Dispatches Dec 20 2001 —> Dec 2 2001

Dispatches Dec 20 2001 —> Dec 2 2001

	Dec 20. Zero contrast
	S82 26 W80 04 T9.00PM (Chile) Alt 1200m TT 8,5h D 17,0km TD 287,9 km/21days DSP 844 km, sled w 191,5kg -8C/0kts AM/SC/8/8 PM/AC/7/8 Entered crevasse area in whiteout. There was no contrast and in Antarctica that means zero contrast. We would ski what would appear as a perfectly flat, white surface, only to plunge right into waist deep empty space. These were no crevasses, instead the tallest sastrugi yet on this trip. We felt our way with ski poles and steps, but the sastrugi were impossible to detect until we stood on top of them. The sleds flipped over, we fell over, and the trip was hard. There is fresh snow on top of the earlier soft snow and so we get our share of adventure here. Unfortunately we only got 17 km to show for our struggle and so we lit up the burners back in camp, tucked a few hot water bottles in our sleeping bags (they produce some nasty looking marks on cold skin) and now we rest assured that there is a better day ahead already tomorrow.

	Dec 19. Blizzard
	S82 17 W79 55 T9.00PM (Chile) Alt 1200m TT 8,5h D 19,0km TD 270,9 km/20days DSP 861km, sled w 193,5kg -15C/16-20kts AM/As 8/8 PM/Ns/8/8 sf Woke up to clouds and went right into foul weather. Snowing, blowing and sastrugi invisible in no contrast. Applied our climate control hood on. The cold is of no concern to us, the wind is. We wear only two layers of light underwear under our wind stopper shells, yet we are still pretty soaked in sweat after travel. We control body heat by removing the hood and gloves after breaks or if hot. Come cold, high winds however, we pull down the hood deep over the facemask and feel almost as indoors. The facemask is our single most important piece of gear. We just bow our head down, face the wind and move. We hope weather improves for tomorrows crevasse area, wouldn't be too great to hit it in whiteout.

	Dec 19, Voicefile from Antarctica
	First dispatch by voice was received from the expedition.One hears Tina speaking, updating us on the events. The file was recorded and sent on the expeditions rest day 16/12. Go get it, its quite cool :) Get it here [file not archived]

	Dec 18. 82 degrees South
	S82 07 W79 58 T9.00PM (Chile) Alt 1200m TT 8,5h D 20.4km TD 251,9 km/19days DSP 880km sled w 196kg -12C/15kts Sun We have entered the 82nd degree and Antarctica keep lighting our way with abundant sunshine. Our map warns for a small crevasse field around 20 NM ahead, that is around two days from now. Was nothing there last year so we are not worried. Other then that not much going on in this next latitude. A few markdowns: 880 km left to target, with current speed 44 travel days ahead. Sleds below 200 kg now, speed could increase further as we become lighter.

	Dec 17. Polar shelters
	S81 56 W79 59 T9.00PM (Chile) Alt 1200m TT 8,5h D 19.9 km TD 231.5 km/18days sled w 198kg. -12C/15-20kts Sun, low Jetcl 1/8 To survive in the Arctic's is the hardest on earth for humans. There is nothing here for us to use except frozen water. It beats the desert, the jungle, and the mountains. Yes, it even beats NY. To survive, we need shelter, heat, food and water. If we go unassisted, we must carry everything with us and what we have must hold up. Our shelter is a torpedo shaped ultra light tent; custom designed for the Antarctic conditions of high winds blowing most often from one direction. It holds an inner tent, our actual living quarters, 80cm/3 ft high, 140cm/5ft wide and 210cm/7ft long. The tent is always pitched with the rear facing the wind and skis and snow stick secure it to the ice, before we set it up in order not to lose it in the high winds. We beat the tent with a shovel in the morning to loosen frozen ice from the outer shell. The ice forms from cooking the day before. The tent is brightly colored for good moods but we cover the inner tent with cover bags at night to shield from the Antarctic perpetual sun. Should we lose the tent, we would be forced to take shelter in the sleds or build an Igloo.

	Dec 16. Rest day and First PDA dispatch
	This is the first PDA report. The first ever from Antarctica. We connect the device to a sat phone and have a truly light communication system. We keep the unit warm by wearing it close to our stomach at travel and in the sleeping bag at night. The pics are authentic from this report. It`s 4 pm, we rest, charge technology and check our gear. Tech check; all function. Gear check; small rip in tent fixed with tape, handles on sled cover rips easily. Medical usage; One roll paper tape, 2 band aids, 5 compeed, 4 Ibuprofen, 4 Aspirin. Current travel clothing; 2 layer thin underwear, Gore-tex outer shell, thin gloves. Balaclava and face mask. Other; Increasing speed, good health and high spirits.

