Distance so far - 33.7km
Distance to the Pole - 1091km
Well my worst dream came true. With the wind-chill factor today, the temperature plummeted, we all had as much face and head gear on possible. When we stopped for a break, I had to rip my frozen face mask from my newly formed beard - I won't be doing that again anytime soon!
And so to the explanation of my title. 'Arctic Willy' is a polar explorers worst nightmare. All that prevents your tackle from becoming a Popsicle at -30 c is a pair of underpants (I only have 1 pair for 60 days!) a pair of thermal long-johns and the thinnest pair of Gore-Tex sallopettes. What happens is that the cold slowly builds up and without really feeling it, as the cold numbs it, 'it' just freezes - I felt this starting to happen today, so fashioned in true Blue Peter style a protective 'cup' out of a foam camping mat - problem solved!
We have made good progress so far in quite tough conditions (cold headwind and no visibility) but I am prepared for much worse. The team are getting along well, we are taking it easy for the 1st week, and will steadily increase the mileage, weather permitting next week.
I feel very fortunate to be experiencing this pristine and untouched (relatively) world. The vast open white spaces go on for '000s of km, Antarctica is 1.5x bigger than the USA and it is just white.....everywhere. Without our GPS and compass we would be surely dead, I can't navigate by the sun yet, but I am learning, the sun never sets here in the summer, it just goes round in a circle over our heads.
Polar travel tip no. 1 - never take your gloves off in anything colder than -10 c for any reason. Also don't try and warm your zip up so it will work by breathing on it, if you get your lip stuck to it, the removal process is painful.....!
4 comments:
Okay, I'm going to stop complaining about having to scrape the ice off the car this morning :-)
Hi
My Name is roy lee from Bandon and I met your parents in cork at your dad photos exhib which was great
wishing you all the best
MOST OF THE POSTS ON THE TEAM'S WEBSITE ARE BY PAT FALVEY THE LEADER, SOMETIMES THERE IS ONE BY JON. HERE IS A RECENT EXAMPLE:
Day 26 - how many breakfasts?
Camp: Sam Butler (Jonathon’s nephew)
Date: 7/12/07
Position: S84.5989, W086.4098
Temperature: -14c
Weather: Whiteout
Distance today: 26km
Distance to Pole: 603km
Dispatcher: Jonathon
My turn to make breakfast, I wake up, put on my down clothing, hat and gloves, I suddenly stop, I can’t hear the stoves from Pat & Clare’s tent (they are always up before us!) I check my watch, it is 12.00am – only 6 hours too early, so I go back to bed.
I wake up again, put on my out door gear and unzip the inner tent to light the stoves, I stop to listen for sounds from the other tent, nothing! I check my watch – its 3am, still 3 hours too early!
I am so paranoid about being late for breakfast, which in turn means we would be late leaving, and Pat & Clare would be waiting for us in the cold…not a good thing to do out here.
Today was a whiteout, it is impossible to see the terrain, so we were skiing blind. We had to take it easy, as it is simple to fall in these conditions and a turned ankle would be a disaster.
Strangely there was no wind today, which gave us some of the mildest temperatures we have experienced -14c, which meant we could linger slightly longer at each break.
I have not been feeling too well over the last 2 days and so was glad that whatever it was, has now ‘passed’ and now feeling much stronger.
We are only about 2 days from the half way point, a huge motivational goal for us to reach.
Jon
JON I THINK WHAT YOU HAVE ACHIEVED SO FAR IS AMAZING. JASMINE SENDS HER LOVE TO 'UNCLE JONNY AND THE PENGUINS'. LLOYD
it's -1 today in Birr, the coldest place in Ireland
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