Carrying Henry's Flag (Log #50)

L O U ' S   D I A R Y  

Day 51 in Antarctica. Big day as Lou crosses 87 degrees South and punches into 86 - once he reaches 86 he'll be at the top of the Leverett Glacier, ready to drop half a degree down to the Ross Ice Shelf. For the first time Lou sights the peaks and nunataks of the Transantarctic mountains...

Dec 23 2018 - 

Good evening everyone...

Reporting in now from day 51 of the expedition. Quite a big day for me today. Around about lunchtime, I crossed 87 degrees South, which is a great milestone. And I punched quite a way into 86 as well, so I got a few miles into there. From 87 down to 86 is my final full degree, and once I reach 86 itself, that’ll be right at the top of the Leverett Glacier. I’ve got then just over half a degree descent down there onto the Ross Ice Shelf to complete the journey. Great to reach that

Towards the end of the day as well, the last hour of the day, I was skiing along, and there had been a lot of low cloud on the horizon. I was just skiing along, staring at a particular cloud, which looked slightly unusual… Gazing at that I was skiing along. And after a while, I realised I wasn’t moving, like all the other clouds around it. It suddenly dawned on me that I wasn’t looking at a cloud at all, and it was actually the peak of a mountain. A hugely emotional moment when I realised, I’m actually starting to see the peaks and nunataks of the Transantarctic mountains on the horizon. That is really significant. That is showing really that it’s the beginning of the end. Once I actually reach those mountains, I’m obviously into the Leverett Glacier, my pathway down off the continent and onto the Ross Ice Shelf. Absolutely amazing – my landscape is going to be changing daily now, from the vast flatness and flat white line on the horizon of the Polar plateau, into the mountains. It’s going to get a whole lot more interesting. I’m really looking forward to that.

And I thought about Henry a lot today, particularly when I saw the mountains – the fact that he didn’t quite unfortunately make it that far – he ground to a halt shortly before he would have been able to see the Transantarctics. So he was really on my mind. I’m carrying Henry’s flag, his family crest flag, that Joanna has very kindly lent me, that he carried on all his journeys, and it’s really important to me that, this time, the flag goes all the way, and completes the journey right to the end. And it will.

Onwards...