Aaron in Antarctica, day 30. Holy ragers batman, sustained winds at 35 knots adjusting up 45 and I don’t know maybe 50. It was brutal and just non stop wind, unbelievable. Apparently it was exact same at Union Glacier and it’s gonna be like that til tomorrow until the afternoon when they’re suppose to drop, oh my gosh. So camp position 81 degrees 56 decimal 899 minutes, position West 081 degrees 03 decimal 006 minutes. Time traveled 9 hours, distance 8.5, pretty much 9 miles. But I destroyed myself doing it, I mean I powered up, went as hard as I could, I mean I sweated, my kartankers are soaked, my boot liners are soaked, my shirt sinks and my achilles hurt, knees hurt, quads are strained or threatening to be strained. I was at absolute max with weight load and drag I’ve got, I’m just not gonna get there. So I gotta do something dramatic here unfortunately. Not exactly ideal but I guess that’s the way it works. Yea the wind today, I would actually stop for a break, turned around, let my trace line slack and Charlie Red, the sled still on skis, the wind was actually pulling it back several inches every time I stopped, and every time I stopped and turned around, the wind would shove me on my skis so, my sled was being shoved around that was right at the limit, man when I was putting up the tent, it was so scary. So I put both main lines that went to the sled and then they put the stakes down, thank goodness they did, boy once that tent set, I mean it went live, that thing popped like a parachute, both sleds yanked around, furtunately I had a pretty close tension on the stakes cause of those guys would of busted then oh man that would of been bad. Speaking of stakes, I slightly bent another one. Hilleberg tents are great but those stakes, I don’t know where they get them from, but they’re not gonna last here, no way, no matter how careful I am. So it’s only partially bent…so that means only a matter of time, um yea that was great. Antarctic tid bit, whenever I’m making water and I pour it into a bottle I always always put a water proof glove on that are attached to my glove liners, why?, because your pouring boiling water into a nalgene bottle or thermos and how are you going to handle having a really burnt hand, finger, thumb or whatever out here, you aren’t. I didn’t follow my rule twice on this trip and sure enough, each time I poured some boiling water on myself, so I jammed my thumb into the ice but every time I follow procedure I never get hurt, my gloves get a little moist but that can be taken care of pretty darn easily. So definitely a project of a day, oh my gosh. I don’t know how in the heck those guys ever did 16 miles on days like this, I just, I can’t figure it out, can not figure it out, maybe they’re all Norwegian power skiers so. So anyway, it’ll be pretty rough tomorrow too, skis all waxed so it’s easy as possible but still, til the afternoon, it’s gonna be a real ripper. Alright out!
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