32.35km day – a record distance
Not much to really say about today except that it was great! Good solid progress – I know I have done one other day with around 32km (things really do blur altogether here!!), and I think I just beat that with 32.35km, so a new personal best so far!!
Great conditions
The conditions… really couldn’t get much better. Not too cold, extremely calm, great visibility… while there is the odd sastrugi patch and area of messy ice, on the whole the terrain is pretty flat and the climb is imperceptible. I am just about at 1,900m so less than 900m below the plateau (Though it starts to level out at around 2,700m). I am sure there will be much harder days ahead – the continent is lulling me into a false sense of security! Heheh! But… I have to enjoy it while it lasts and get in the miles while I can, to compensate for the days ahead when it won’t be so straightforward and the going will be much slower.
Food and body weight
I am eating around 6,300kcal a day though I think am a fair bit thinner than when I started; my base layers all seem a bit loose!! Difficult to say how much weight I might have lost – maybe around 10kg over the last 41 days? Maybe a little less; not sure! Sledmund has lost at least 55kg!
Earworm and Housekeeping
Ear worms of day: Thanks to my family… a good Abba medley of various songs; Waterloo especially!
Photo: pretty tired after today and last few days of churning out 29-32km… just chilling in the mess of the tent!
Detailed daily data
For anyone interested, here are the coordinates of where I have camped since starting, and estimated positions (latitude only as longitude not too important after the crevasses of the 87th degree) based on an average daily distance of 14 nautical miles and no days off… This is a conservative estimate as over the last week since leaving Thiel Corner – and even in the days before then – I have been doing between 15-17 nautical miles a day. So hopefully I will be able to arrive at the Pole before the 9th… I am being cautious though as not sure about the sastrugi and climbing ahead and as I might have mentioned in an earlier post, the snow on the plateau is meant to be harder to ski through because of the colder conditions.
Accelerating pace
Obviously progress is much better shown on the map on the website! But, you can see from the list how I took ages in the 80th degree, when the sled was at its heaviest, with the climbing at its steepest and I developed my injury. Though then you can see how have managed to gradually accelerate. Hopefully this will continue!
My ETA at the Pole is now 10th January, this assumes 12 NM progress each day.
Camp locations
1: 16 November (start): S79 57.3605 / W079 45.2434
1: 16 November (camp): S79 58.7272 / W079 55.3000
2: 17 Nov: S80 03.8512 / W080 17.7000
3: 18 Nov: S80 10.8192 / W080 33.5942
4: 19 Nov: S80 19.1669 / W080 37.5180
5: 20 Nov: S80 23.7401 / W080 25.7401
6: 21 Nov: no movement
7: 22 Nov: S80 31.0280 / W080 26.2832
8: 23 November: no movement
9: 24 Nov: S80 36.2744 / W080 12.9014
10 25 Nov: no movement
11 26 Nov: S80 42.8344 / W080 00.9190
12: 27 Nov: S80 51.8977 / W079 59.8794
13: 28 Nov: S81 02.2539 / W079 57.3339
14: 29 Nov: S81 11.3942 / W079 54.9472
15: 30 Nov: S81 21.5968 / W079 57.1149
16: 1 Dec: no movement
17: 2 Dec: S81 32.4792 / W080 02.8163
18: 3 Dec: S81 43.2655 / W080 00.8545
19: 4 Dec: S81 53.2450 / W080 22.8012
20: 5 Dec: S82 01.3987 / W080 12.2678
21: 6 Dec: S82 15.7532 / W080 19.1214
22: 7 Dec: S82 27.7007 / W080 28.2671
23: 8 Dec: S82 41.994 / W080 30.2901
24: 9 Dec: S82 57.780 / W080 25.5373
25: 10 Dec: S83 11.5089 / W080 15.5354
26: 11 Dec: S83 14.5615 / W080 17.4755
27: 12 Dec: S83 24.9548 / W080 27.8904
28: 13 Dec: S83 38.1913 / W080 31.5436
29: 14 Dec: S83 52.4660 / W080 37.0228
30: 15 Dec: S84 06.1782 / W080 27.0035
31: 16 Dec: S84 21.6411 / W080 33.2581
32: 17 Dec: S84 35.8453 / W080 47.2211
33: 18 Dec: S84 50.1908 / W080 35.0597
34: 19 Dec: S85 04.4033 / W080 45.7878
35: 20 Dec: no movement
36: 21 Dec: S85 21.0401 / W080 55.649
37: 22 Dec: S85 36.0484 / W080 46.4073
38: 23 Dec: S85 51.3874 / W081 01.3888
39: 24 Dec: S86 07.6672 / W081 13.1764
40: 25 Dec: S86 23.8690 / W081 38.7422
41: 26 Dec: S86 40.8952 / W081 43.9371
Estimated positions (south) based on 14nm/day:
42: 27 Dec: S86 54
43: 28 Dec: S87 09
44: 29 Dec: S87 23
45: 30 Dec: S87 37
46: 31 Dec: S87 51
47: 1 Jan: S88 05
48: 2 Jan: S88 19
49: 3 Jan: S88 33
50: 4 Jan: S88 47
51: 5 Jan: S89 01
52: 6 Jan: S89 15
53: 7 Jan: S89 29
54: 8 Jan: S89 43
55: 9 Jan: S89 57
56: 10 Jan: S90