Day 41
S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"
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Martin gives an update on the latest options for returning to the ice, and makes some adaptations to his harness, to prevent further injury,
“Hi everyone, it’s Martin on day 40 of the expedition.
We’re now in a holding pattern at Union Glacier. We’re basically waiting for a flight. There’s a number of different teams that are currently out on last degree trips towards the South Pole. So we’re waiting for one that’s due to get there, and that will trigger a flight from Union Glacier to go and pick them up. And we can jump on that flight. It’s likely that that flight is probably going to be somewhere between two and four days’ time. It means that the maximum distance we’re going to get chance to do now before we have to get back in order to be ready for Vinson, our Vinson climb, is going to be the last degree, which will be 60 nautical miles. Hopefully we’ll be flown out in the next few days.
Whilst we’re at Union Glacier today – we’re trying to keep ourselves busy, but obviously rest the leg at the same time. Lou went for a 10k ski today, round the 10k loop here, just to keep his legs turning over. I’ve been continuing the stretching, and my exercises on my tendon, on the calf. And we attended a number of lectures. The majority of the people that come in to Union Glacier with ALE are actually on experiences, not expeditions. So many of them just fly to the Pole, or do one of the local climbs, or a Mount Vinson climb, or a last degree trip. There’s actually relatively few big expeditions coming down here. Obviously because of the challenge of them, the cost etc. One of the services that ALE offer for people coming to Union Glacier on these experiences, is lectures from a really well-informed and educated historian, called Carol. We’ve had a fantastic lecture today on Shackleton. And another on Scott and Amundsen, and their history from the heroic age of Antarctic expeditions. Which was really interesting, and we learned a lot from them as well. That’s kept us busy today, and we’ll have some more lectures tomorrow. I’ve also been very fortunate to meet one of the ALE guides, who has adapted a harness for me. She’s a big kite-skier, and she had a harness which she can adjust with prussik loops on the back of the harness (which is a knot which enables you to move up and down a thin rope line). In doing so, it changes the position in which you are pulling the sledge. So when I go back out, if my Achilles starts to flare again, I’ll be able to increase the pressure and pulling, from different areas of my back. Rather than pulling from my waist, I can do it from my shoulders. And that might alleviate some of the pressure on the calf, and in turn the Achilles. We’re making good use of our time, we’re continuing to rest and wait for this weather window. I’m very fortunate to have some amazing people round here, to learn from.
That’s all for tonight. Keep following, and we’ll give you another update tomorrow.
Thank you.”
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