88:13.956S 81:30.713W
Yeah, a low distance day, just on my 'minimum acceptable'! Only 25 km done, but 'All OK' in today's capitulated paradigm.
Elevation: 2 678 metres, least climb ever. So why not better distance, you may ask? See below....
What a funny day....
As I said in yesterday's post, I knew I was caught in this 'can't ski easily, and can't walk easily' terrain position, and was needing to change my paradigm. The terrain largely remained the same so I was initially restless, constantly thinking of changing between walking and skiing, not a good place to be. After an initial -23C and moderate crosswind, it went warm and still, cloudless sky, and just a PERFECT day. A real day to be soaked up and enjoyed, and really appreciate the luxury of the pure mind space this ice nothingness can give. To enjoy the journey!
After seeing 3.1 km for the first hour, I sensed that new paradigm better be developed quickly, or else I was going to be one hellluva frustrated guy by the end of the day!
You may have noticed that I use the words "capitulation" and "prison" a lot? They are strong, motive words, and ones that lie on the other side of the line from Freedom. Freedom is something I value hugely, and find fascinating, and basically in 2004, when I left Sydney, the business world, and shed all my possessions, to start the 'Simply Adventure' life, it was largely about going to find myself and explore Freedom: how it works, what - if anything - defines the limits, and how I could find a life that had maximum freedom, but was also holistic and meaningful. I am pretty confident, and hopefully you don't see it as arrogant, in saying that over the 7 years, I pushed the limits, and went where few have gone, in terms of experiencing close to total freedom. Total freedom being the ability to act, speak, and think without restraint. I had perceived that 'we', all / most people have capitulated freedom, have accepted the constraints, restraints and perceived limitations in their life situation, and in doing so create a 'prison' where there no keys; the prison warders are non-negotiable, and so there is no way out, so one then capitulates to accept that IS life and one then makes the very best of it and the prison isn't even recognisable. In fact it becomes very cosy, a source of great social belonging, and meaningful purpose.
One even goes as far as being deluded into thinking that one has 'total' Freedom. That's what I call the capitulated freedom. Prison is a harsh word, because most of us find our 'prison' a pretty OK 'place' to live. By not fighting the restraints / constraints, one is not restless and searching for more freedom, but rather fully involved in making the 'Now' of the prison work and deliver contentment. I think Patrick, in one of his comments on the blog, referred to the Buddhist approach which says something along the lines that life IS suffering, and the sooner we accept that the more content and less expectant and disappointed we will be... In my view, that's supporting what I say above: life is like being in a 'suffering prison' - just capitulate and accept it, and it won't feel like a prison, you'll be free!
So, back to here on the ice in Antarctica... Am I in ultimate freedom, or a minute, solitary confinement cell of the worst degree? Well here on the ice it is quite a small 'prison' for me, even in the nothingness of Antarctica. I'm pretty much restricted in what I can do, choices, etc. Yes I can behave speak and think almost without constraint, but essentially it's a tight prison; one of every day involving 11 hours. Hard labour too!
The freedom comes in me voluntarily deciding to step in to explore the Solo to South Pole prison and to experience its restraints! To do this, I need to go through a serious capitulation process, before I can thin k it enjoy my prison. I have to accept that that's what life is, there are no outs, no warder with a key, I'm in for 35+ days, and that's non negotiable. Once I accept that I become pseudo free, and am on the path to contentment in my new life. That's why I felt so unneedy at the halfway point, in my restrained world I had everything!
Yesterday, the very slow terrain made my prison get even smaller, and so today I needed a new paradigm of capitulation to deal with its tighter constraints, or go mad! Some may think that this posting confirms: "I went mad!" On this blog, everyone has Freedom of opinion!
Well, the way I capitulated was to take away my 30 km/day goal, and to just accept whatever distance I do, but for me to get FULLY into the Now of being out here in this special place. And so that's what I did: appreciated the sastrugi, lots of photos, stopped often and took in with awe the 360 degree 'horizonless' space, and spent quality time articulating these freedom/prison capitulation thoughts.
In my book that is STILL 'work in progress', Freedom and these concepts are given very REAL practical support, as adventure by definition creates this extraordinary combination of freedom, and yet a necessary, daily micro prison.
In conclusion, I believe we all need 'prisons' because that's where significant things get done, relationships for me, and huge personal learning can take place. But how can one get Freedom as well? That, to me, is the holy grail of life, and I've tried to get the unlikely combination through the 'Simply Adventure' life philosophy which involves regular breakaways from true freedom into voluntary but highly constrained adventure 'prisons' like this 'stroll to the Pole'.
