Antarctica Speed Record - Day 4

Hi Guys.  Not the best of news.  Yesterday the weather deteriorated badly.  There had been more snow, total whiteouts, no contrast, no horizon and following a lot of snow I was skiing in powder so deep I was losing my ski’s.

I did 3 hours yesterday, covered 4.5km in terrible conditions and had to put my tent up.  Conditions were just too poor.  The forecast was meant to be slightly better yesterday but unfortunately it didn’t turn out that way.

It’s been tough going.  The first day I did a lot of climbing.  I climbed 500m and was pleased with my pace - that is the sort of pace I need to hold and I felt really good.

Day 2 was tough with pretty poor conditions but I got through it.

Day 3 - yesterday was just savage.  The snow was so soft and sticky it’s almost trebled the weight of my pulk and because of the conditions I was struggling to move fast enough to generate enough heat.  With conditions under foot likely to be the same and after further weather discussions with the guys from ALE for the next few days, I have made the decision to ski back to Hercules Inlet with the option to try and wait there for more favourable conditions and attempt to start over again.  I won’t use my exped food rations as ALE can drop food off so I can eat at Hercules Inlet before I start again, that way I can start with enough food to last the entire expedition still.

It was a really tough decision to make, I am gutted, but it’s the right one.  It’s impossible to ski the miles I need to a day to break this record with conditions under foot like they currently are and with weather conditions like this.

I will write more when I re group my thoughts at Hercules Inlet.

Rich.