Day 40 21/12/07
Camp; Mike Barry.
Position: S86.7014, W085.5313
Temperature: -15cto -18c
Weather: sunshine and visibility.
Distance; 20.2km 7hrs skiing
It’s all about teamwork…..
We have now all had our good days and bad days so far on Antarctic. The one advantage of having a hand picked team is loyalty to each other, the goal as well as having a very strong team. Today once again the team spirit shone through.
My darkest day was yesterday when I hurt my back while filming, and for a small period I thought that was it for me. The team rallied to my distressed state of despair.
Today to give my back a chance to recover, Clare, Jon and Shaun distributed all of my gear between them and made me ski free of all weight to give my strained back a chance to recover. Even through I felt guilty, it was either rest it for a few days or move. We are now limited on time due to food supply and have lost a few days due to slow progress because of bad weather. We still have 1 or 2 spare days for rest or injuries and will reserve them till needed. We will push on to near 88 degrees south before our next rest day.
while Clare, Jon and Shaun carried my gear today, I navigated all day as part of my duties for being relieved of weight. We had good visibility and snow conditions. I was in agony for the first 5 hours, but as the day went by the pain eased. Tomorrow we will adapt the same procedure and hope the pain goes before I carry weight.
Moonscape-surreal
Today, it was like traveling on a moonscape landscape. It is the first time in Antarctic since we started our journey 40 days ago that we got a chance to appreciate the beauty off this harsh barren icy desert. Up to now we have been dogged with storms, katabatic wins, blizzards, whiteout and no contrast days and soft snow. Lets hope this is the beginning of some good weather for a change. We could really do with some sunshine in our life.
Our target for the next few days until my back gets better is to cover a minimum of 20km at worst. we should de doing between 24-26km a day, but for now we’d be happy with 20km.
Christmas;
Just getting home sick, thinking of what everyone at home are getting up to for Christmas. More about that in the next few days.
Camp; I’d like to dedicate this camp site to my fellow adventurer Mike Barry, Mags and family.
Mike completed his journey to the pole from the edge of the continent in 2004 on the 20th January. The first
Irish man to reach the South Pole.