And finally, I guess I read many of your comments relating to my adventure 'inspiring' you to make some change, embark on your own South Pole.... Yes, that's making the decision not to be content with your 'prison' anymore, and to go explore a bigger and less constraining one, one that takes you closer to REAL freedom.... It needs courage, belief in yourself, and a vision / dream for more out of life... Not really a Buddhist approach, and I'm not saying it's right or wrong; your 'gut' will tell you what's right for YOU!
I can HONESTLY say each time I've made the sometimes hard and lonely decision to break out and seek a new, larger, less restraining prison, I've been rewarded with more freedom, but maybe more importantly, personal enlightenment and spiritual learning...
Many ask me if I ever regret walking away from life in Sydney to 'Simply Adventure', and my answer always remains:
Given what I now know about myself and have experienced in the last 7 years, I'd be 'violently angry' if either the 'dream thief' had come along and taken me off this planet before I could have experienced it, or I was still forced to be living a 'normal' life in Sydney, or wherever! That's just my perspective in the context of ME and all my baggage. How this all applies to you is for you to either instantly dump or work through for your life choices.
That's what day 28 produced...
Damn, if I had been more end goal focused, marched for 12+ hours, I'd only have 190 km to the Pole, instead of the 195km that I do have!
I hope you enjoyed the different day too...?
It's a beautiful, warm -12C outside, TOTAL silence, quite special... The tent will be warm for sleeping tonight.
Bye
Showing posts with label Purpose of Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Purpose of Life. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Day 24: A much needed Good Solid One!
 |
| Howard's daily bread |
Oops, yesterday was 87th parallel crossing day, forgot to tell you, but I did enjoy Ruth's card, and a huge whisky celebration, as I tried to minimise throwaway!
Elevation: 2365 metres...114 metres today, but 'hills and valleys' again to get there.
Just the day I needed: a good, solid, mainly non-event day. As you will probably appreciate, every day is an 'ordeal' and a mind and body struggle, so non-event is in that context!
The 'night' snowfall was very light, and even as I was setting out this morning there were still light flurries. As when it snows it was warmer, but as the cloud cleared during the day, it got a lot colder, and I finished with it at -24C. There was a 18-20 knot SE wind blowing for most of the day, making for difficult wind chill with it coming just off the face. Breaks were cold and I so I changed my marches, doing longer ones with fewer breaks, which worked out well, because I got into my warm little tent earlier! 9 hours marched and 30.0 kilometres done! That's 3.3km/h, and pretty respectable, considering that I was once again without skis and just 'stomping' in my boots! I did try the skis for an hour, but I REALLY felt it was slower, and far more stressful.
Still lots off sastrugi, in fact today I saw the biggest monster yet! Most of the big ones have a trailing tail ridge behind the ornate head, and this ridge normally has a close to vertical sheer face that one has to ski, walk down. Well the face of ''the monster' was all of 2m, and I'm supposed to ski off the ledge, hope for a happy landing, and pull 'my friend' over a few metres of towline later!
My whisky bottle flask replacement worked well today, so that's good. Don't think it's a 'Johnny Walker' type bottle, just a 1L Nalgene synthetic 'bottle'. Even with the down jacket insulation, the initial boiling water is almost frozen by day end.
I'm about 4km from the largest crevasse area on route. I'll skirt around it tomorrow, and THEN it's direct no stopping to the POLE! I'd estimate 9-10 days now... but not banking on it!
Some people asked about my food / calories: There is a whole description with photos, on the blog, a posting around 10-13 Nov. In summary I eat about 7500 cal / day, and this is largely fat based. I can also tell you: It's really easy to eat that amount of food when exercising like I am, and being semi cold all the time! In fact I have just eaten my delicious 'tomorrow's breakfast' sandwich, as I was ravenous AFTER a huge dinner! (I'll steal two in the morning from 'the excess' I now have. (Planned for 38 days, and it will almost certainly now take less.)
Not much else to 'report' today... and hope for another 'productive one' tomorrow.
I presume you have all worked out your 3-5 key life activity issues, and have two 'Yes' ticks for the two questions, and so you are in 'Holy Grail', not wasting your life territory!
