Etelänapa 2008 - South Pole 2008 - Antarctic Solo Expedition

MISSION MOTOR ANTARCTICA DIARY EQUIPMENT PARTNERS

"I am prepared to go anywhere, provided it be forward." -David Livingstone

DIARY

-14.12.2008- Camp Brandit II

In the morning the weather was sunny and warm, but evening turned out to be cloudy again. I skied about 15.5 kilometers and made it to Camp Brandit II. Tomorrow, the final straight starts from here...!

Coordinates:
S89° 55.123'
W103° 51.955'

Route travelled: 15.5 km / 8.4 nm

-13.12.2008- Combination of sun, wind and cold

Today's weather was sunny but at the same time very windy and cold. I managed to ski about 15.5 kilometers. There's still a lot of sastrugi but it's more rounded than before so it's not as nasty as in the beginning.

Coordinates:
S89° 46.929'
W92° 32.825'

Route travelled: 15.5 km / 8.4 nm

-12.12.2008- Sunny morning

Qouting Douglas Adams: "'The clouds hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.'

Some days it seems that the clouds stay still forever and do not change their shape at all. Today was not that kind of day. Clouds filled the sky and as there was no sunlight, the wind felt extra chilly.

Today I pushed hard to see how much is too much to my broken rib. Part of todays travel was uphill, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone anymore. Visibility was poor and heavy breathing froze my facemask and goggles immidiately.

As you can see from the coordinates, I'm drifting south because right before the Pole there's an antenna that's kilometers long and it cannot be passed underneath. I'm heading straight to the antenna's end so I won't have to circle that much.

Coordinates:
S89° 38.635'
W89° 31.107'

Route travelled: 17.4 km / 9.4 nm

-11.12.2008- Goggles frost over

Today the weather was slightly warmer than yesterday. Temperature was propably the same, but the wind had calmed down some. I got a little frostbite to my cheek yesterday and had to take extra cautions today. I used two face masks and a hood to cover my face. The downside in doing so is that the goggles frost over and I have to really squint my eyes to see anything at all. Not easy.

Yesterday's winds whirled up a lot of soft snow and with cold temperature its hard to ski. Feels almost like skiing and pulling the sleigh on a sandpaper. I skied, or tried anyhow, for about 5 hours today.

I'm getting little worried as my side isn't showing any signs of healing. Cannot sleep without painkillers and heavy breathing doesn't exactly help the situation. Tomorrow will tell a lot and be the day of truth.

Coordinates:
S89° 29.254'
W87° 49.442'

Route travelled: 11.1km / 6 nm

-10.12.2008- Cold, Colder, Today

Now you can set aside all the previous complaints about weather being cold here. The term has a whole new meaning now. Today has propably been the coldest day yet on this continent. My Silva meter quit working as usual, and as if that wasn't enough, the wind also blew 10m/s and seemed to froze everything in a few seconds.

However, I managed to ski for five and half hours and proceeded ok. Visibility was bit poor as the wind whirled up the snow, so at times it was hard to tell if I was going uphill or downhill or what. The whole day seemed to be uphill because of the adverse wind.

Coordinates:
S89° 23.415'
W85° 29.321'

Route travelled: 14.9 km / 8 nm

-09.12.2008- Acclimation continues

Today's kilometers are dedicated to Timo Karjalainen, Tommi ja Harri Salo, Jyrki Seivo and Timo Aro. Thank you for all your support and encouragement. I hope to see you and work with you again next summer.

It's no surprise that today was once more cold as hell on these parallel of latitudes. Silva meter stopped workin as usual so it was provedly more than -25 degrees Celsius. Yesterday's 'exercise' with the broken rib continued through last night and today. It's hard to gain kilometers while feeling constant pain on my side on every breath. I talked to ALE's doctor about it, and I agreed upon calling him again if the pain does not go away tomorrow or day after that at the very latest. I really would rather not break of at this stage, so I'll take some painkillers and try to recover as fast as possible.

I have really enjoyed all the text messages and emails I've got during my expedition, it has felt heartwarming to read them almost every evening. Here I have a picture of me skiing that I got from 3. grade junior level student called Emmi from Mäntsälä. Unfortunately there isn't many fir-trees around here and the hair in the picture seems much more glorious than the hair on yours truly :).... Thank you again for the excellent picture and best wishes to the whole class and teacher as well.

Coordinates:
S89° 15.420'
W84° 13.004'

Route travelled: 12.6 km / 6.8 nm

-08.12.2008- OMS kilometers

Today's kilometers are dedicated to Oulu fencing team as you can see from the picture. Keep up the good work. I'll see you next year at tournaments.

Quotind Douglas Adams: 'Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'fun' that I wasn't previously aware of.' Today was very cold day. The Silva meter stopped working just after 15 minute's exposure so temperature was more than -25 degrees Celsius. "Faint" wind added to that, I'll tell you it was absurdly cold. My face mask froze during the first hour of skiing so I spent the rest of the day just trying to hang in there.

I still need to acclimate some, witch came clear as my lungs felt overstrained. As a free tip to everyone, do not go to high place to acclimate and exert yourself with a broken rib, take my advice on that... Hopefully the acclimation helps soon, because I'd rather not spend my time gasping for breath and at the same time feeling stabbing pain on my side.