Welcome rest day for Weber and clients
Published on 12.12.2011 - South Pole and Back - Ski & Kite
We seldom higlight the rest days the expeditioners take once in a while during their trek on the ice...
"Changing my clothes for the first time !"
This time the description of this particuliar day is so well written by one of the clients of Richard Weber that we have chosen to publish large excerpts of it. These lines have been writtent by Chris de Lapuente.
After skiing the last degree to the North Pole with Richard and his team in 2004, Chris was bitten by the 'Polar bug'. He retired from P&G in September 2010 after 27 years hard labour! He then spent 6 months accomplishing many of his dreams, from climbing Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua to learning how to kite ski in Norway plus training for this South Pole expedition. Retirement didn`t last long and in April he joined LVMH as CEO Sephora Worldwide, which included negotiating a 2 months sabbatical to do this expedition.
Here are the excerpts : "... Today has dawned sunny and bright and I have had the best birthday pressie (Real Madrid haven't played yet!).....A REST DAY!!! We have played Scrabble. I have had a snow bath in -23C and splashed myself with T Tree oil......and I'm changing my clothes for the first time in 3 weeks!!! Bliss!
Last night I slept 9.5 hours, which was heaven. We all really needed a break, our bodies have taken a hammering, so my birthday offered the ideal opportunity. We are normally sleeping about 6 - 7 hours a night. We settle down about 11pm and then are up before 6am as we have to get going. My big toes are really badly swollen from being constantly pushed against the front of my boots, so they are very grateful for the rest! ..."
Half way to the Pole
Richard Weber and his clients are now half way to the Pole. On 8 December they have done 32 kms (in 8,5 hours) and the next day 30 kms. Adn they have now the Thiel Mountains in sight. Perhaps because of their amazing GPS/navigational unit that fits into your googles! When you are skiing, you have a heads up display showing your mileage, position, time spent traveling etc…!
Richards writes on 9 December that the unit is proving to work extremely well in poor weather! "You don’t have to continually pull out a hand held GPS and you always know your progress. It simplifies life greatly for navigating! The GPS micro optics display is proving to be one of the most useful tools for the expedition! ..."' Want to know more about these googles, visit Recon Instruments website.
