.