	Dec 15. A perfect day
	S81 45 W79 57, T9.30PM (Chile) True Alt 1200m TT 8,5h D 19.8 km TD 211.6 km/16days sled w 204kg. -8C/0kts As 7/8/am Sun pm Awoke to a sky covered in cloud and prepared for travel in whiteout. One hour later the clouds were gone and we stood on our skis for a perfect day. (Mid pic is the view from behind our facemask). It was very warm and we could even sit down for the lunch soup instead of hastily run off to regain heat. Yes she is beautiful like this. Its like travelling on an endless bridal gown laid out on a lake of pale blue. The smallest sastrugi looks like lace and the snow shimmer in sparkles of blue, red, silver and green. It is totally pure, untouched and breathtakingly quiet. It is such a blessing to be permitted entrance to a place like this. Well, tomorrow is a rest day and that too is going to be wonderful.

	Dec 14. Brain erase
	S81 35 W79 58 T9PM(Chile) True Alt 1200m TT 8h D 17,3 km TD 191,8 km/15days sled w xkg. -14C/20kts Sun How nice it is that time for camp. Are getting tired and look forward to the rest day. As our bodies wear down before new muscle builds, our brains are in delete mode. All that seemed so important just weeks ago is erased and we focus on food, sleep, distance and other basic stuff, just as once the Dinosaurs now buried somewhere deep beneath our steps. It's a good thing though. Unclutters the mind and leaves space for new horizons.

	Dec 13. Mad dogs on a leash
	S81 25 W79 54, T9PM(Chile) True Alt 1200m TT 8h D 19.5 km TD 174.5 km/14days sled w 207kg. -12C/5kts Sun Oh that Antarctica pain. The sleds are like walking mad dogs on a leash, stopping at every sastrugi. Due to the late season, the snow is soft and we cut inches into it with every step. The pressure on our backs, feet and legs is great with the load of the several hundreds of pounds towed behind. We cut out soles insulates from a foam pad, we tape body parts and powder rashes. We do a Marathon every other day with a rest day every fortnight, even without a load our body would object. Yet one day, perhaps somewhere around the 84th degree, the magic final pound will be removed of the sleds and a balance will enter when at last, the sleds will start to dance.

	Dec 12. 360 degree view of our world
	S81 15 W79 57, T9PM(Chile) True Alt 1200m TT 8h D 17.6 km TD 155,0 km/13days sled w 209.5 kg. -10C/0kts Sun Cs 1/8 Forgot the Argos on this morning and started out late. Had been trying to change our places in tent and became so disoriented that we didn't find anything around. Routine means a lot on a trip such as this. Have also changed altitude reports to the altitudes stated in our maps. The GPS readings are incorrect and seem to be affected by pressure ridges after all. The pics today are of our view just an hour ago (8pm). South-West-North-East. Another dazzling day, Tolkien's Lord of the rings in headphones and 155 km closer to goal.

	Dec 11. 81 degrees South
	S81 05 W79 59, T10PM(Chile) GPS Alt 804m TT 8h D 16.1 km TD 137.4 km/12days sled w 212 kg. -12C/5-20kts Sun On a Miami-NY flight stopover in Chicago, a businessman yelled cheerfully to his mates as he unloaded his briefcase: I love this place. Every day is a battle! Today was just such a day in Antarctica. Pain, lonely thoughts and nothing but the own shadow to watch, hour after hour. In camp afterwards, we wouldn't be anywhere else. Another tough day towards a desired goal to mark down. The Chicago man was right, it even beats the rest days. We have now left the coastal Heritage Mountains, the Horseshoe valley and the Nunataks behind and have entered the first plateau at 81 degrees South.

	Dec 10. Tired and heavy
	S80 57 W79 58, T 8PM(Chile) GPS Alt 769m TT 8h D 16.7 km TD 121.3 km/11days sled w 214.5kg. -12C/20kts Sun Ci 1/8 Loaded another of the positive disks for the afternoon run. A calm, soothing voice began: Find a serene comfortable place, relax and close your eyes. (OK, this won't work) Imagine colors and a lake (together with the silence of Antarctica and monotony of skiing began feeling dizzy) now feel your body getting heavy. . . your legs are heavy. . . your. . . All right that's it. The least we need right now is just that. Out went the disk in went another with Euro Techno music.

