Tag: ben weber

Ben Weber sleeping in tent in Antarctica

Day 12 Whiteouts, new sleeping attire and record 17.5km

by alanpolar, posted in South Pole

Oh, wow today was hard!! Really hard! It started off with very strong winds to greet me as I had to pack up the tent, just to bid me good morning! It was bright at least at the start. This however soon changed as clouds sped overhead. Within an hour or so visibility deteriorated to a complete whiteout. I never tire of saying how strange it is in a whiteout! You know you are moving but it feels like you are staying in the same position! There is absolutely nothing to see to judge your movement…

Until you land right on top of a sastrugi that comes as a complete surprise as you can’t see them… they are all just white! There were plenty of sastrugi today, and the winds never did let up. There was also a lot of fresh snow, creating what I described to myself as “puddles of snow.” The wind blows the snow into hollows between sastrugi and other snow formation forming ‘puddles’. That makes life even harder. When you are skiing and pulling the sled over the hard compact snow, it glides okay and just bounces along. However when you get to these snow puddles and you sink into them. And there is no more glide! So, it’s harder to pull the sled! Exhausting stuff! Oh, and then my neck and shoulders. They just never seem to want to get better properly; painful throughout the day but as I say… just about tolerable! I think I am going to have to work out how to live with the pain for the expedition as there are only so many painkillers left in the medkit!

sleeping in 24 hr sunlight

So now have camped and about to eat and sleep. It’s quite hard to sleep here because of the 24 hours if sunlight. I cover my head with my hat. I also have an eye mask and a buff in which I have cut a hole for breathing. Otherwise it would just get wet from my breath. Looks quite funny really but it just about works. My air mattress as a puncture which for the life of me, I have been unable to find. Very annoying! So, I have to spend a few minutes filling that up as well each night. Oh well.

It’s snowing again meaning tomorrow is going to be hard as well. Never an easy or simple day here.

Please support Ben’s chosen charity Cancer Research UK

Visit Ben’s blog site to hear Ben’s audio diary from his overnight camp.

anarctic gales bow across snow and ice

Day 10 Wind like an express train

by alanpolar, posted in South Pole

Nothing much happened today: just an Antarctic storm that started blowing up from around midnight last night. It was all so calm as I setup the tent yesterday evening but the storm warning I received from ALE Antarctic Logistics Expeditions was accurate and it was good that I tightened all the guys and made sure the tent was well pitched.

The winds have been terrific! While the sun has been out, giving a deceptive brightness and warmth to the tent, outside has been ferocious – difficult to really show in a static photograph. It has been like an express train passing the tent constantly at full speed. So, no progress. My mobility has been affected by my neck, and putting the tent up and down in winds like this would be hard even at full fitness, it would have been very hard in my current state. I understand several other teams here also took the day off today.

But at least, it has given more time for my neck to recover and this is a definite positive. I didn’t feel the need to take any painkillers today and while this has meant feeling uncomfortable and with very tight shoulders, I am starting to feel my mobility returning. Doing stretching exercises and massages in my neck in the tent is helping with this as well.

The winds are expected to reach their peak strength at around 3am, so hopefully will get at least half a day in tomorrow. Will be good (and essential!!) to get out again.

Please support Ben’s chosen charity Cancer Research UK

Click on the tracker above to hear Ben’s audio diary from his overnight camp.

donate
cooking equipment inside expedition tent Antarctica Ben Weber

Day 8 Another tent day

by alanpolar, posted in South Pole

It’s definitely frustrating. Another day in the tent. It’s difficult not to think of the time lost and the distance that would have liked to have covered today. The weather has been windy but nothing worse than normal. There has been pretty decent visibility. So, it would have been a good day for skiing. But, the most important is to feel better and allow the muscles time to recover. This is a long expedition and it makes no sense to ruin chances of success by hurting myself at the start and doing too much. This, specially considering the pain I was experiencing. Been sometime since felt something quite like that!

