While the weather in Antarctica has been sunny and beautiful for the last few days, a recent storm dumped soft snow on most of the expeditions, shortening daily mileage and causing extra work for the skiers.
Crossings
Twenty-four days in, Akshay Nanavati finally hit a long-desired goal. He surpassed the 20km daily mark while manhauling his exceedingly heavy sled. It was a moment to celebrate, and the skier wanted to hit that 20km daily milestone regularly moving forward. But his plans were immediately stymied.
“I got very, very soft snow today,” Nanavati said in a voice recording on the evening of day 25. “Softest snow of the entire journey. So it was a slog, especially [after logging 21.7km] yesterday. A brutal reminder of just how much weight I still have behind me, probably 165km+.”
Though he fell short of his goal, he still logged over 17km.
“The expectation of continuing yesterday’s trend is what drained more than the physical slog,” he continued. His recent updates also include mentions of foot and knee pain but he notes that he’s prioritizing recovery with extra rest whenever possible.
Nanavati expects his solo unsupported crossing to take 110 days, hence all that weight. Currently, he’s done 347km out of his projected 2,736km journey as he approaches the 81st parallel.
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Youngmi Kim’s 1,700km solo unsupported crossing is on its 28th day, and she’s skied 565km so far. She just crossed the 85th parallel.
“The sastrugi have been getting worse the last few days, and I’ve been burning a lot of calories,” she said in a recent update. She also noted soft snow and wind. Both combined to give her a difficult week of hauling. But, she said, “it was sunny, and my mind was clear.”
Luckily for Kim, she seems to have had a week blessedly free of the equipment failures that plagued the early days of her expedition.
Photo: Youngmi Kim
Hercules Inlet to the South Pole
Soft snow also troubles skiers on the standard 1,130km Hercules Inlet to South Pole route.
On night 13, Indian skier Satish Gogineni began by praising the sunny weather but quickly pivoted to a discussion of the snow. “It was still fresh and completely exhausted me,” he said. “Probably the worst day since the beginning of this trip.”
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Danish skier Rasmus Kragh is more periodic in his updates than many others. His last post was from December 3, 11 days into his expedition.
In the post, he called himself a “human plow” as he manhauled through the same fresh snow that confronted the rest of the skiers. But like most skiers, he was happy to see the sun after the three-day storm that deposited all that snow.
English skier Catherine Buford shared similar feelings, noting the best weather of her expedition so far in a recent audio update.
“It’s a shame the terrain didn’t match the weather,” she wryly noted. “Third straight day of soft, deep snow.”
Buford is on day 15, having covered 158km. She’ll likely end the day halfway between the 81st and 82nd parallels.
Karen Kyllesø, with her light 100kg sled, was a little more cheerful than others, able to enjoy both the weather and a 20km day on December 4. She’s skied 190km so far.
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Messner Start to South Pole
Turkish skier Ali Riza Bilal has covered nearly 200km of the 911km Messner Start to South Pole route in 14 days. Now, on day 15, he’s creeping up on the 84th parallel. Although he’s on a decent pace, he’s still experiencing technical difficulties with his solar charger.
He’s also running into trouble with a ski binding but has managed to find a temporary solution, according to his most recent update. The ski binding issue has caused pain in his ankle, forcing him into a 17km day yesterday.
The binding issue joins a host of other equipment difficulties Bilal has experienced so far.
Photo: Screenshot
John Huntington of England crossed the 84th parallel late yesterday and is 221km in. “I won’t bore you with more tales of soft snow,” he noted at the end of day 13. “Because it was basically exactly the same as yesterday.”
Photo: Screenshot
Berkner Island to South Pole
“About halfway across the ice shelf now, toward the Antarctic landmass,” Frederick Fennessy noted in a recent update. “It’s definitely been a tough few days, legs are starting to feel tired.” Fennessy’s route to the pole from Berkner Island is 1,400km long, and he’s 430km in.
Fennessy experienced whiteout conditions late last week and has struggled in deep, fresh snow this week.
Photo: Screenshot
