On A Knife Edge
Published on 06.04.2010 - The big Nail
Not even Michele himself knows whether he's going to succeed or throw in the towel. He has ordered a new sledge and some new boots but they haven't arrived. He's making progress but there is some drift. He's doing approximately 10km per day but the Pole is still a long way away - more than 550 kilometres.
Michele might well be pleased to have covered, on Easter Day itself, 21 kilometres in ten hours, but the picture in front of him, considering all the difficulties that he still has to still face, is not very encouraging.
Like all the teams, he is still suffering from negative drift, which robs him during the night of some of the miles that he had acquired during the day. And he realises furthermore that to arrive at the Pole in time (on 26 April), he should be doing at least fifteen kilometres per day, if not more  in view of the dodgy state of the ice in front of him. Even with the following picture drawn in black and white, (29 March: 11.4 km, 30 March: 17.6 km, 31 March: 16.3 km, 03 April: 12. 4 km), the prospect of arriving in time is receding a little more each day. Quite simply because his equipment isn't up to it. And also no doubt because he was unlucky at the beginning of his expedition. With the result that the Italian -just like those of us who are monitoring him furthermore  aren't entirely sure what he should do. Call the Twin for an evacuation? Or continue despite everything, hoping for a miracle at the end of the day?
On 06 April, his position was 85°17.871 N / 75° 40.409 W.