So today has just been spent listening to an audio book (Dune – loved the film, and it’s great listening to the book. Very glad I got it plus Dune Messiah and Children of Dune… and all the nine books of The Expanse series!!) and relaxing. Plus taking the medicines that have in my med kit; the anti inflammatories and pain killers, plus another medicine to protect against some of the negative effects of the ibuprofen. Am definitely feeling an improvement, though I am conscious that I felt this by the end of the other rest day. I will have to be careful when I get back on my skis again tomorrow as I don’t want this to keep repeating.

At least in the tent, with the sun shining outside 24h per day, it is generally quite warm and comfortable. I have also been able to use the solar panel inside the tent to recharge batteries. Plus again, limited food rations considering that not exerting myself!! (Difficult not to feel hungry though!) but still a nice big portion of porridge in the morning and chicken and rice for dinner. Yum!

As I say, in planning for this journey, it was anticipated that some days would have to be spent in the tent. Maybe not quite so soon, but that’s fine. I still have time in reserve. I will hopefully head out again tomorrow though will speak with the doctors and team at base first. If I do, I will try not to push myself too much and aggravate this further. Just ease myself back into it and make sure am comfortable before moving on to greater distances.

Please support Ben’s chosen charity Cancer Research UK

Click on the tracker below to hear Ben’s audio diary from his overnight camp. Check out the new graphic showing miles completed, expedition duration and weather on home page

donate
ben weber in tent antarctica expedition

Day 6 Rest Day

by alanpolar, posted in South Pole

Not something I wanted to take quite so quickly but it was needed as the pain in my neck was in all honesty, pretty bad. It hurt as I was skiing yesterday, and I needed to constantly stop to try and turn my head and stretch my shoulders a little to help alleviate the pain. Then after I lay down in the tent, just simple things like sitting back upright brought almost excruciating pain… it wasn’t nice. The painkillers, muscle relaxants and rest have all helped though: it’s been a few hours since I took anything and while there is discomfort, the pain isn’t anywhere near like it was.

I think it was a combination of the extreme weight of the sled, over exertion and, worse than either of these, my harness not being adjusted correctly (entirely my fault, I should have adjusted earlier). The shoulder straps were too tight and the waist strap too loose so much of the sled’s 135kg in weight was being transferred into my shoulders and neck. Hopefully the adjustments I have made today will help when I ski again tomorrow.

So today, just eating away with my rest day rations – only around 3000kcal for days like this. A slightly smaller breakfast, and fewer snacks of chocolates, nuts, dried fruit, cheese, meat, and protein and energy bars during the day, enough to keep me going, but tomorrow back to my full 6300kcal intake – more of the same just in larger quantities! I also noticed that my one of my cheeks got a little burned as had been exposed to the elements through all the gear, so put some taping on my face—more pre-emptive than anything—to help prevent any reoccurrence. So not an entirely unproductive day.

Please support Ben’s chosen charity Cancer Research UK

Click on the tracker below to hear Ben’s audio diary from his overnight camp.

donate
tent camped in Antarctic snow

Day 5 A pain in the neck!

by alanpolar, posted in South Pole

10k/6.2miles

Today (day 5, but the fourth full day!) was tough. The pain in my neck from yesterday had only been temporarily alleviated by the painkillers, and while it was still much better in the morning as I got up, I could definitely feel it. I wanted to get going though and hoped that I’d be able to manage. Hummm! It was a slow and painful day, and I just did 7 hours instead of my 8.25hours on the previous day, and even worse, I only managed 10km. I must have looked like I was practicing yoga in the ice as I needed to stop every few minutes to try and stretched, turn my head from left to right and up and down… definitely not ideal!