Lastly on that whole concept, and my 'brief' explanation: It may come across as very 'me', 'selfish', and individualistic driven. It's not exclusive of others, there is a subtle twist in the way I see things. I believe one must do things for oneself, but in doing that others benefit the most, rather than doing things for others and hoping their recognition, appreciation etc, satisfies you. I.e. the goal is to be the best parent, because that's what you have chosen to do, and a spin-off of that is that you will have offspring who you love, care for and have given a lot. But the goal is to be the best parent, that's where the personal height comes in. Continuing, I believe that if you make the goal the other person, then there is risk of an unhealthy dependency relationship, and while that may seem cosy, it's not a source of personal height. The personal height goal / result comes when one achieves something extraordinary for ONESELF. Single-handedly turning a business around is the source of personal height, not the benefits to others, not the huge title / status of the job, nor the financial rewards that go with it. These are all benefits, some for others, but the personal height is within, knowing YOU took on a challenge and did something EXTRAORDINARY.
Lastly, the major discoveries that help millions were driven by a desire to solve a 'difficult' problem, and the scientist, doctor whoever, was magnetised by this challenge. In the process of solving it, he/she gained huge personal height, and ALSO many were given something by it. But the primary motive was the solving of the challenge, rather than the desire to help others... Therein lies my subtle, yet I believe powerful, within (vs others) focus.
That's it from me on 'this stuff', unless there is more 'blog debate...
Thanks again for your SUPPPORT on my adventure... It's really motivating....
Monday, December 12, 2011
Day 21: Not much happened today... but that's good!
86:39.910S 82:20.341W
Elevation: 1892 metres, up only 56 from yesterday.
Firstly, I have today received your blog comments from Dominique... Gee, it's just fantastic reading all your support, views, questions, etc.... I'm overwhelmed, and you have no idea how motivating they all are for me. THANK YOU, but also what I see is that we have a great joint adventure on the go... A special team, it's wonderful! Glad you guys are enjoying it, I'm really loving having you along, it's raising the whole experience to an unprecedented level! I'll try and answer your questions in the postings, as appropriate.
Well it 'would have' been a new record today, but I ended up stopping 1/2 hour early, as foot was starting to pain big time, and I thought best to stop, before damage. Anyway, a great 30.1 km done for the day.
Today was a REAL 'no event' day The weather was amazing, no wind all day, blue sky, and relatively warm, but the terrain was monotonously boring, unlike yesterday. I guess in all this vastness, I can expect a few days like this. They are very mentally challenging though....! Better than fog, blizzard, etc, so I am DEFINITELY not complaining!
The main event was that I had to have a pooh along the ski! Very unusual, maybe I'm eating too much! Anyway it sounds liike a pretty non-event, but it isn't: First the build up to the decision, as I don't really want to have to stop, but it gets clearer and clearer that I won't last out until camp at end of day. So once the decision is made, a suitable sastrugi must be found...One that has 'access' and a 'cavity' that can be covered in afterwards by collapsing the sastrugi mound, as my shovel is not readily accessible... Can't leave such an unsightly 'foreign object' in pristine Antarctica. It just doesn't seem rright!
Found it, now the hardwork starts: park the sled, remove and drop my poles, unclip and take off backpack, remove skis, remove outer mitts, so one sort of has fngers again, store mitts, remove hands-free compass from around neck... Oh, it's entangled with the GPS neck chord... Hmm, swearing!
Next it's off with windsuit top, so I can access trouser braces, hmmm, it's quite cold, time to move fast, hope nobody is watching....! Then drop trousers, facing away from the light wind, but right over the chosen sastrugi cavity! Now the easy part: having the pooh! Perfect accuracy, all that remains is to break over the sastrugi so it falls over the now 'spoiled' cavity, and everything looks natural and born here again. Then it's putting all the stuff back on, and some 15 minutes later I'm back skiing! (My pants do have a real access velcro fastened flap, but this isn't good for me.) So, I'll try not have too do that again... Planning the body hey!
On a not too disimilar vein: Many of you will know this, but it is one of the things about cold weather outdoor activities that drives me nuts, sometimes I could almost cry I get so 'useless': As it gets colder one has to put more layers on, layers of trousers, layers of tops, and layers of gloves / mitts. Well each layer makes things more complex, and you more 'useless' trying to help yourself, and you also start feeling like clumsy Michelin man! I get so frustrated not being able to do a simple 'bare finger' task, as my mitts get in the way, or I have no fingers to undo something... Sounds simple, but when you have all this gear on, it's because it's REALLY cold, and that's when you need things done quickly so you aren't standing still, getting cold... And so too much fumbling around and a cold spiral begins! Not fun, specially for my impatience!
It is a BEAUTIFUL evening out here 'tonight', totally stilll, wind and sound, the sun is streaming onto my tent so it's warm inside, and solar panel charge rate is at max, I have unlimited suply of the purest water around, this is free living!
