April 20, 2010
Day 49. To Move Mountains
Milk and Honey. That's what we call big flat pans. After struggling through yet another drifty, slabby, thin ice area, we crested a pressure ridge and were greeted by a nice long flattish pan of ice.
'Is that milk and honey I see over there?' I asked AJ and Darcy. 'Yes it is,' they replied smiling. As with most good things, it never lasts and the flat ice turned into an interesting mix of heaved and cracked multi year ice slabs and small pans bordered by wide swaths of jumbled blue block ridges. If we didn't have to get through it, I would have thought it beautiful. OK, who am I kidding, it was beautiful. Unfortunately, it's been cold lately and stops to marvel and awe quickly turn into hand freezing hypothermia fests.
Look as I ski, I remind myself.
Nothing has gotten much easier here. We are pushing hard to make miles, but are also fighting against ice that is pushing us south as we sleep and time chewing veers around thin ice, big drifts and huge ice blocks. Still, we have managed to eke miles and are now only 16 miles away from the North Pole. Wow. It feels good to be here.
Today, we reminisced about the early days of the expedition. 'Remember that big ice canyon we went through?' I asked. The guys did and smiled happily that it was a memory now and not a new obstacle.
We are seeing lots big blocks of ice cracked and pressured. Some are easily five feet thick and 30 feet across. We know how they are formed - slow punctuated movements of ice pushed by wind, tides and currents. This must be similar to how mountains are formed but instead of ice and water its the earth's crust driven by convection currents in the mantle.
This trip has reinforced my wonderment at the natural world. This is quite some home we have. Perhaps the ice and mountains can offer some good lessons. Big massive objects can be moved with combined steady effort. To solve the problem of global warming might seem like trying to move a mountain, but with a combined and steady effort, we can.
Remember, check out the www.350.org Petition: People's Petition to Cap Carbon Dioxide Pollution at 350 Parts Per Million.
Image: Getting some free clean energy with our Goal0 solar panel.
The Save the Poles expedition is sponsored by Bing with major support from the University of Plymouth, Terramar, Seventh Generation, Goal0, Atlas, Sierra Designs and Optic Nerve.
Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.
For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com
For information about guided Antarctic expeditions, please visit http://www.antarctic-logistics.com/
For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com
For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net
'Is that milk and honey I see over there?' I asked AJ and Darcy. 'Yes it is,' they replied smiling. As with most good things, it never lasts and the flat ice turned into an interesting mix of heaved and cracked multi year ice slabs and small pans bordered by wide swaths of jumbled blue block ridges. If we didn't have to get through it, I would have thought it beautiful. OK, who am I kidding, it was beautiful. Unfortunately, it's been cold lately and stops to marvel and awe quickly turn into hand freezing hypothermia fests.
Look as I ski, I remind myself.
Nothing has gotten much easier here. We are pushing hard to make miles, but are also fighting against ice that is pushing us south as we sleep and time chewing veers around thin ice, big drifts and huge ice blocks. Still, we have managed to eke miles and are now only 16 miles away from the North Pole. Wow. It feels good to be here.
Today, we reminisced about the early days of the expedition. 'Remember that big ice canyon we went through?' I asked. The guys did and smiled happily that it was a memory now and not a new obstacle.
We are seeing lots big blocks of ice cracked and pressured. Some are easily five feet thick and 30 feet across. We know how they are formed - slow punctuated movements of ice pushed by wind, tides and currents. This must be similar to how mountains are formed but instead of ice and water its the earth's crust driven by convection currents in the mantle.
This trip has reinforced my wonderment at the natural world. This is quite some home we have. Perhaps the ice and mountains can offer some good lessons. Big massive objects can be moved with combined steady effort. To solve the problem of global warming might seem like trying to move a mountain, but with a combined and steady effort, we can.
Remember, check out the www.350.org Petition: People's Petition to Cap Carbon Dioxide Pollution at 350 Parts Per Million.
Image: Getting some free clean energy with our Goal0 solar panel.
The Save the Poles expedition is sponsored by Bing with major support from the University of Plymouth, Terramar, Seventh Generation, Goal0, Atlas, Sierra Designs and Optic Nerve.
Remember, it's cool to be cold. Save the Poles. Save the planet.
For more information, please visit www.ericlarsenexplore.com
For information about guided Antarctic expeditions, please visit http://www.antarctic-logistics.com/
For media inquiries, please contact lora@screamagency.com
For technical inquires, please contact webexpeditions.net