Day 44
S88 56' 11.76", W80 31' 35.40"
///ally.meals.carry
The team return to the ice at last!
“Hi good evening everyone, it’s Lou reporting in on day 44 of the expedition.
We have some good news! We were in Union Glacier this morning, and we were just waiting for the pilots to look at the weather. And the weather was in and out all day, and we were getting updates in the morning, and at lunchtime. Then finally, at two o’clock this afternoon, they identified a possible gap in the weather, where they thought there’d be a good chance they could get us in. There was a slight risk, which we accepted, that we could have flown all the way up here, and we could have been unable to land in the area of the last degree, due to some mist and low cloud. If that had been the case, we’d have carried on to the Pole; they’d have dropped us at the South Pole, and we’d have probably ended up staying there for two or three days, and then trying to get us back out to the last degree. So we accepted that risk, and hopped on board and flew up. We stopped at Thiels on the way up, to refuel, and then carried on up. The pilots did a fantastic job, they were able to get us in. They couldn’t quite get us in on the last degree, we were just short. So we were dropped seven miles short of the last degree, at 88.54, so about six miles out. Which is fine, a few extra bonus miles for us! Free phys! But they got us out, which was brilliant, and dropped us on the high polar plateau. In great conditions; very low temperatures – it must be probably -25, -30, but hardly any wind at all, and a bit of sun breaking through as well. So actually really good conditions.
We said our farewells and watched the plane head off, and we set off. It was quite late by the time we got dropped off and got going. It was way past 8 o’clock in the evening. We stopped briefly and did our comms sched [daily call back to the logistics team] and got the tent up. And we’re now camped just five nautical miles from reaching 89 degrees South.
We’re really pleased to be back out now on expedition. It was quite a lengthy, but necessary stay in Union Glacier just to allow Martin’s Achilles a bit of recovery time. Great to be back out here now and have this opportunity over the next six or seven days, or just under that time, skiing across the high polar plateau and experiencing the whole process of skiing into the South Pole, which we’re both really excited about. Great to be back out here; we’re straight back into our routine. We’re planning tomorrow morning to get up at our usual time, and hopefully be skiing by 9 o’clock after the morning routine. And take it nice and steady, monitoring Martin’s Achilles. We’re planning to get a nice full day in; get some good mileage in the bank. Hopefully tomorrow morning, we should cross 89 degrees South, and be inside the final last degree.
That’s all from us, we’re going to grab some sleep and prepare for a big day tomorrow. We look forward to updating you on our progress tomorrow evening.
Onwards.
”
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