March 10, 2014
Notes on Boredom, Static Electricity and Happiness
What am I doing here? Another day of waiting and another delay has started to chip away at my resolve. Our time frame for completing our expedition is limited and every day we wait here means one less day on the ice.
Last year when I was struggling in Antarctica on my fat bike, I got a DeLorme inReach message from webExpeditions Tim. 'Be more cheerful in your updates,' he advised. Exhausted and overwhelmed, his message did absolutely nothing to change my mood. (Sorry Tim, I did appreciate the honest (brutally) advice however.)
It's hard to be happy when a big part of your future is at stake. We eat, breath and sleep, skiing to the North Pole. It's what we've done for over a year. But realistically, it is just that. There is a much bigger world out there than just this moment and my minuscule problem of bad weather and flight delays. So I've decided to change the tone and tenor of this post right now. Your lives and my life will hopefully be a lot more cheerful at the start of the next paragraph.
Here we go. (I meant the next paragraph - starting... now)
Because it's so cold here, the air is also very dry. Inside the South Camp Inn, it doesn't take much walking around to build up enough static electricity to get a substantial shock. Door handles, computers, ski poles - get near anything metal and you'll have an arcing current instantly jolt your finger.
Enter boredom, stage left (where hundreds of bad ideas are born every minute).
I invented a game today that I call static electricity roulette. The rules are pretty straightforward. Ryan and I put on our big Wigwam Ice socks and stand at opposite sides of the room. Then, we shuffle towards each other making sure to slide our feet on the ground. Once we are within arm's reach, the first one who gets shocked looses (obviously). The shocks are substantial to say the lease and we've only mustered the courage to play two rounds.
Now that I'm writing this it seems a bit odd, but don't knock it until you've been waiting around for weather to clear. Afterwards, we laughed for quite a while and if nothing else we forgot about all our expedition stress - at least for a few minutes.
We went out for a short ski today and it felt good to stretch our legs. It was brisk to say the least but it was a blue bird day and the snow was gorgeous. We wanted to test some of our cold weather systems, too. It is a different kind of cold up here - bone chilling. Besides just keeping warm, we need to make sure we can actually use our camera gear, eat and navigate. Relatively simple things at temperatures even just slightly warmer, but here if not diligent, batteries die, googles frost over, and....
Azziz (Ozzie) the former owner of South Camp Inn stopped by for a brief chat (as he does every day). We talked about, the weather, the benefits of flying in Twin Otters versus DC3', the Stuxnet virus (of all things), and eventually North Pole expeditions. We wondered about the Irish team already on the ice and then Japanese who is taking a foldable KAYAK to cross leads. I expressed my skepticism of its usefulness.
And then Azziz reminded me of another Japanese North Pole skier who was found dead in 2000 or 2001 frozen solid in just the four inches of ice having apparently fallen through and not been able to extricate himself.
Image: Ryan testing out his Asnes boards.
Last year when I was struggling in Antarctica on my fat bike, I got a DeLorme inReach message from webExpeditions Tim. 'Be more cheerful in your updates,' he advised. Exhausted and overwhelmed, his message did absolutely nothing to change my mood. (Sorry Tim, I did appreciate the honest (brutally) advice however.)
It's hard to be happy when a big part of your future is at stake. We eat, breath and sleep, skiing to the North Pole. It's what we've done for over a year. But realistically, it is just that. There is a much bigger world out there than just this moment and my minuscule problem of bad weather and flight delays. So I've decided to change the tone and tenor of this post right now. Your lives and my life will hopefully be a lot more cheerful at the start of the next paragraph.
Here we go. (I meant the next paragraph - starting... now)
Because it's so cold here, the air is also very dry. Inside the South Camp Inn, it doesn't take much walking around to build up enough static electricity to get a substantial shock. Door handles, computers, ski poles - get near anything metal and you'll have an arcing current instantly jolt your finger.
Enter boredom, stage left (where hundreds of bad ideas are born every minute).
I invented a game today that I call static electricity roulette. The rules are pretty straightforward. Ryan and I put on our big Wigwam Ice socks and stand at opposite sides of the room. Then, we shuffle towards each other making sure to slide our feet on the ground. Once we are within arm's reach, the first one who gets shocked looses (obviously). The shocks are substantial to say the lease and we've only mustered the courage to play two rounds.
Now that I'm writing this it seems a bit odd, but don't knock it until you've been waiting around for weather to clear. Afterwards, we laughed for quite a while and if nothing else we forgot about all our expedition stress - at least for a few minutes.
We went out for a short ski today and it felt good to stretch our legs. It was brisk to say the least but it was a blue bird day and the snow was gorgeous. We wanted to test some of our cold weather systems, too. It is a different kind of cold up here - bone chilling. Besides just keeping warm, we need to make sure we can actually use our camera gear, eat and navigate. Relatively simple things at temperatures even just slightly warmer, but here if not diligent, batteries die, googles frost over, and....
Azziz (Ozzie) the former owner of South Camp Inn stopped by for a brief chat (as he does every day). We talked about, the weather, the benefits of flying in Twin Otters versus DC3', the Stuxnet virus (of all things), and eventually North Pole expeditions. We wondered about the Irish team already on the ice and then Japanese who is taking a foldable KAYAK to cross leads. I expressed my skepticism of its usefulness.
And then Azziz reminded me of another Japanese North Pole skier who was found dead in 2000 or 2001 frozen solid in just the four inches of ice having apparently fallen through and not been able to extricate himself.
Image: Ryan testing out his Asnes boards.