Kiting Christmas

Date = 25/12/2017
Day 36 (Expedition) Day 41 (Antarctica)
Location = No man’s land
Coordinates  – S87.45.000’, W110.004.785
Altitude =  2761m
Temperature =  -23C
Wind speed / direction = 10 – 15 knot SE, Sunny
Windchill = – 28C
Distance travelled = 94km
Distance remaining = 976km (adjusted for current course)

4am on Christmas morning we were awake and excited to open our kites into the 10knot SE wind.

A call to home and the voices of my hyper excited children enjoying Christmas morning was a tear jerker, but nice to hear.

Unfortunately our heading was a bit more East than we anticipated and therefore into wind.
This meant instead of arriving here at our destination waypoint in 4 hours whooping, we got here after 10 hours with just one 30 min stop… hurting.

Although it was cold and windy, it was sunny and we could manage the chill. For hours there was an amazing rainbow around the sun, a sun dog, and for a while another phenomenon called a sun pillar.

For times we were lost in this vast and sublime desolation. Then it was back to full concentration, holding the same ski edge for hours on end – left leg today.

We floated between sublime wonder and an endurance test all day. As usual fully kitted up with down suits, helmets, goggles, gloves, mitts, ski boots, over boots, skis, harness, GPS, camera, GoPro, spare batteries, food… oh and now a replenished 160kg pulk!

We are like astronauts on a frozen planets! And Jean looks like an Alien!

94km is good progress and the big news is we have broken the 1000km remaining mark! Looks like the wind may be swinging further East tomorrow, which is not what we want, but we can and will tack as best we can. We have put in a sterling effort to begin the fourth and final phase of the spectre expedition; we will continue to ride the wind all the way home.
[Leo]