A tough but satisfying day today. The first part of the landmass of the Antarctic continent we’re encountering as we move onto land from the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf is the Ford Ice Piedmont. This huge bulge of ice covering low lying land needs to be traversed before we can pass into the mountains beyond. Rising in terraces covered in an incredibly uneven surface of snow with bulges, ridges, troughs and drifts, it made for hard going. The mountains were sometimes clearly visible, sometimes hidden by the curve of the rising land. We persisted though and the gradient seems to be levelling out and the mountains getting ever nearer. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be camped at the base of the Wujek Ridge itself. Good day today but very hard uphill all day. Tired now and ready for dinner.
Suunto Stats
Skiing Time 9h 15mins
Distance 23.04kms
Gareth
Average HR 110
Max HR 156
Calories burned 6143
Richard
Average HR 110
Max HR 152
Calories burned 6220
The prominent Stage 2 U-shaped breaches in the arête of Wujek Ridge can be seen on the left of the photograph.
Image from: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Panorama-of-the-Davis-Valley-left-and-Forlidas-valley-unofficial-name-right-looking_fig11_259424346