Interestingly, I decided to not bring any artificial 'boredom distractors' along, eg iPOD, MP3, etc. I love music, and reading books, but on all my adventures I have a golden rule that says I'm JUST going to deal with the environment 'one on one', as naked as possible, so I can listen to 'Nature', experience it, and take it all in... I can listen to my iPOD anywhere, anyday, but I can't listen to Antarctica often. The so called 'boredom' is part of the whole experience that I signed up for, why try annd selectively screen it out. I feel very strongly about this, and have huge debates with some who wants to listen to books while they ski or bicycle, or whatever.... Each too their own, but I will not go there, and find that what happens is my senses get more sensitive and deliver an even deeper experience.
So continueing the 'Not Wasting Life' thread from yesterday: (it will take a few days to get through this. That's if you haven't got disillusioned along the way!)
In our lives we have what I call our 'signiificant activities', those 3-5 things where we spend most of our time in a year. So look back on your last year and try and come up with those 3-5. These aren't the functional things, like eat, sleep, hygiene, etc. For most 'normal' life people, they maybe things like, work, nurture a relationship(s), participate in extramural activity, enertainment, etc... You must get the list down to no more than 3-5, capturing where you spend your time.
Now where we spend significant time we obviously do it for a reason, either we just love doing it, or we do it for a desired outcome, or both reasons.
So for each of the 3-5 think through why you do the activity? Then...
Ask yourself, firstly: Does your soul 'feel good' everyday (or most days) you do the activity? We all know when our soul feels good, I'm not expanding more on that! But are you happy, passionate, excited regularly by the activity?
If your answer is "YES", you are not wasting your life in that activity, but unless you have a "Yes" answer for the next question you may not be achieving the most worthwhile personal life value out of that activity.
The second question is:
Do you HIGHLY value the potential outcome / product / result of continuing the activity? Will this outcome give you Personal Height? Remember all these activities have some interim, ongoing or end 'result'... Including nurturing relationships etc.
If you answer "Yes" as well to this question, then you DEFINITELY aren't wasting your life in this area, and are actually on the purpose Holy Grail path - ie you love what you do, and the OUTCOME of doing it is highly valued, and will give you Personal Height.
'No' answers for both questions for an activity clearly point to a serious 'Wasting Life' situation. You need to make big change and soon!
A "No" for question 1, but a "Yes" for question 2, puts you in a high risk of wasting your life situation - i.e. you don't like what you do 'each day', but you want the end point outcome from the day's activity. This is often unsustainable, and happiness / satisfaction is too linked to the end goal, so if the end goal isn't achieved, 'you' would have wasted your life in this area... Let's take the activity of 'Work': I meet many who hate their jobs (ie a 'No' for question 1), yet need the monthly, annual, etc, income it provides, or are waiting for stock options to expire, etc (a 'yes' for question 2). These people are on a fine line between wasting their lives or not.
This two question test is equally applicable to a mother raising kids as it is to a businessman or an adventurer like me... I have tested the concept across these vastly different people with different 3-5 life actiivities, and the 'wasting life' principle applied across all...
Not sure if this all makes sense.... I'll add a last piece tomorrow, once I've thought about what I have written here on the big walk tomorrow!
Gee, I never thought I'd get into all this while out here, but I guess it's the freedom of thought and meditation time that facilitates it... One of you insightfully picked up that we don't do enough thinking / meditating, well this adventure and my way of life in general offers me a huge amount! In fact one of my 3-5 life activities is ' Thinking', by my own lifestyle design... Now isn't that cool or bloody weird?
Ok, cheers again.
PS: It was a year ago, my 1st ex wife, Trish, died of cancer, and my thoughts are with many of my followers who were close to her. I have other friends fighting with cancer and dealing with their own more extreme solo South Pole challenge...To them I wish you all the strength and courage to win the battle.
Elevation: 1892 metres, up only 56 from yesterday.
Firstly, I have today received your blog comments from Dominique... Gee, it's just fantastic reading all your support, views, questions, etc.... I'm overwhelmed, and you have no idea how motivating they all are for me. THANK YOU, but also what I see is that we have a great joint adventure on the go... A special team, it's wonderful! Glad you guys are enjoying it, I'm really loving having you along, it's raising the whole experience to an unprecedented level! I'll try and answer your questions in the postings, as appropriate.
Well it 'would have' been a new record today, but I ended up stopping 1/2 hour early, as foot was starting to pain big time, and I thought best to stop, before damage. Anyway, a great 30.1 km done for the day.
