Back on track
Published on 28.11.2011 - Antarctic Ice Expedition
On 22 November, Belgians Dixie Dansercoer and Sam Deltour have been re-deposited on the ice and have re-started the Antarctic Ice Expedition.
According to some news coming from Novolazarevskaia base, the belgian duo has been deposited at about 1500 km from the station. But, so far, the precise location of the drop off hasn't been published. All the same we did not receive any explanation concerning the first operation : why did they chose the first landing place, full of sastrugis fields ? Did the duo made any mistake in reading maps when deciding that first location ? And how (who) did they chose the second one ?
Anyway, Dixie and Sam are on the move again. and this time it seems that the circumnavigation is well on. The day after the deposit, they put 31 km on the counter, this distance made in only 2 hours and 45 minutes. The day 4 (25 November), beginning their skiing at 3.30 TU and ending the day 11 jours later at 14.30 TU, they had done 72 kilometers. Eventhough Sam had hit an ice all during his glide. "...Then I hit a wall. It's hard to describe but I just couldn't find the strength anymore to keep edging. My legs were cramped and slowly I could feel all energy drain out of my body. At 10 o clock we put up the tent for a break, ate something, and rested up. I felt some energy return.
We then headed back out for three more hours. The last two were just miserable for me. I had no strength left in my body. I kept telling myself to keep going. The head wanted to continue but the body was empty, so empty. I hit a wall right at the moment that we entered a gnarly sastrugi zone. While we were not nearly in the type of terrain we saw last week, I still was unable to progress without my tired body falling over and over again. I had to ask Dixie to call it a day at 14:30.
This afternoon I rested up and now I feel a lot better again. I must say though that this whole trip is way harder than I expected it to be - so many times I come into the tent completely dead. But, and this is so amazing to me, the human body recovers quickly and every morning I'm feeling ready to 'rock and roll' again. We are in the zone, Dixie and I, and I'm sure there are many good days to come. ..."
On 26 November, they summed up 76 km and the day after they took a rest day because they was no winf whatsoever.
