Miles Advanced: 0
Wind-Speed: 40.3mph
Wind-Chill: Avg. -56f, Down to -73f
Visibility: Piss Poor
Mankind was never meant to exist on the ‘Last Continent’ and today it seems Mother Nature is trying to remind us of that fact. In all my seasons on the Ice, I have never witnessed a storm quite like this one- it’s not so much the wind-speed or the cold, it’s the amount of snow that’s so remarkable.
They say Antarctica is the driest continent on earth- so where is all this snow coming from? Forecasters predict this weather is going to last a couple more days and I sincerely hope not, as we will have a couple days of shoveling out as it is.
Above: We use ropes to guide ourselves through the whiteout.
Fueling the generator was a necessity and we lucked out when all our hoses linked together and reached the bladder without an inch to spare. This chore lasted an hour and I felt like I was getting sandblasted the whole while.
There was snow in my goggles, up my nose, in my ears, and down my spine. McLovin’tried smoking a cigarette but the filter plugged full of snow within a couple puffs.
P.S. No, those were not my bloated, hairy, midget legs.
No, those were not my extremely muscled bodybuilder legs either.
No, I am not taking a 1976 bodybuilding trophy to the South Pole
Yes, you are retarded if you email my wife, or my boss, about these daily updates- remember, I could be making all this stuff up. Who knows? Maybe I’m in Florida right now typing all this from a Jacuzzi.
And No, I’m not going to stop using the words ‘midget’ or ‘retarded’ because they are both awesome.
Miles Advanced: 0
Wind Spd: Avg. 32.5mph
Wind-Chill: Min. -63.5F
Ambient Temp: -8F
Visibility: 50ft.
Yup, the storm persists. This is the third day of the blizzard. The weather forecast says we may have a small window tomorrow afternoon to dig everything out and move it some 500ft to higher ground, and then another storm is supposed to hit. Jeez.
The Moonregan Traverse is coming through this way soon. They are using our route to make it to McMurdo and back in record time. From what we’ve heard, they are about 50 miles away. As the visibility is poor we decided to flag all our sleds and bladders so we don’t have a collision. Usually we don’t have to worry about others using our route but I think those days are gone. The more expeditioners that hear about a flagged/crevasse-free route to the South Pole, the more we are going to start seeing them use it.
Beyond the Backyard 