I spoke with the doctor at the Union Glacier base and we think it’s muscular: one possibility is that it is a trapped nerve but I don’t have all the symptoms for that. Also, I discovered that I had my harness so that it was too loose around the waist and too tight on the shoulders; which definitely didn’t help. I adjusted that half way through the day, though a bit late to notice any difference. Decided that best to take a stronger painkiller tonight and have a rest day tomorrow, to allow the muscles to recover… hopefully will work. Not ideal, but I have the rest days planned for.

The slow progress was compounded by the terrain and the very strong wind. Tough conditions!! There were just endless sastrugi fields; non-stop!! And pulling Sir Sledmund the Sled through all of that is not easy even without the pain in the neck! The winds just didn’t help, though at least visibility was great and I have an amazing view of the mountains of Horseshoe Valley and the Three Sails from where I camp. Could be worse!

Please support Ben’s chosen charity Cancer Research UK

Click on the tracker below to hear Ben’s audio diary from his overnight camp.

donate
sled and ski poles on Antarctic ice

Day 4 First steep climb to 900m

by alanpolar, posted in South Pole

Today was a day of -25 degrees, blue skies, some light headwinds and 16k/10miles travelled.

Slowly does it! It has been great to get up the first steep climb up from Hercules Inlet – I am around 900m altitude now and it will stay like this for a while which will be nice. 15km travelled yesterday and another 16km today… slowly increasing!

It’s not easy though – the terrain is anything but flat. The sastrugi are everywhere and every time I go over them I can feel the weight of the sled biting into me. I have reached a nice landmark though – a series of nunataks called the Three Sails are right in front of me and from here I start to make my way slightly southeastwards to 80 degrees west. The curved route until now has been to avoid major crevasse fields which would not be pleasant to go through!

Hopefully will be able to increase speed further, though I have to be careful. As I travelled today started to develop a bit of a neck ache which got very bad by the time I camped. It was nice to have a couple of iboprofin for some pain relief though hopefully this doesn’t get worse as I ski. I imagine the weight of the sled is not helping!!! Anyway, hope everyone is well!

Please support Ben’s chosen charity Cancer Research UK

Click on the tracker below to hear Ben’s audio diary from his overnight camp.

donate

Day 2 First full day on the ice

by alanpolar, posted in South Pole

Distance travelled 12km/7.5miles

17th November. Today has been all uphill and slow, but steady! Could see the wall of the glacier I had to ski up ahead of me as I packed up tent to leave. Set off at 10.15. But for the most part while it was tiring, I didn’t feel too bad. At one point the wind had blown away all snow cover so it was just over ice which made it very tricky, but fortunately that only lasted a couple of hundred metres or so.

Visibility deteriorated in the afternoon as cloud cover came in and a bit of snow started. Am finding my compass very unresponsive due to the high latitude, and the GPS can be a bit slow as it is harder for it to get the satellites to pinpoint the location, but just about managing! Have now eaten and about to go to bed; will be good to get some sleep but happy to have reached 80 degrees south!

Click on the tracker pin below to hear Ben’s audio diary about the day.

Donate to Bens’ charity Cancer Research UK

Thank you for donations to date, we are now over £1,100. PLEASE support Ben’s chosen charity – every donation can make such a difference!

donate
view from aeroplane over Antarctic mountains

Day 1 Arrival by plane and first night under canvas

by alanpolar, posted in South Pole

Distance travelled 5km/3miles

It was strange yesterday being dropped off – a spectacular 30min flight in over the mountains. Could see all the main initial nunataks that will be using to help navigate over the first half a degree. Then the plane landed and left me and Mateusz, a Polish explorer who is also going solo to the Pole, alone on the ice. I went ahead before the plane left as some people had come with Mateusz to help film and they spent some time there… but looking back to see the plane take off… flying up and around, giving a waggle of its wings to say one last goodbye… and that was it! Finally started!

Distance travelled 5km/3miles

I started my adventure at 18.00, giving just a couple of hours to ski. Pretty windy! But great visibility. Wasn’t too steep either so managed to get in a nice 5km.

Donate to Bens’ chosen charity Cancer Research

Donate