Today was a REAL 'no event' day The weather was amazing, no wind all day, blue sky, and relatively warm, but the terrain was monotonously boring, unlike yesterday. I guess in all this vastness, I can expect a few days like this. They are very mentally challenging though....! Better than fog, blizzard, etc, so I am DEFINITELY not complaining!
The main event was that I had to have a pooh along the ski! Very unusual, maybe I'm eating too much! Anyway it sounds liike a pretty non-event, but it isn't: First the build up to the decision, as I don't really want to have to stop, but it gets clearer and clearer that I won't last out until camp at end of day. So once the decision is made, a suitable sastrugi must be found...One that has 'access' and a 'cavity' that can be covered in afterwards by collapsing the sastrugi mound, as my shovel is not readily accessible... Can't leave such an unsightly 'foreign object' in pristine Antarctica. It just doesn't seem rright!
Found it, now the hardwork starts: park the sled, remove and drop my poles, unclip and take off backpack, remove skis, remove outer mitts, so one sort of has fngers again, store mitts, remove hands-free compass from around neck... Oh, it's entangled with the GPS neck chord... Hmm, swearing!
Next it's off with windsuit top, so I can access trouser braces, hmmm, it's quite cold, time to move fast, hope nobody is watching....! Then drop trousers, facing away from the light wind, but right over the chosen sastrugi cavity! Now the easy part: having the pooh! Perfect accuracy, all that remains is to break over the sastrugi so it falls over the now 'spoiled' cavity, and everything looks natural and born here again. Then it's putting all the stuff back on, and some 15 minutes later I'm back skiing! (My pants do have a real access velcro fastened flap, but this isn't good for me.) So, I'll try not have too do that again... Planning the body hey!
On a not too disimilar vein: Many of you will know this, but it is one of the things about cold weather outdoor activities that drives me nuts, sometimes I could almost cry I get so 'useless': As it gets colder one has to put more layers on, layers of trousers, layers of tops, and layers of gloves / mitts. Well each layer makes things more complex, and you more 'useless' trying to help yourself, and you also start feeling like clumsy Michelin man! I get so frustrated not being able to do a simple 'bare finger' task, as my mitts get in the way, or I have no fingers to undo something... Sounds simple, but when you have all this gear on, it's because it's REALLY cold, and that's when you need things done quickly so you aren't standing still, getting cold... And so too much fumbling around and a cold spiral begins! Not fun, specially for my impatience!
It is a BEAUTIFUL evening out here 'tonight', totally stilll, wind and sound, the sun is streaming onto my tent so it's warm inside, and solar panel charge rate is at max, I have unlimited suply of the purest water around, this is free living!
Interestingly, I decided to not bring any artificial 'boredom distractors' along, eg iPOD, MP3, etc. I love music, and reading books, but on all my adventures I have a golden rule that says I'm JUST going to deal with the environment 'one on one', as naked as possible, so I can listen to 'Nature', experience it, and take it all in... I can listen to my iPOD anywhere, anyday, but I can't listen to Antarctica often. The so called 'boredom' is part of the whole experience that I signed up for, why try annd selectively screen it out. I feel very strongly about this, and have huge debates with some who wants to listen to books while they ski or bicycle, or whatever.... Each too their own, but I will not go there, and find that what happens is my senses get more sensitive and deliver an even deeper experience.
So continueing the 'Not Wasting Life' thread from yesterday: (it will take a few days to get through this. That's if you haven't got disillusioned along the way!)
In our lives we have what I call our 'signiificant activities', those 3-5 things where we spend most of our time in a year. So look back on your last year and try and come up with those 3-5. These aren't the functional things, like eat, sleep, hygiene, etc. For most 'normal' life people, they maybe things like, work, nurture a relationship(s), participate in extramural activity, enertainment, etc... You must get the list down to no more than 3-5, capturing where you spend your time.
Now where we spend significant time we obviously do it for a reason, either we just love doing it, or we do it for a desired outcome, or both reasons.
So for each of the 3-5 think through why you do the activity? Then...
Ask yourself, firstly: Does your soul 'feel good' everyday (or most days) you do the activity? We all know when our soul feels good, I'm not expanding more on that! But are you happy, passionate, excited regularly by the activity?
If your answer is "YES", you are not wasting your life in that activity, but unless you have a "Yes" answer for the next question you may not be achieving the most worthwhile personal life value out of that activity.
The second question is:
Do you HIGHLY value the potential outcome / product / result of continuing the activity? Will this outcome give you Personal Height? Remember all these activities have some interim, ongoing or end 'result'... Including nurturing relationships etc.
