So, would these conditions slow the team down? Travelling 19.5km Bryony managed her longest days skiing yet!
3rd December
The bad news came from Ronnie on the evening of the 2nd. He tells the team of the continued muscle problems he’s faced over the past few days, causing lack of sleep and exhaustion. After a lengthy discussion, it was decided that it would be safest for Ronnie to be medevac’d back to America to recover rather than risk further injury with more than three quarters of the expedition remaining.Unfortunately, that caused problems firstly for the planned distance to be covered on the 3rd. Of course, once the medevac was signalled for, the team would need to remain in the same position, awaiting transport in the form of ski-equipped light aircraft. From the initial call at 09:00 (local-time) it took 11 hours for the plane to arrive, cutting short any chance of skiing that day; though Ronnie was able to be safely flown out without incident.
Bryony would like to send a massive thanks to Chris of Icke Fitness, who has provided excellent training, nutritional plans, and support; without whom it could have been her on the plane heading home.
With conditions such as whiteouts (which can be more extreme than Bryony faced on Friday) and other complications, the team has allowed themselves three full rest days. Because of this, the team is not necessarily behind. So; what does the team do on a rest day? Well I can only speak for Bryony (and for those of you that know her this will not come as a surprise), you sleep! Catching up on some well needed napping, helping refuel for the next few days. Of course, there was still time for some shenanigans, including a snowball fight, which apparently becomes serious when shovels are involved! I’ve been informed that the snow varies vastly over different areas, not always good for snowballs!4th December
Fantastic progress from the team yesterday, with a total distance of 21km behind them, helped by the previous days rest and superb conditions with very little wind and temperatures around -12°C. The team has also elected to take rest breaks every 5km instead of every 1.5 hours to provide more challenging goals. I’m told “it’s nice to stop and know another quarter of the days skiing is behind you”. Speaking to Bryony in the early hours of this morning she explains that the weather is so nice they have started eating OUTSIDE in the evenings, nothing like a little Antarctic al fresco dining! Hoping to get pictures of this phenomenon soon!
What an achievement you all should be so proud of yourselves, i would love to do something like this. I will have to start looking into it. Good luck.
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