Day 25
S84 51' 39.96", W81 0' 41.40"
///reproachful.resurrects.obviated
The team is approaching the half way point and are upbeat.
“Hi good evening everyone. It’s Lou reporting in now from day 25 of the expedition.
We finished yesterday in amongst an area of really heavy sastrugi, these ridges that are carved by the wind, of ice, that really hamper our progress. So we knew we were going to be in for a tough day today. But basically we got up and visibility was good, thank goodness, because tackling sastrugi in poor visibility, in white-out, is seriously challenging, especially for Martin. Luckily we woke up and the visibility was good, and the wind was quite light.
So we got going about half eight, which was probably our earliest start by the time we’ve melted all the snow, made our breakfast, packed all the gear away; packed the tent, got the pulks sorted and clipped on our skis, we were rolling by half eight this morning. And we had about three hours of intense battle, getting through this sastrugi; skiing up over these big lumps of ice, and sliding down the other side and the pulks – these big sledges that we’re dragging behind us – getting caught, and sometimes pulling up backwards. Martin had a particularly spectacular fall today as well, probably his biggest yet. He’s smacked his shoulder, and the back of his head. But luckily just a bit battered and bruised, and no serious injuries.
After about three hours, it started to calm down, and the surface gradually got better and better as the afternoon wore on as well; a huge relief. And we’re definitely out of this area now, of heavy sastrugi. Then to boost morale, later in the afternoon, the Thiel mountains started to appear on the horizon, over to our right hand side, to signify that we’re closing in on the halfway point. And as the day wore on, the mountains grew in size. We got a real sense of progress for the first time. We could tell we were getting closer and closer to this mountain range. And by the end of the day, we’d covered 14.2 nautical miles, and the mountains are now looming big on the horizon, off to our right hand side.
And as were we’re stopped and started unpacking the gear ad pitching the tent, we spotted some dark objects on the horizon, just slightly left of our direction of travel. It appears to be buildings in the far distance. We’re now camped 13 nautical miles from the half-way point, which is Thiels runway; a small airfield, just where they’ve flattened the ice, and the can land the ski planes there, and there’s aviation fuel stored there. There’s no permanent presence. It’s just a small skiway that they use for resupplies, and it signifies the exact half-way point. And we’re pretty sure that’s what we’re looking at in the distance.
And the plan is, we should reach the halfway point tomorrow. We’re only eight nautical miles as well, from crossing South 85 degrees. Again, another huge milestone. So we’re excited for tomorrow, to reach South 85 and hopefully the Thiels waypoint, which is just over halfway, at South 85 and five nautical miles.
Great day today and hopefully the weather will hold for us tomorrow. And tomorrow will be a huge milestone when we reach halfway in this expedition.
That’s all for this evening.
Onwards”
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