If you answer "Yes" as well to this question, then you DEFINITELY aren't wasting your life in this area, and are actually on the purpose Holy Grail path - ie you love what you do, and the OUTCOME of doing it is highly valued, and will give you Personal Height.
'No' answers for both questions for an activity clearly point to a serious 'Wasting Life' situation. You need to make big change and soon!
A "No" for question 1, but a "Yes" for question 2, puts you in a high risk of wasting your life situation - i.e. you don't like what you do 'each day', but you want the end point outcome from the day's activity. This is often unsustainable, and happiness / satisfaction is too linked to the end goal, so if the end goal isn't achieved, 'you' would have wasted your life in this area... Let's take the activity of 'Work': I meet many who hate their jobs (ie a 'No' for question 1), yet need the monthly, annual, etc, income it provides, or are waiting for stock options to expire, etc (a 'yes' for question 2). These people are on a fine line between wasting their lives or not.
This two question test is equally applicable to a mother raising kids as it is to a businessman or an adventurer like me... I have tested the concept across these vastly different people with different 3-5 life actiivities, and the 'wasting life' principle applied across all...
Not sure if this all makes sense.... I'll add a last piece tomorrow, once I've thought about what I have written here on the big walk tomorrow!
Gee, I never thought I'd get into all this while out here, but I guess it's the freedom of thought and meditation time that facilitates it... One of you insightfully picked up that we don't do enough thinking / meditating, well this adventure and my way of life in general offers me a huge amount! In fact one of my 3-5 life activities is ' Thinking', by my own lifestyle design... Now isn't that cool or bloody weird?
Ok, cheers again.
PS: It was a year ago, my 1st ex wife, Trish, died of cancer, and my thoughts are with many of my followers who were close to her. I have other friends fighting with cancer and dealing with their own more extreme solo South Pole challenge...To them I wish you all the strength and courage to win the battle.
Day 20: Exhilarating skiing, Antartica tests my spirit...
86:23.777S 82:35.361W
Elevation: 1 836 metres... Approaching the big 2000m! Today starting out was the 1st day I felt a bit of thinish air!
Hey, what an exciting day... Well, relative to my tough, mentally-challenging, 'normal' routine...
Firstly, I achieved my best daily average to date, 3.3 km/h for 9 hours, and yes that makes it a 30 km day! It wasn't all easy, but there was fun. I was so happy with that, you can't believe how good it felt taking off my boots, and climbing into my little tent, ready to devour a huge meal... Heaven on ice! What is always a bit scary when my boots come off is how my feet throb big time!
The day started with pretty average sastrugi, but almost windless for a change. The ice was pretty good, and I did good mileage for the first two hours, and then I hit the 'Serengeti of Antarctica', you'll see why I call it that further below. This plain that opened out in front of me was TOTALLY sastrugi free, and looked almost like a snow groomed, ski park... Well, was this fun, just what I have been waiting for for a while now. Suddenly 'we' were REALLY skiing, gliding along at amazing speed, feeling like magic motion, and the rhythm just flowed. The incessant tug, tug, tug from 'my friend' the sled was no longer there as the continuous glide meant the pull power was constant, making for a pleasant ride. It's like a boat on the water that suddenly starts gong fast enough that it 'lifts itself' out of the water and gets onto a much faster, low resistance plane. I was feeling so good, all my cross country skiing training at Snowfarm in New Zealand was now paying off... There was just the quiet sound of the ski glides, it was also fun and exhilarating, so much so that I even missed the stop time for a break... And that NEVER happens!
I was just then thinking about you guys and what I'd write about this in the blog, and next thing 'my friend' gave me a huge tug back that saw my shoulders go backwards, feet and skis in the air and me flat on my bum on the ground. I haven't had one of these for days, and this time, instead of getting angry with myself, I burst out laughing... I 'realised' I had run away with myself in the blog thinking, and 'my friend' needed to remind me that it wasn't all Howard good skiing, it was also 'her' slimmed down weight and performance glide rails! There I was, going to take all the credit! I agreed, and apologised, and we never had another problem again! This continued for 3 hours, the kilometres flew by, and my average speed hit 3.7 km/h at its peak. The scenery was breathtaking in its smooth starkness, but as I looked ahead, I knew it couldn't last....
Different sloping terrain has a slightly different ice white shade, and before me was this slightly more grey. A steep hill...
