Antarctica is certainly throwing the challenges at us. After the sastrugi eased off yesterday they returned with a vengeance today. To add to this overnight last night the wind dropped and a steady snow began to fall. By morning a thick layer of soft sticky new snow covered everything so today has been an incredibly tough grind though the worst of both, bad sastrugi and soft snow. Safe to say it’s been a difficult day and it’s taken us a long time to cover the distance we want.
Such a relief to finally get into the tent and get some much needed calories and rest. We’re going to have to dig deep and stay strong over the next few days, wish us luck.
Suunto Stats
Skiing Time 10hrs 40mins
Distance 19km
Gareth
Average HR 110
Max HR 158
Calories burned 7153
Richard
Average HR 109
Max H R 171
Calories burned 7238
*now temperatures are colder as we get towards the South Pole we’ll be burning additional calories just to keep ourselves warm!
Gareth and Richard have been away from home since late October, we are regularly asked how often they communicate with loved ones and how they cope with being away for so long. Due to modern technology and the incredibly awesome Satellite Phones we have, we can communicate regularly. They try to send messages as often as possible and the kids love chatting about their daily activities. One disadvantage is that we are not able to share photos or videos, we cannot see how much they have grown or what they have been up to over the last couple of months.
Andrea surprised us with a collection of photos of our loved ones and pictures drawn by the kids on the inside of our pulk. We regularly get to see these images and are reminded of all the love and support from home.
