South 87 degrees 12.000 West 081 degrees 47.980 21 nautical miles Elevation 7,425 ft
I finished my 7th degree--only 3 more to go!
I had a hard time convincing myself to get going this morning. It was windy and cold and I kept hoping the wind would die down a bit. Eventually I decided I'd better get going if I wanted to get a good day of miles in.
The sastrugi are getting really big, which makes for some very technical biking. The sastrugi are sharp, hard, and have 6 foot drops in them. A lot of times there is just enough drop and then rise that it will stop the front wheel, making it very likely to do an endo. Fortunately, I was always able to get my feet down and stop before any serious crashes. I removed the brakes back at the halfway point. Maybe it wasn't a good idea. Dropping off sastrugi without brakes is scary!
The day was mostly spent climbing. There was one short, steep downhill, followed by what seemed like a wall. I climbed 400 feet in a short distance. Throughout this climb, there were small lines in the snow that when I first saw I thought were crevasses. It turns out that they were. I found a couple that had openings in them. Most of them were about 2 to 5 inches wide, so not enough to be dangerous. But still, I was glad to get off of that slope, both because of the climb and the fear of the crevasses.
Tomorrow's route takes a jog to the west to get around a dangerous crevasse area. The pole is only about 2,000 feet higher than I am now, and the climbing should mellow out soon. I should be there at the pole in less than two weeks.
Remember to go out and be active.
I finished my 7th degree--only 3 more to go!
I had a hard time convincing myself to get going this morning. It was windy and cold and I kept hoping the wind would die down a bit. Eventually I decided I'd better get going if I wanted to get a good day of miles in.
The sastrugi are getting really big, which makes for some very technical biking. The sastrugi are sharp, hard, and have 6 foot drops in them. A lot of times there is just enough drop and then rise that it will stop the front wheel, making it very likely to do an endo. Fortunately, I was always able to get my feet down and stop before any serious crashes. I removed the brakes back at the halfway point. Maybe it wasn't a good idea. Dropping off sastrugi without brakes is scary!
The day was mostly spent climbing. There was one short, steep downhill, followed by what seemed like a wall. I climbed 400 feet in a short distance. Throughout this climb, there were small lines in the snow that when I first saw I thought were crevasses. It turns out that they were. I found a couple that had openings in them. Most of them were about 2 to 5 inches wide, so not enough to be dangerous. But still, I was glad to get off of that slope, both because of the climb and the fear of the crevasses.
Tomorrow's route takes a jog to the west to get around a dangerous crevasse area. The pole is only about 2,000 feet higher than I am now, and the climbing should mellow out soon. I should be there at the pole in less than two weeks.
Remember to go out and be active.
Good work Dan. Keep it up we're rooting for you. Saw your story on the news last night.
ReplyDeleteI just learned of your odyssey from the Deseret News. Amazing. Magnificent too. I will be with you the rest of the way.
ReplyDeleteHey, Google News featured an article on you. Simply amazing. Stay careful and stay warm!
ReplyDeleteWAY TO GO DAN!!! Keep up the great work!!!
ReplyDelete