December 26, 2012
Day 8: Show Me The Ice
My Christmas present came a day late in the form of my expedition schedule which allows for a half of a day rest every seven days. And today was that day! What a joy! I actually woke up at my normal time but then dozed off again. After that, I was just a lot of relaxing, charging my electronic gear with my Goal Zero solar charger and staring at the ceiling of my Hilleberg tent. Who needs Club Med?
Today, as many of you know, is Ice Photo Wednesday - the day I have arbitrarily designated as a celebration of all things ice, snowy, frosty or otherwise cold-related. Of course, there's no shortage of snow and ice here. Antarctica is covered on average with a half miles of ice that reaches a thickness of roughly two miles at the South Pole. But I have to be honest, not much of the snow along my route has captured my interest... Until today.
For whatever reason, I started to see more and more sastrugi in larger patches. Several drifts were nearly three feet tall. Often times, big sastrugi fields are found at the base of long inclines, formed I assume, due to increased wind speeds, but I hadn't seen many interesting forms since Hercules Inlet. Today, however, all that changed.
I biked past large patches of arcing forms. Some with scalloped snouts and others paper thin crests. I stopped way too many times trying to capture the perfect Ice Photo.
Another amazing thing about to day was the comfort I felt after putting my two Revelate pogies on my seat for a little extra cushion for my chaffed (so sorry I keep bringing this up) but. Of course, I've also been giving the affected area some first aid as a simple sore can easily turn into an expedition ender. Each night, I've been using Action Wipes to keep the area clean (Ok way too much information). The reason i brought this up is because it hasn't been necessary to use my pogies. At zero Fahrenheit or a little below, all I've need on my hands has been my Ergodyne fleece gloves.
I've started to listen to a few podcasts (metered carefully so as not to run out) in the tent at night without ear phones. My favorite is called 'Stuff You Should Know.' I've learned about the history of zero, space elevators and fractals. One episode, 'Can you vacation in Antartica' I haven't had the heart to listen to yet. Although if you read my opening paragraph, the answer has to be yes.
I've tried to figure out why I feel like in floating on my bike because it certainly isn't my sore knees, crashes and cranking through drifts. Rather, it's that my Granite Gear panniers obscure my view of the front wheel!?!
Image: My Ice Photo - triceratops sastrugi
Today, as many of you know, is Ice Photo Wednesday - the day I have arbitrarily designated as a celebration of all things ice, snowy, frosty or otherwise cold-related. Of course, there's no shortage of snow and ice here. Antarctica is covered on average with a half miles of ice that reaches a thickness of roughly two miles at the South Pole. But I have to be honest, not much of the snow along my route has captured my interest... Until today.
For whatever reason, I started to see more and more sastrugi in larger patches. Several drifts were nearly three feet tall. Often times, big sastrugi fields are found at the base of long inclines, formed I assume, due to increased wind speeds, but I hadn't seen many interesting forms since Hercules Inlet. Today, however, all that changed.
I biked past large patches of arcing forms. Some with scalloped snouts and others paper thin crests. I stopped way too many times trying to capture the perfect Ice Photo.
Another amazing thing about to day was the comfort I felt after putting my two Revelate pogies on my seat for a little extra cushion for my chaffed (so sorry I keep bringing this up) but. Of course, I've also been giving the affected area some first aid as a simple sore can easily turn into an expedition ender. Each night, I've been using Action Wipes to keep the area clean (Ok way too much information). The reason i brought this up is because it hasn't been necessary to use my pogies. At zero Fahrenheit or a little below, all I've need on my hands has been my Ergodyne fleece gloves.
I've started to listen to a few podcasts (metered carefully so as not to run out) in the tent at night without ear phones. My favorite is called 'Stuff You Should Know.' I've learned about the history of zero, space elevators and fractals. One episode, 'Can you vacation in Antartica' I haven't had the heart to listen to yet. Although if you read my opening paragraph, the answer has to be yes.
I've tried to figure out why I feel like in floating on my bike because it certainly isn't my sore knees, crashes and cranking through drifts. Rather, it's that my Granite Gear panniers obscure my view of the front wheel!?!
Image: My Ice Photo - triceratops sastrugi