If it’s blisters you want, help yourself…
Published on 17.12.2008 - IceCold in Antarctica
Communication has not been too regular with this ANI expedition, maybe the tourists have had other fish to fry instead of keeping their log up to date. Or perhaps it has been their blisters.
One thing's for sure: on Monday 8th December, Daragh, Jeremy, Doug, Eric and Luc reached their first re-supply point at around 3.30 in the afternoon. The cache appears to have been marked by a very small black flag. Fortunately, the weather was fine and clear that day, otherwise they might not have found their precious supplies so easily.
The original plan in the expedition's schedule had been for the team to enjoy a day's rest when the first set of fresh supplies were picked up Ãâ but that's not how things worked out. Certainly the men spent the remainder of the day getting their equipment in order and reorganising their sledges. But whereas they had planned to stay put the following day, they set out on their way as usual, no doubt spurred on by the Pole's powers of attraction and their fear of not getting there on schedule.
Eight days later, on Tuesday 16th, we received another update reporting that they were battling with total whiteout conditions. But once again, instead of taking advantage of the bad weather to rest up a little, the opted to plough on. The method used by the group to keep going in the zero-visibility conditions was to have one man go on ahead while the others waited. Then they set a course between the man ahead and the others, who would then catch up with the lead man.
Another item of information in the update: although they don't like talking about it too much, they all seem to be suffering from blisters. Blisters everywhere, in fact: under their arms, on their feet of course, on their hands, on their hips (from the harness), on their shoulders, etc. Darah even said that his body was only held together by sticky plaster and bandages.
