Dan and Amelia: Always the same question: will they arrive in time?
Published on 20.04.2010 - Northpolechallenge.co.uk
The jump across the lead that Amelia wanted to make on 17 April (over an interstitial water channel) was almost fatal for the expedition.
Some are lucky, others are not. The Australian Tom Smitheringale fell badly into the water (on 15 April) and had to be evacuated as an emergency (see our communiqué); Amelia for her part, wanted to prove that she was in super form and tried to jump from one bank to the other of a channel which she thought she could get across in that way - that was on last Saturday, 17 April. Luck had forsaken her, because she fell completely into the water but was able, in less than 60 seconds, to be rescued by her companion, the faithful liege knight Dan Darley, as she calls him.
Admittedly, they lost half a day in the adventure but Amelia got out of it all without any pain whatsoever. Which was not the case for Smitheringale, who certainly had been living a safe life but who may possibly have to some parts of his fingers and toes amputated.
Apart from this incident, nothing or almost nothing to report concerning the last rush that Dan and Amelia are making. Except perhaps that Amelia's wetsuit now has so many holes in it that it has become unusable. Or even the eternal question that Dan especially is asking himself. Namely whether the six days that they have left will be enough for them to get to the Pole. By zooming backwards, we realise that they have just taken six days to make Degree 88. So, hope springs eternal...
Their position on 19 April: 88° 0.9622 N / 63° 0.9066 W.
