The alarm went off at 5.50am as usual. Outside we could hear the wind gusting; a quick look out the tent door confirmed the worst – no visibility and lots of fresh snow. It would have been easy to justify not moving, but the reality is, another day in the tent would bring us no closer to the pole and yet would use a day’s supply of food and fuel.
We didn’t have to think very hard about it – we would move. As we left Thiels, progress was slow; we were operating blind man leads again and the drag on the sleds, together with the extra weight (from our food cache) made pulling tough. Conditions remained difficult all day, but on the upside the day was a balmy -10C!
Shaun’s shoulder played up in the afternoon so we only did 7 hours hauling, covering a disappointing 16.4km.
We have just heard from Patriot hills that the forecast for the next few days is more of the same – wind and snow – but getting worse on Friday.
Not good news, but our plan is to keep pushing on, though slower than we would have anticipated.
