Polar Explorer Eric Larsen
Day 37. Stumbling forward
very windy, whiteout, -20 degrees F
20 April 2014
It was another windy day on thee ice - and cold too - although the later is fairly obvious.

I hadn't known it was Easter, or Sunday for that matter until Maria texted me via the DeLorme inReach that her and Merritt were playing outside.

Not to get too personal (yeah I know probably too late for that now) but being separated for so long from the 'little guy' as we call him has been unbelievably difficult (of course you say). Getting messages from Maria is a double edged sword - I want to hear about all his new 'tricks' and words that he's learning but at the same time - and now more than ever - I need to focus on the here and now.

Of all my bad ideas, this one is quickly becoming my worst. Kidding... Kind of.

It cleared a few times throughout the day but for the most part we traveled in a windy, blowing snow whiteout. Luckily,, we had relatively decent ice until the end of the day when things just turned into a big mess of slabs and pressure ridges.

I've been trying to figure out a way to describe these big slabs and the best analogy I can come up with is if you took a big layer cake and pushed it up from underneath. We ski across these slabs separated by cracks.

I'm not sure how many words Ryan and ii said to each other while skiing today. Maybe, and I mean maybe 50... Conservation of energy seems to have many facets here. Are goal at breaks is to eat and get moving as quickly as possible otherwise we become very cold,

Needless to say, after finding out it was Easter, we did have a quick chat about our childhood experience with the holiday.

Distance traveled: 10.5 nautical miles

Image: Looking back at Ryan skiing before a short break.
Favorites
No Links Added Yet