Antarctica Week Five: Halfway There
The stellar weather continues for Antarctica’s man and woman haulers. Meanwhile, a very different expedition heads across the Drake Passage. Longest Polar Expedition Last week, Geoff Wilson abandoned part of his expedition because of concern over a fuel leak. Instead of going to the South Pole, he is heading directly to the Pole of Inaccessibility. For five days, calm weather caused agonizingly slow progress for the kiter. On December 7, the wind picked up. Despite issues with his bindings and worrying cracks in one sled, he made better headway. He pushed hard when conditions allowed, clocking 192km on December 11. The climb to the Dome, described by Wilson as “an icy Ayers Rock, but the top is 100km wide,” slowed to a crawl as he hit deep snow on the plateau. Coupled with an upwind tack, the final 150km to…
Source link
Originally posted 2019-12-20 22:37:06.
