I’m now able to share part of my book, Antarctic Tears, with the world through my blog. Sastrugi Press has generously offered to give the reading public tidbits, samples, and the occasional complete chapter recounting my expedition in Antarctica. Below you will find Antarctic Tears day 64 for your reading entertainment.
Amazon.com stock issue: People have been asking about my book being unavailable at Amazon.com. Apparently Amazon is slow at restocking the book. But, if you order it, they’ll process and get you the book quickly. I did a test a few months ago when it was out of stock, and it only took a few more days than usual to receive a copy.
My trek set the world record for the longest expedition ever for the trip from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole, a distance of 720 miles. It was definitely a trip that won the award for perseverance, grit, and never giving up in the face of overwhelming odds. Learn a little about what a day in the life of an Antarctic Polar Explorer is like with Antarctic Tears day 64.
Without further adieu, Day 64 of Antarctic Tears, pages 254-257
Antarctic Tears Day 64
Thursday, January 3, 2013, Day 64
While crossing the opposite side of the valley from Colossus Hill, my right hip throbbed, as though I had fallen on it badly. Looking back, I saw nothing amiss with the alignment of the rope traces from my harness to the lead sled. Inspecting the sled tracks, they appeared to be pulling slightly to the right of the ski tracks, so I knew something was wrong. Finally, thinking to check the connection between the front and rear sleds, I discovered a minor misalignment, an inch if that. Since I became desperate to eliminate the source of the pain, I stopped and loosened the clove hitch around the carabiner holding the sleds together, then shifted the knot. The change was minor, but I made it anyway.
Oh, what a difference it made. In a mere 100 yards of towing, the burning in my hip subsided and my lower back felt much better. I was relieved. I had checked everything over the past couple of days and hadn’t found anything obviously amiss in the lead sled. That’s where I guessed the problem would be. I was wrong. The trailing sled pulled to the right, causing the pain. Even though each sled had five, half-inch- deep runners to make them track, being one inch off center between the sleds was more than enough to induce serious pain. This made me wish again that I had a single light-weight sled to carry the complete round-trip load. I contemplated what changes it made in my travel.
Visions of myself already making the Pole and attempting the round trip filled my head, driving me mad. The anger was wasted energy. I knew that having been ill cost me the round trip attempt. Plus, the two critical travel tips from Hannah and Vilborg came far too late. Having a fancier sled would not have changed my being sick nor my inefficiency.
At 3 p.m., I descended another steep hill. At first it had the same characteristics as Colossus Hill, so much so that I thought my naming had been premature. That was, until I skied to the first hulking sastrugi. This one ended with sheer six-foot drop-offs. Skiing off them was too dangerous. Even if I were not towing sleds or on skis, I would not have jumped down onto the ice, for it was a serious drop that had a sloped landing. There was no way I was able to lower the sleds down these faces, so I shortened the traces to five feet, as short as I could tolerate, and looked for a way around. If the fuel-bearing sled fell off one of these hills, one of the cans could be crushed by the impact, spilling white gas all over everything. I needed to be extra careful. If the sleds took off or rolled over, they would pull me with them, leading to potentially serious injury.
Time after time, I encountered more sheer drops, up to eight vertical feet. Looking down, I was aghast. There the drop-offs were, impeding progress. When I tried to photograph the drop-off, there was no point of reference, so it looked insignificant. This was where having a teammate would have been handy. After descending halfway down the hill, I looked back and saw only a wall of ice, certainly impassible if I were headed north. This gave me the idea for the name of this place: One Way Hill. Had I been able to ski the round trip, both this and Colossus Hill would have proven formidable barriers for the return north. With the constant diversions and slowness, my mileage dropped to below one mile per hour, a rate I hadn’t been below in weeks.
[One Way Hill: 87deg 29’S 82deg 24’W]
“Don’t give up, you’ll be past it all in a few days,” said James Hayes over the satellite phone.
“I’m not going to give up, it’s quite a tough one to get through,” I replied.
“You can do it. If you made it this far, you can do the rest.”
At least I wasn’t in Vilborg’s boots, waiting to starve. On Dec 24th, she had 15 rations and now should have about seven rations remaining for the rest of her journey. She’s only 13 miles ahead of me, so she had far more than seven days to go. If she reverts to the half-ration approach to maintain her unsupported and unassisted, she’ll be starving for at least 10 days. Even though she could not have accepted food assistance to retain her expedition style, I still felt guilty about not having offered after two weeks. It seems no one expected to encounter these conditions, even those with far greater experience.
I didn’t call Kelly tonight, as I had massively blown out my satellite phone budget. Even though I was on the bottom of the planet, I still needed to ensure I did not end in financial disaster upon returning home. At least the text message satellite unit had unlimited messages. One of the satellite messages I received from Wendy Davis was,
“Enjoy the rough and bad parts of this.” Though it was easy for her to write from 7,000 miles away, I knew that after this was all done, her admonition was truth. I have always reveled in figuring my way out of tough situations. It was a thrilling challenge to keep my head in the game and stave off anything else from falling apart in this last push to the South Pole.
Camp AC62
87deg34.755’S 82deg24.761’W
Distance: 8.5 nm, Time: 9 hours, Elevation 8,400′ Distance to South Pole: 145 nm