Dispatch #9 - New Route via Reedy Glacier to South Pole

New Route via Reedy Glacier to South Pole

Dispatches

Dec 11

#9:
katabatic winds

Published at 05:22

For the first 3 days we had katabatic winds in the morning which petered out around midday. They are like clockwork, formed by the temperature and altitude differential between the plateau above and the shelf below which, together with gravity, pulls the air down from above. Once it warms a little with the sun a bit higher in the north they switch off. They've been relatively light but can be very powerful.

The wind we had today was more than katabatic, it was an all-day bitter blast from the southeast that gave us a sample of the cold we'll experience up top.

20km but over a laborious 8 hours as we gained almost 200m elevation. Once we hit the glacier we should be able to cover more ground. Tomorrow we pass our first nunatak, a peak emerging from the ice.

All happy, eating Pringles and wishing for vodka.

Eric

Photo of camp and a sunscreen snotty mo selfie

Name: Camp 4
Elevation: 606 m
Latitude: 85° 23’ 50” South
Longitude: 137° 15’ 23” West

image1

image2

Comments

2023-03-29 06:25:01 Mike Rooney says: This is such awesome content i got to read after lot of time. Its so interesting as well as informative. I am sure everyone who read it got a lot to learn from it.Beautiful Disaster Travis Maddox Leather Jacket
2016-12-11 17:02:44 B says: B.adie@kings-Winchester.hants.sch.uk please ask rob to mail this address next time he can.
2016-12-11 16:21:28 Adies says: Very glad we are not there! Tell rob I'm mailing every day.
2016-12-11 10:01:35 Jose Naranjo says: Good progress to be the first days of the expedition. Good luck!
2016-12-11 08:29:41 Michael Archer says: Wish I was there