Today marks the summer solstice in the southern hemisphere. That’s the longest
day of the year, the day that the sun reaches at its maximum southerly
declination of -23.5 degrees. Of course the team is experiencing 24 hour
sunlight, so this day is probably more significant to those of us in the
northern hemisphere as it signals a return to the longer days of spring and
summer.
Longer days is an interesting concept in polar travel. Some
expeditions, in an effort to be more efficient, simply decide to make their days
longer. For instance, instead of working off a 24 hour day they switch to a 30
hour day. They may sleep for 10 hours ski for 14 hours and spend 6 hours
cooking, eating, making water and mending gear every day. Over the course of
many “days” they reduce the number of times they make and break camp, etc. This
strategy works only because of the 24 hour sunlight. It simply does not really
matter what time your watch says, because it always looks the same!
Our
team was happy to have a rest day yesterday, and there were likely a couple 10
hour sleepers in the group. Today they got back to their regular schedule making
24 kilometers. They are skiing towards the Thiel Mountains and they expect to be
there in a couple days. As Dennis mentions in his audio update there are some
treats in their next resupply that they wouldn’t mind having for
Christmas!
The howling wind from yesterday continued throughout the night
and into this morning. Bob recorded winds 12-15 knots with gusts to 25 knots.
The team had to dig themselves out of their camp this morning, as snow drifts
had covered their gear and tents. After a few hours of skiing the sun broke
through the clouds and they were treated to a very nice afternoon and evening.
They are currently located at S 84.30.999, W 86.16.171.
Make sure to
listen to the daily audio report from Dennis and check back again tomorrow for
another update from the team!