Not sure why today was hard, but it was, a hard 26km . The weather was great – bit of a stiff headwind for the most part, but clear skies and amazing visibility. There were no massive sastrugi to write home about either.
I guess there was still a lot of soft snow around; the winds had picked up and a lot of spin drift had been blown around. There was also lots of… messy ice. Like very choppy seas (not massively stormy though!) just frozen. The makings of bigger sastrugi that will come over time. Pulling Sledmund through it all was just tiring. I guess the morning sessions were hardest, still going uphill through the end of the 83rd degree. I didn’t take any painkillers in the afternoon, which also didn’t help I think as I really was feeling it in neck and shoulders again by the time the day ended
84 Degrees South
As got to S84 (yup, I am now nicely into S84! More than two fifths through!!!) it got flatter, but I was happy to camp at the end of it all. It’s so cool looking at how have progressed on the GPS map… can’t believe that have made it this far, and getting so close to the end goal!
Food Bag Mishap
There was just one minor mishap as I camped… I have now opened a new main food bag!! (I have five main food bags, four with meals for 10 days, and one with meals for 11 days – it’s quite a big occasion to open a new one!!! Less weight in Sledmund!!) As I opened it, I discovered that the ziplock bag with the protein shake powder had either a leak or not been closed properly….need to see exactly what happened, and while I didn’t lose much, it still meant lots of protein powder everywhere! Argggggg!
A bit tired to write much about routines and everything! Though if there is anything anyone would like to know more about with the journey and all it’s aspects, feel free to say!
Song of the Day
Song of day on endless repeat in increasingly insane mind… While Echoes did make an appearance, it got pushed out by Little China Girl (David Bowie version not the Iggy Pop one (which is still good!)) Also, George Ezra, Budapest played a few times! I understand that some great suggestions have been made for other songs; will check shortly!!
Photo: the top of the food bag!
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