	Dec 9. One hour from origin
	S80 48 W79 56, T 8PM(Chile) Alt 803m TT 8h D 16.4 km TD 104.6km/10days sled w 217kg. -12C/5kts Sun CS7/8 halo A wonderful day. A majestic Halo towered over us today, slightly leaning over like a giant glory in the sky. We ski on the core of Gondwana land, the first land on earth. The ice cap is 2000 meters. With todays speed we would ski down to it in an hour. Take off sleds, and we could touch our beginning in twenty minutes or so. This is an enchanted continent.

	Nov 8. Instant Polar News
	S80 39 W80 01, T 8PM(Chile) Alt 772m TT 8h D 15.7 km TD 87.2km/9days sled w 219.5kg. -12C/5kts Sun CS5/8 CC2/8 Another good day. The 8 hour sessions feels rough on our bodies, but that will pass. We have powered up all tech again and it all works at the moment. It should be interesting for you to know that we don't use webmasters or archive pics. We publish the minute we finished writing and the pics are from the very same day even often the last hour. We wear the computers on us at all times and even tape loose connections with sports tape.

	Dec 7. Glorious day
	S80 31 W80 05, T 9PM Alt 815m TT 8h D 16.1 km TD71.5km/8days sled w 222kg. -10C/0kts Sun So much has happened in our lives, this first year of the new millennium. Good things, some bad. It has been a drama and we haven't really had time to think it all over. Now we do, in this white pure ocean of ice and blue sky. Precious time to sort it all out inside us and make something out of it to bring into our future.

	Dec 6. Rest day
	Fine day but windy AM. Are charging up on power: Ours and the batteries. Feel very strong right now, no soreness or blisters. Have now covered over 50 km in half the time of last year. Should reach target travel time in two days, then increase speed. Soft snow now frozen over. Tech report: The PDA has done a hard reboot. Probable cause infrequent recharge. Added on software gone, basic software intact. One minidisk doesn't recharge from battery bank. Wearable computer resets date daily and refuses to accept connected devices at times, requires several hard restarts. One sat phone poor connection. One battery Expedition unexpectedly gone. Good news: Instant reports with pics from Antarctic unsupported expedition now seven days. Despite minor problems, the setup seems to perform well. Gear: Head mounted compass reconnected, covers on sleds too short one sled partially open on travel. No other gear failure. Fuel: 400 ml/day.

	Dec 5. Here comes the sun
	S80 22 W80 14, T 11PM Alt 777m TT 7h D 12 km TD55.4km/6days sled w 225.5kg. -15C/22kts Sun At last the sun showed and we charge up all tech. There is a cold wind and we tape our faces where ice inside our masks and hoods touch the skin. 7 hours pull, 12 km today. Camp opposite the pretty Antarctic peaks Three sails. Still sticky snow but should freeze up. Super learning lessons on minidisk today. They demonstrated the tricks by teaching us cooking terms. Only thing we super-memorized were the foods described.

	Dec 4. Positive sastrugi
	S80 16 W80 23, T 9.30PM (Chi) Alt 719m TT 6h D 9.0 km TD41.2km/5days sled w 227.0kg. -12C/20kts W/O snowfall Oh, shut up! we yell at Tony Robbins. In our headphones, he rambles something about the need to transform pain into pleasure just as we fall over a particularly high sastrugi. But we don't turn of the minidisk. This positive thinking guru sure keeps our spirits up. Woke up to another gloomy day, just to dig out camp took a while. We went 9 km and a thermometer inside (!)Toms jacket showed an amazing -7C. But we had larger patches without the very deep snow and that is the most important. Now we are in our foggy camp working the tech and cooking pasta bolognese.

	Dec 3. Misery
	S80 11 W80 32, T 9PM Alt 755m TT 6h D 7.3km TD33.2km/4days sled w 228.5kg. -12C/25kts W/O snowfall Miserable day. Snowfall several days buried everything. Got it all today: Whiteout, strong headwinds, sastrugis, snowdrift and worst of all deep, wet snow that grabbed to our sleds like liquid concrete. We struggled badly and went very slow, but reached target 6 hours travel time before we landed cold and exhausted in camp.

	Dec 2. Whiteout
	S80 02 W80 29, T 8PM Chi time Alt 691m TT 5.5h D 10km TD26km/3days sleds230kg. -10C/10kts Ci md/Ns am + pm. Whiteout this morning. Time to get out navigation gear. GPS Silva and Garmin, compass mounted on masks. It's like travelling in a white universe; there are absolutely no points of orientation. A few minutes of the compass can easily change our direction back to North. If one is right footed one will slide towards right or left if left footed. 10 km today, snowy with sastrugis.