20 Dec Martin and Barney heading into the upward slope – Day 29 Of SPEC

Travelled 10.75 nm today/ It may not seem too much but it was a really strenuous day.

It’s all uphill now and dragging this heavy sled behind really take a toll on the muscles. . We will continue to climb uphill another 1500 meters as we rise to reach the Polar Plateau. Then it will be more of an incline, but we will be dealing with altitude then as well. Thankfully it was a beautiful sunny day with a 10knot wind blowing down from the plateau so not too bad a day.

We are eating well, sleeping well and excited for the remaining 300nm that we will cover to the South Pole. We are missing Robert but now we have a little more space…sorry Rob. To date we have shared 2 x 2-man tents. Revolving every few days but always sharing. Now with one more space available it’s a treat. We are calling the tent with only one person “the Batchelor tent” and we draw straws to see who gets it. It’s amazing that in our small world inside this enormous continent the little things that make you happy…like 2 more feet of space in a tent, less snow to melt and perhaps more food per day!!…again we miss you Rob!

We are reducing the sleds by about 1.5kg/day. This is the food that we consume over 2/3 meals. You can feel the difference the next day…or maybe it’s psychosomatic. It will make a big difference in these coming days as we climb and drag the sleds behind us.

Rob and Barney made some great choices with the technology. I have been really impressed by how much fuel we have saved using the bio fuel and how much less we are using with the solar panels connected to the sleds. This will make future travel so much more efficient and with less impact. Which is always about for guides.

That’s why I am so proud to be the navigator on this Expedition. They are really working hard to make a difference and I hope all their efforts will impact so many more lives for a bigger shift in how we are working in unison with this planet.

Martin