Tracking
the Journey
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Distance to go:
0 Mi
Distance
Ben and Tarka will cover 1800 miles starting from Scott's Terra Nova Hut at the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole and back to the coast again. That's equivalent to 69 back-to-back marathons hauling up to 200kg each (the weight of roughly two adult men) of kit and supplies necessary to survive.
Distances here are shown in statute miles.
The Land of the Midnight Sun Dog (Day 17)
Day 17: S79° 00' 46.38", E168° 32' 20.1"
Duration: 6 Hr 30 Min
Daily distance: 7.8 Mi
Distance to go: 1687.8 Mi
Temperature: -16 °C
Wind chill: -29 °C
Altitude: 174 Ft
Today was pretty horrendous. It was alarmingly cold at times (the weather data we send back is taken first thing in the morning and conditions often change during the day), the visibility was mostly poor-to-non-existent, and the surface was hellish; soft, deep, sticky snow that made pulling our heavy sleds feel like dragging anvils through ploughed clay.
The one redeeming bit of natural splendour came at midday our time (actually midnight here) when the sun is due south and we ski almost straight toward it. As Tarka took the lead, the clouds parted for thirty minutes and we were treated to a parhelion, or sun dog, a circle of light around the sun caused by ice crystals in the air refracting the sun's rays.
I'm pretty certain it's a phenomenon that's only seen at high latitudes, and it was our first proper one down here. Right now we're battening down the hatches as Andy gave us a weather forecast over the satellite phone that included 25-30 knot winds starting tonight, so we'll see how things go.
It certainly feels like Antarctica isn't giving us much of a break at the moment. Our daily distances still seem modest but each inch comes at an extraordinary physical cost.
Comments
# I-ku-u, November 12th 2013
I’m fairly certain you don’t need high latitudes to get the halo effect. I once, to my great surprise and pleasure, saw the same type of halo around the sun on a cool, partly cloudy day here in southern New England, in late spring. The “dog” feature was definitely absent though, where the sides are brighter than the rest - likely because there was no obvious “side” that would permit such amplification.
# Ale, November 12th 2013
Yes, sun dogs can be seen all over the world!
Hey guys, I saw in a video you like jokes and laughing so here below are few easy/stupid/funny questions for you (hope you like them otherwise ban me for the eternity!!!!!):
Q: do you know which animal lives one meter under the ground, has a green skin and eats stones?
A: It’s a green_stone_eater!!!
Q: do you know how to fit 4 elephants in a BMC Mini car?
A: 2 in the back seats and 2 in the front seats!
Q: Do you know how you might know that an elephant lives comfortably in your fridge?
A: well, you should see foot steps on the butter!
Q: How do you know if you have 2 or 3 elephants in your fridge?
A: more foot steps on the butter!
Q: How do you know if you have 4 elephants in your fridge?
A: this is easy: you should notice the Mini parked in front of your house!
Q: imagine to have a couple of friends going to the north pole just now and you made to get to the poles exactly at the same time, let’s even assume you can dig a hole from the two poles (a very long hole indeed). Now if the guys at the north pole throw a stone into the hole does the stone reaches you guys at the other end?
A: The answer is NO and it’s even quite easy, just see the first question… there’s the green_stone_eater that takes the stone!!!!
Enjoy your trip and have fun over there!!!!
Respect!
Ale
# CaninesCashews, November 18th 2013
Great photo guys!!