Current Position
Position Date: 2012-12-27 00:10:03
Position Lat: -82.1607
Position Long: -79.8099
Listen to Eric's latest audio update.
My Christmas present came a day late in the form of my
expedition schedule which allows for a half of a day rest every seven
days. And today was that day! What a joy! I actually woke up at my
normal time but then dozed off again. After that, I was just a lot of
relaxing, charging my electronic gear with my Goal Zero solar charger
and staring at the ceiling of my Hilleberg tent. Who needs Club Med? (Image: My ice photo - triceratops sastrugi).
Today, as many of you know, is Ice Photo Wednesday - the day I have
arbitrarily designated as a celebration of all things ice, snowy,
frosty or otherwise cold-related. Of course, there's no shortage of
snow and ice here. Antarctica is covered on average with a half miles
of ice that reaches a thickness of roughly two miles at the South
Pole. But I have to be honest, not much of the snow along my route has
captured my interest... Until today.
For whatever reason, I started to see more and more sastrugi in larger
patches. Several drifts were nearly three feet tall. Often times, big
sastrugi fields are found at the base of long inclines, formed I
assume, due to increased wind speeds, but I hadn't seen many
interesting forms since Hercules Inlet. Today, however, all that
changed. (Image: Ice Photo Wednesday: the Arctic Ocean).
I biked past large patches of arcing forms. Some with scalloped snouts
and others paper thin crests. I stopped way too many times trying to
capture the perfect Ice Photo.
Another amazing thing about to day was the comfort I felt after
putting my two Revelate pogies on my seat for a little extra cushion
for my chaffed (so sorry I keep bringing this up) but. Of course, I've
also been giving the affected area some first aid as a simple sore can
easily turn into an expedition ender. Each night, I've been using
Action Wipes to keep the area clean (Ok way too much information). The
reason I brought this up is because it hasn't been necessary to use my
pogies. At zero Fahrenheit or a little below, all I've need on my
hands has been my Ergodyne fleece gloves.
I've started to listen to a few podcasts (metered carefully so as not
to run out) in the tent at night without ear phones. My favorite is
called 'Stuff You Should Know.' I've learned about the history of
zero, space elevators and fractals. One episode, 'Can you vacation in
Antartica' I haven't had the heart to listen to yet. Although if you
read my opening paragraph, the answer has to be yes. (View current position by clicking on map).
I've tried to figure out why I feel like in floating on my bike
because it certainly isn't my sore knees, crashes and cranking through
drifts. Rather, it's that my Granite Gear panniers obscure my view of
the front wheel!?!
