Hours traveled: 9.5
Miles traveled: 13
Total miles traveled: 393.9
Miles to pole: 185
Translation from voicemail: Hello, it’s Chris, Team 3belowzero. It’s Day 33 and when we last spoke it was quite crazy windy when Marty was talking last night. And the tent was shaking like mad all night long. Made for difficult sleep. Woke me up in the middle of the night, multiple times and I noticed I had a little spot on my chin that was kind of bugging me and investigated it and it turned out I had a little cold injury on my chin. It’s about the size of a nickel and with that twenty seven below with wind chill yesterday. The Wind penetrated through some new hat systems that I was trying out because it was so cold. So I was able to treat that with aloe vera, throughout the night, and it really brought down a little swelling on it and it got protected today and it seems like it’s doing really well.
So, but It’s getting a lot colder and windier here. And so Marty and I are really having to re-work and re-think a lot of our systems for gloves and clothing and how to not be cold when we take short breaks. We don’t have any guides to tell us what to do so we kinda have to figure it out as we go along and so I think today we finally got it dialed in pretty good after the last three or four days of really cold weather.
So that was good and what we need to do is average about thirteen miles a day and so we get to the pole, which would be in two weeks. So we, we were thinking we could maybe go faster as our sleds get lighter but so far the terrain and weather have been really tough and I’m sure we’re losing some of our strength as well as we go along. But, but hopefully we will be there in a couple of weeks.
So we want to give a shout out to Doug Stupe. And he, he loaned us some great Baffin mittens that we used today that we’re just awesome and when we, when we met him and saw him in Punta Arenas. So those seem like they’re gonna be the ticket for the really cold weather for us. Well, that’s it for today. We will chat with you tomorrow. Thanks. Bye.
You can do it! My family is pulling for you – of course figuratively or we’d mess up the whole first married couple thing.
Go Marty & Chris!
When you reach the pole, what is your return plan? Will you ski back or have you arranged transportation?
We have arranged transportation to fly home. Thanks for following us and for all your support!
Thank you for your question. We will be flown back to Union Glacier on a Twin Otter plane and then from Union Glacier, return to Punta Arenas, Chile and from there it’s back to Seattle. The return flights could also be delayed by weather, but at least we get to fly!
We are following you each day and admire you more every time we read your blogs. As a former coach, I continue to be impressed with the challenges you meet and overcome. Some friends (the Rokus family) in the community where we live are also following you. They wanted me to send their best wishes to you also. They have been to Antarctica and last year to the Artic. By ship both times so they really are impressed with what you are accomplishing. Ken & Dee Tillman
We will be able to relate a little bit with you in the next couple days. There is a 25-30mile wind and high of -5 on Monday. Windchills expected at 35-50 below. All of MN has cancelled school already and many here in IA are considering it.
Wow! It’s warmer in Antarctica than MN right now! Stay warm!