Adventure Cake

Date = 26/12/2017
Day 37 (Expedition) Day 42 (Antarctica)
Location = No man’s land
Coordinates  – S87 38.123’, W108 56.583’
Altitude = 2704m
Temperature =  -24C
Wind speed / direction = 3-8 knit E, Sunny
Windchill = – 28C
Distance travelled = 10km
Distance remaining = 966km

“You guys have bitten off a pretty big chunk, but if you make good decisions and conditions hold, you’re in a good position”

Said Tim the ALE operations manager when we asked him what he thought of our plan.

Well, it seems he was right. A huge chunk, but with kites as our secret weapon. It is wild to travel this great distance, with this massive load across this vast, hostile emptiness. Reflecting on it too long is scary. Keep the focus near, expectations low and hopes high.

The wind has decided we will be spending a little longer crossing no man’s land than we would’ve liked. It is currently blowing very lightly from exactly the direction we want to go. Which means- no go.

Jean and I have spent many hours studying wind maps of the air currents in this region and remain confident that what we are experiencing is an anomaly and the S or SE winds that prevail, will return sooner or later.

When they do, hopefully with just enough strength, this soft but sticky surface will be a dream to sail across at high speed. The 10kms we fought for 4 hours to gain this morning didn’t quite go like that. We are keen to push hard and have been doing so relentlessly, but there is a time to accept that you are fighting the tide and to wait for the winds to come to you.

There’s lots of Christmas stuff on going at home which we are sore to miss but everybody is very supportive of our great adventure and we are deeply grateful to our families for helping us to do this.

Looking forward to lots of micro-adventures when I get home. Can’t wait to take the kids camping and show them some of our systems. Might need to give some of the stuff a serious clean first as after 36 days of dehydrated food everything is really starting to smell!

[Leo]