A Friend Overhead (Log #22)
L O U ' S D I A R Y
Day 23 in Antarctica. A day of good, stable weather, light winds and great visibility. Around lunch Lou looks up and spots ALE's Basier plane passing overhead, on its way from Union Glacier to the South Pole to set up camp for the first arrivals. Lou makes good progress and puts in 11 hours of solid skiing for 14 nautical miles. He can feel the weight of the pulk coming down and is now only 8 nautical miles from crossing 86 degrees South...
Nov 25 2018 -
Good evening everyone…
Reporting in now from day 23 of the expedition on 25 November. Good weather today all day – it stayed pretty stable. The sun was out so great visibility and very light winds as well so it was a great opportunity to make some good progress today. In just under 11 hours solid skiing, I managed to achieve 14 nautical miles so really pleased with that – that I can now make some good progress. The pulk is beginning to feel a bit more reasonable weight-wise. The weight is coming down.
I’ve got myself in a position tonight where I’m only eight nautical miles from crossing 86 degrees South, so that will be a great milestone. And tomorrow I should clear 86 degrees South, which will put me four degrees away from the South Pole. And really looking forward to that.
The highlight of today was that, about half way through today; one-two o’clock, I heard a bit of a droning sound. I looked up and there was a plane. It was ALE’s Basler plane, which was obviously on its way from Union Glacier to the South Pole to set up the South Pole camp ready for people passing through. It was reasonable low as well so I could see the plane. I found myself, I just stopped and looked up and stared at it for ages; for as long as I could see it. It was the only man-made thing I’ve seen for quite a long time so it was quite fascinating watching it go over. Probably most of the people on board will be Polar guides and ALE staff who I know who were on board. But whether or not they could see me – I’ve no idea! It’ll be interesting to find out!
Now I have the tent up and am chilling in the tent with my usual evening routine. Tonight for tea I had some chilli-con-carne, which was awesome, and that was provided by Expedition Foods. A shout out to Mary and all the team at Expedition Foods, who have provided all my freeze-dried meals for this expedition. The food is fantastic and a thousand calories per packet as well is just what I need to keep myself well-fuelled for this expedition.
That’s all for this evening. I look forward to speaking to you tomorrow night.
Onwards...
