Day 12: First crevasse and I lose my way!

South Pole: Solo but Not Alone
Howard Fairbank
Sun 4 Dec 2011 06:36
84:37.227S 77:59.490W

Only 25.1 killometres today...yet 12 hurs out there, 10 hours actually 'marching'...poor productivity, but some sighseeing done and problem solving, both coontributing to lost time,.... but gained life experience! See below:

I've confirmed that expedition thhat I saw yesterday was the Norwigans...Not Amundsen though, as he 'has it' get there by the 14th DEC, and it wwas'nt a South African he wwas racing! Still god news for me though, one of the issues of being out herr on my own is I don't get anyy references..eg how tough it is, how cold it is, how easy / bad the terrain is, how well 'we' are doing, etc So this helped that, and did give me a boost!1 There wwas a slight disappointment aa seing someone else in this wilderness,, when I thought I was mles away from anyone! (Ruth's team is abut 3 days behind me...so I did thiink I was pretty much alone)

Today was back to blue sky, and pristine white ice, with skiinng conditions improving from the soft snow, throught the day. There was a tough 25 knot headwind which made foor very cold conditions, and the shortest possible rest times...one justt getts freezing cold sitting behind the sled eating and having water.

I came across another nunatak today, similar in size and heightt...again very unusual, and beautiful.

Surprise, surprise...CREVASSE! The first warning was a larger tthhe normal sastruggi mound, the perfect beacon glisteninng in the ssun, but I potential death trap in whiteout conditions! As I approached it I sensed it was 'abnirmal' and so went around the leftt side, to find the whoe back open, and forming a huge funnel to a deep gaping hole mabe 25 m in diameter. I ventured towards the edge off the funnel lip, but couldn't get closer enough too se the bottom, so it was really deep..Just a blue whole...hmmm! I goodd learning lesson from a safe position in good weather, so very useful.

Another kilometre on and running 90 degree to my direction of travel, was this real crevasse, almost a sunken pathway extending for as far as the eye could see roughly to east and west. About 15-20m wide, and a step down of about 30cm from the surrounding terrain. In places at this step down, I could see the deep ice blue colour showing the discontinuity and the "mind the gap!". I had to cross it, and so tested witth my pole in a few places, and whoopsie, my pole wet straight through the thin snow cover, creating a peepoe to a blue room underneath...... I walked allong until I found a more icy, weather beaten hard crust, tested it, it was solid and looked like a god bridge, so took thee step down, sled followed, and before I kneww it 'we' had crossed safely.....Good first exprience on my own, but the scarry thing is, where I was was supposed to be crevassse free, with potential crevasse arrea about 1-2 days away! I guess if things were al certain, it wouldn't be an adventure!

Yeah, so it's Saturday, and I'm still working...In fact the 'job' requires 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, for 5 weeks...and then no pay! Haha, as I have shared with some of you, these extreme adventures is my 'work', providing me with all the challenge, stimulation, and reward (except the pay!) work usd to do... The main difference is it's short term contract work on my terms, and like one's own busineess but on steriods! No customers, shareholders, bank, auuditors, etc,Just ME and you guys, and me exposed as naked as you can get infront of 'Mother Nature'! So why do I tell you this today? Well, just like work there are dayyo day problems and challengs to be overcome, and today I was presented with a Antarctica 'technology' challenge....No iPad, iphone, nor software problems, just a compass one! Yeah, its basic out here!

My compass has been working fine for 10 days, but yesterday I ha the first inkling of a problem, whn in the middle of the fog it started becoming unreliable, jumping all over the place and when it did stabilise I was up to 30 degree off course! I was extremely agitated, and saw that there was a new, sizeable air bubble in the sealed housing. So at a rest break I decided to change to the spare. (Which now alsoo had an air bubble, but I sensed the bubble probably wasn't the problem. The new compass was no different, but as I thought through possible causes, the problem went away, and I was back to a reliable compass...Quite an important thing!

Well, from early on today, the games started again, but never went away. I was forced to use the sun and angle of the strong headwind, while I went into serious problem solving. Being so far south has some compass issues, firstly one needs a southern hemisphere compass,, and secondly from my north pole experience I thought maybe because the magnetic fluxes ente the earth no too far from here, there maybe abnormalities. I'd beenassured theree weren't but now I'm clutching at straws for an explanation of my dilema. Had I been sold twwo northern hemisphere ones, even thouugh both suppliers had confirmed they were, I'dd just taken their words... And the wild goose chase went on for 3 hours with my navigation confidence waning and disillusionment running high....not a good mindset for churning out quality killometres in the bittterly cold headwind conditions. I wondered if the GPS or my camera, which both stay warm in my pants, wer causing magnetic interference, but son tested and ruled them ooout. It somethi that had changed,andd that led me tto believe it was the mag flux in the area, or I had the wrong compasses, and they were now becoming a problem at this high latitude....Whille I know I could get to the pole witthout compass, it would be very taxing, and not something I could easily volunteer for.....

Then I had this brainwave (For me at least!) that all my electonics (for this email, satphones etc) were in a singlee bag at the top of my backpack, andd in there there couuld be something magnetic causing interference....? Why it had only started interfering now is a mystery, but I'd stop, take out the bag and put it in the sleed away from the compass. I sensed I had found the problem, and with both excitemnt and fear (that I t wasn't the problem) I immediately stopped to face the answer. I disconnected myself from the back pack, wwalked a few metrs away, and yippee the compass becamee a normal compaass again! Wwass I delighted.... Yeah, a small simple problem, with aan obvious simple solution, but when you are on your own, and in a remoe place where few have trodden, where the rules have some quirks, and yyour 'life' / expedition depends on solving the problem, things take on new meaning. The repair of the pole was the same.... The feeling of accomplishment is very satisffying, and hooefuly one can see the cnnection t a super steriod work!

For those of youu, maybe still at school and developiing youur life skills, these adventure problem solving realities, can never be replaced by computer games or simulations...you guys should gett out there and experience the full on realities, you'll find it makes you so alive aand satisfying.

Lastly on photos: SORRY, I'd love to share the occassional photo, but it just takes too much satphone frustration....

Ok, that's it for today....a very interesting one !

Enjoy the warm weekend beach if you are near one!