Well at the base of the hill was a sastrugi obstacle course that rapidly changed 'our' rhythm and then we were soon right into the realities of the hill that virtually on its own gave today's elevation gain. What a contrast. Antarctica was trying to break my spirit... It was straight back into noisy, slow 'plodding'. I've done quite a bit of that over the past few days, but the contrast to the 'Serengeti' was spirit breaking! With the plodding comes a motion like the gangling man, with two walking sticks, limbering from side to side tugging the sled each time, with a counter yank to the back and shoulders. The 'walking sticks' make a desperate grunt and squeak on the ice as they bite into the ice providing an anchor from sliding back, and stability, with some propulsion over the ice boulder terrain. The skis now make a loud, irritating clatter as I am forced to walk step by step, with unlikely efficient skis as shoes. The final humiliation comes as I glance to my left and have to watch my ridiculous looking shadow. It confirms I look like a drunken tramp, stumbling ahead, complete with all my belongs in a backpack and mattress strapped to its back! At the break, the GPS makes for depressing reading, as at 2.5 km/h it confirms Antarctica is trying to break my soul!
I finally make it to the top of the hill, and with relief I stop to view from where I have cometh: Well the view back was breathtaking, from the bottom of the hill the Antarctic serengiti, where I had had so much fun, stretched out to the far horizon as a lighter shade of shimmering ice white, without a blemish, save for three largish charcoal coloured 'lakes' that were formed by shadows for clouds in the sky.
With the hill behind me the last two hours of the day were not easy terrain but run on the motivation that 30km day was in reach if I focused!
Another good weather day, a little cross wind for a change and 'fairly cold' temperature.
I was hoping to dip below the 400km to-go mark, but at 403 that will have to wait till tomorrow.
Right, so back to the Purpose of Life!
Just put my down jacket on as it's getting a bit cold in the tent... I'm aleady in my sleeping bag, sitting up typing on the little PDA that is connected to the solar panel on my tent roof... Just to bring you right here with me. Now I carry on with my North Pole insight:
Firstly the purpose is to be a NETT GIVER in the world - ie in the broad scope of things over one's whole life one needs to have given more than taken. This is a 'gut feel' thing, but being on the dole, living off a community, not paying its taxes, cheating others, depending on others, or using them, without giving back, or helping others are all nett taking activities. I'm sure you can work out where you fit in. Anyway that's a BASIC for life purpose....
This may seem like a cop-out now, but...
I believe, trying to solve the question of "What is the purpose of life" is wasted effort as like a few other macro life issues, this one is one of our life mysteries and in not having a specific answer one is kept wondering and it's this unsolved concept that keeps us searching, exploring, learning and above all alive. If the answer was known to everyone, life would be boring... So...
On the Arctic that memorable day I concluded that rather than trying to find the answer to the question, we should rather just make sure: We don't WASTE our lives!
Waste is a very negative and harsh word, but it's meant to be, because to quote the old saying: "Life is short", so anytime we are wasting it it's quite a serious personal 'life cime'.
I sense those who aren't wasting their lives never have the need to answer the "What is the Purpose of Life?" question... They are living 'Their Purpose', and feel content.
So, this all begs the question: When are we wasting our lives, in terms of this 'Purpose of Life' concept?
Well that's where the Arctic thinking took me further, to how does one work out whether one is wasting one's life? But that's for tomorrow! There is a sound basis for testing; it's not all woolly stuff, so stay tuned!
I don't have to say it but I will: Please feel free to comment, either negative or positive, all adds value...
Cheers for today
Elevation: 1 836 metres... Approaching the big 2000m! Today starting out was the 1st day I felt a bit of thinish air!
Hey, what an exciting day... Well, relative to my tough, mentally-challenging, 'normal' routine...
Firstly, I achieved my best daily average to date, 3.3 km/h for 9 hours, and yes that makes it a 30 km day! It wasn't all easy, but there was fun. I was so happy with that, you can't believe how good it felt taking off my boots, and climbing into my little tent, ready to devour a huge meal... Heaven on ice! What is always a bit scary when my boots come off is how my feet throb big time!
The day started with pretty average sastrugi, but almost windless for a change. The ice was pretty good, and I did good mileage for the first two hours, and then I hit the 'Serengeti of Antarctica', you'll see why I call it that further below. This plain that opened out in front of me was TOTALLY sastrugi free, and looked almost like a snow groomed, ski park... Well, was this fun, just what I have been waiting for for a while now. Suddenly 'we' were REALLY skiing, gliding along at amazing speed, feeling like magic motion, and the rhythm just flowed. The incessant tug, tug, tug from 'my friend' the sled was no longer there as the continuous glide meant the pull power was constant, making for a pleasant ride. It's like a boat on the water that suddenly starts gong fast enough that it 'lifts itself' out of the water and gets onto a much faster, low resistance plane. I was feeling so good, all my cross country skiing training at Snowfarm in New Zealand was now paying off... There was just the quiet sound of the ski glides, it was also fun and exhilarating, so much so that I even missed the stop time for a break... And that NEVER happens!
