Hopefully, the difficulties of the last few days are behind me now. Today was… good! Cold again at -29C but I wouldn’t expect anything much warmer than that now up here on the plateau, though there was a bit of stiff headwind, with windchill down to -40C. Absolutely had to make sure that no skin was exposed to the air!
Moving more freely
From the start I could feel a difference in the snow; much more compact than it had been though still various patches of soft snow. (Am sure the soft snow over the last few days has not helped me at all as you really do feel the difference, even when there is less than a centimetre. Sledmund just becomes… reluctant to move on!) The conditions allowed me to naturally move that little bit faster and more freely, without Sledmund feeling so heavy, with an average speed of around 2.4kph, up from 2.1 yesterday and 1.9 the day before. Doesn’t sound massive but it’s a big difference over the day!
23km day
I just did 9.5 hours rather than 10-I didn’t sleep very well last night (maybe excited about being in the 89th degree!) so took a little bit too long to get out of the sleeping bag this morning! But still, I managed just over 23km (12 nautical miles), and I was definitely happy with the progress! It means I am now a quarter of the way through the degree. Just 45 more nautical miles to go…!
Abominable snowman
I got into the tent this evening looking a bit like the abominable snowman; my breath in my face mask kept on getting blown under my jacket and turning to snow inside my lower layers. A bit annoying as it melts and gets your clothes damp – never good in these temperatures! The photo shows a little but a lot of the snow had already melted by the time I took it!
Good weather forecast
The weather over the next few days looks like it will be good. Not much wind tomorrow which is wonderful! Hopefully it will stay like that for a while though my forecast doesn’t give wind forecasts for more than 24 hours.
Ear worm back in service
Ear worm! It’s been a while since I’ve had an ear worm, probably because of the frustrations!! Am definitely in a better mood as well now, which is nice. So yes, in the morning… does anyone remember The Singing Kettle! Loved them when I was little!!! Classics like Train to Glasgow and… Ya Canny Push Ya Granny Off a Bus! No idea why they popped into my head!
Visit Ben’s blog site to hear Ben’s audio diary from his overnight camp and donation links to Cancer Research UK at www.polarweber.com