Day 35

Pretty much the whole day was spent in white out conditions. For those that have not experienced a white out, it occurs when the horizon disappears and there is no discernable distinction between sky and snow. For the lead person attempting to break trail it can begin to play tricks on your mind. Slopes are impossible to judge and often your brain tells you you’re turning in circles when heading perfectly straight…or vice a versa. Phantom slopes and nonexistent drops begin to form in your mind as you step out into a relentless white wilderness. It’s hard work both physically and mentally but everyone finds their own way to cope, either staring relentlessly at the compass and ignoring everything else or glancing back at the team lined out behind then to regain perspective.

Time passes in 50 min blocks trudging uphill in the white blanket. Today is another ten-hour day and bodies are starting to get used to the physical demands of simply keeping going. As the final pull of the day approaches visibility finally improves, we are only 13km away from DYE III and there is some talk of extending the day and pushing for it tonight. I share the sentiment but I know it would be a mistake. Most people have nearly exhausted their water and we need some hot food inside us. To extend the day by another 10+ km means at least an additional 4 hours and more probably five. What’s more, experience suggests it never is 4-5 hours, it’s always longer as you chase shadows and tired bodies make mistakes. I make the call that we will stop after ten hours and renew our hunt for DYE III in the morning with fresh legs. With camp established there is a general consensus that it’s the right choice.

My morale is buoyed enormously by a video call with my family back in Norway. Just hearing about the everyday challenges of first week back at school is strangely uplifting. What is more worrying is that we still can’t see DYE III and we’re only about ten km away. We fly the drone…nothing! We check the Lat / Long we have for DYE III. There is a little confusion between the degrees, minutes and seconds location and the digital interpretation that GPS work off…… yet we check several times and the differing notations agree and still take us to DYE III approx. 10.2Km on a bearing of 323. We’ve checked and double checked, it should be there…but still I’m nervous. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.