I was just then thinking about you guys and what I'd write about this in the blog, and next thing 'my friend' gave me a huge tug back that saw my shoulders go backwards, feet and skis in the air and me flat on my bum on the ground. I haven't had one of these for days, and this time, instead of getting angry with myself, I burst out laughing... I 'realised' I had run away with myself in the blog thinking, and 'my friend' needed to remind me that it wasn't all Howard good skiing, it was also 'her' slimmed down weight and performance glide rails! There I was, going to take all the credit! I agreed, and apologised, and we never had another problem again! This continued for 3 hours, the kilometres flew by, and my average speed hit 3.7 km/h at its peak. The scenery was breathtaking in its smooth starkness, but as I looked ahead, I knew it couldn't last....
Different sloping terrain has a slightly different ice white shade, and before me was this slightly more grey. A steep hill...
Well at the base of the hill was a sastrugi obstacle course that rapidly changed 'our' rhythm and then we were soon right into the realities of the hill that virtually on its own gave today's elevation gain. What a contrast. Antarctica was trying to break my spirit... It was straight back into noisy, slow 'plodding'. I've done quite a bit of that over the past few days, but the contrast to the 'Serengeti' was spirit breaking! With the plodding comes a motion like the gangling man, with two walking sticks, limbering from side to side tugging the sled each time, with a counter yank to the back and shoulders. The 'walking sticks' make a desperate grunt and squeak on the ice as they bite into the ice providing an anchor from sliding back, and stability, with some propulsion over the ice boulder terrain. The skis now make a loud, irritating clatter as I am forced to walk step by step, with unlikely efficient skis as shoes. The final humiliation comes as I glance to my left and have to watch my ridiculous looking shadow. It confirms I look like a drunken tramp, stumbling ahead, complete with all my belongs in a backpack and mattress strapped to its back! At the break, the GPS makes for depressing reading, as at 2.5 km/h it confirms Antarctica is trying to break my soul!
I finally make it to the top of the hill, and with relief I stop to view from where I have cometh: Well the view back was breathtaking, from the bottom of the hill the Antarctic serengiti, where I had had so much fun, stretched out to the far horizon as a lighter shade of shimmering ice white, without a blemish, save for three largish charcoal coloured 'lakes' that were formed by shadows for clouds in the sky.
With the hill behind me the last two hours of the day were not easy terrain but run on the motivation that 30km day was in reach if I focused!
Another good weather day, a little cross wind for a change and 'fairly cold' temperature.
I was hoping to dip below the 400km to-go mark, but at 403 that will have to wait till tomorrow.
Right, so back to the Purpose of Life!
Just put my down jacket on as it's getting a bit cold in the tent... I'm aleady in my sleeping bag, sitting up typing on the little PDA that is connected to the solar panel on my tent roof... Just to bring you right here with me. Now I carry on with my North Pole insight:
Firstly the purpose is to be a NETT GIVER in the world - ie in the broad scope of things over one's whole life one needs to have given more than taken. This is a 'gut feel' thing, but being on the dole, living off a community, not paying its taxes, cheating others, depending on others, or using them, without giving back, or helping others are all nett taking activities. I'm sure you can work out where you fit in. Anyway that's a BASIC for life purpose....
This may seem like a cop-out now, but...
I believe, trying to solve the question of "What is the purpose of life" is wasted effort as like a few other macro life issues, this one is one of our life mysteries and in not having a specific answer one is kept wondering and it's this unsolved concept that keeps us searching, exploring, learning and above all alive. If the answer was known to everyone, life would be boring... So...
On the Arctic that memorable day I concluded that rather than trying to find the answer to the question, we should rather just make sure: We don't WASTE our lives!
Waste is a very negative and harsh word, but it's meant to be, because to quote the old saying: "Life is short", so anytime we are wasting it it's quite a serious personal 'life cime'.
I sense those who aren't wasting their lives never have the need to answer the "What is the Purpose of Life?" question... They are living 'Their Purpose', and feel content.
So, this all begs the question: When are we wasting our lives, in terms of this 'Purpose of Life' concept?
Well that's where the Arctic thinking took me further, to how does one work out whether one is wasting one's life? But that's for tomorrow! There is a sound basis for testing; it's not all woolly stuff, so stay tuned!
I don't have to say it but I will: Please feel free to comment, either negative or positive, all adds value...
Cheers for today
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