March 22, 2014
Day 8. Stormbound
Ryan dispatches March 22: Well it does not happen much, having to take a weather day on a polar expedition. I remember talking with the Norwegians just before leaving where I said there is no such thing as not travelling because of "bad" weather, you just keep going. Today I take it back.
We got ready in the morning as usual, there was really nothing going on out of the ordinary, I just recall mentioning sarcastically that it sounded quite pleasant out today, not looking forward to the whiteout and winds. The tent started rocking pretty hard as we were finishing up strapping on our boots and by the time we were outside all geared up I was beginning to wonder if we took the tent down, will we ever get it back up when we need to? After careful consideration with regards to ferrying loads and having the trail disappear from spindrift instantly, in the total whiteout through big ice chunks that are very easy to ski right off and not know what comes next, we decided to get back in the tent to wait for better weather.
Well it never came, in fact the outside world turned about as brutal as I have seen. Mid-afternoon we started to get concerned with the tent in the strong cross winds, a broken pole would have been a major league epic fix situation. New guy lines were buried with our Asnes skis as deadmen, and overturned sleds became anchors.
A day frustratingly lost, one we can ill afford out here where literally every moment counts for us to get distance. Regardless it is what it is and we rested assured that it was a good decision not to be out. For those who wonder what it is like to relax in the tent... Well we can't burn the stoves for warmth because the fuel is to valuable a ration, so we laid inside our vapor barrier liner (imagine a giant trashbag) inside our -40 degree bag which is covered by a +40 synthetic bag to collect the inevitable accumulation of moisture. You bring your pee bottle in there with you, because you sure don't want to extricate yourself from the complicated system each time.
So not such great way to spend a day but I must say we were both surprised how tired we already were, it has been a battle of a week and hopefully the more open roads continue to show up tomorrow. P.S. Please enjoy getting into a real bed tonight wherever you are.
Image: The Hilleberg withstanding some brutal conditions.
We got ready in the morning as usual, there was really nothing going on out of the ordinary, I just recall mentioning sarcastically that it sounded quite pleasant out today, not looking forward to the whiteout and winds. The tent started rocking pretty hard as we were finishing up strapping on our boots and by the time we were outside all geared up I was beginning to wonder if we took the tent down, will we ever get it back up when we need to? After careful consideration with regards to ferrying loads and having the trail disappear from spindrift instantly, in the total whiteout through big ice chunks that are very easy to ski right off and not know what comes next, we decided to get back in the tent to wait for better weather.
Well it never came, in fact the outside world turned about as brutal as I have seen. Mid-afternoon we started to get concerned with the tent in the strong cross winds, a broken pole would have been a major league epic fix situation. New guy lines were buried with our Asnes skis as deadmen, and overturned sleds became anchors.
A day frustratingly lost, one we can ill afford out here where literally every moment counts for us to get distance. Regardless it is what it is and we rested assured that it was a good decision not to be out. For those who wonder what it is like to relax in the tent... Well we can't burn the stoves for warmth because the fuel is to valuable a ration, so we laid inside our vapor barrier liner (imagine a giant trashbag) inside our -40 degree bag which is covered by a +40 synthetic bag to collect the inevitable accumulation of moisture. You bring your pee bottle in there with you, because you sure don't want to extricate yourself from the complicated system each time.
So not such great way to spend a day but I must say we were both surprised how tired we already were, it has been a battle of a week and hopefully the more open roads continue to show up tomorrow. P.S. Please enjoy getting into a real bed tonight wherever you are.
Image: The Hilleberg withstanding some brutal conditions.