Sewing workshop

There was a briefing this morning on weather for the next few days. Unfortunately the weather system I mentioned in previous entry gets worse. The storm comes from south Atlantic Ocean and affects regions from the peninsula all the way to the South Pole. We are certainly experiencing it now, snowing with strong wind gusts. The new flying time is on Thursday :( No one flies anywhere until then. All teams stay put for now, even the Vinson climbers who are already on the mountain.So what do we do in the mean time then? Custom make our face masks. And that involves some designing and sewing. It's quite funny to see everyone was so much into it. Stew, Shahrom, me and even Mostafa who never sewn anything in his life, did a good job creating some "interesting" looking masks. I guess we all have some creative side in us. It took us quite a long time and a few trials so come up with something that hopefully would work. Em and Carl were working her ski bindings and fit. Luke is still working on his tent modification. It is a lot of sewing for him.You can check out some of our products in the photo.Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

Training day

The storm came in and we could see its effect at union glacier. Snow blowing and the wind picked up around lunch time. At that time we were doing our 10k practice skiing hauling our heavy sleds. We started at 10am and finished at 2:30. Not so great time, if not slow, but this is our first time trying out the equipments. My shoes, skis and everything else seemed to work well. No blisters, no hotspots. By the time we came back to camp there were wind gusts and all but it wasn't super cold. It'll be worst tomorrow. I'm glad we used this time to try things out Em needed a pair of customed insoles and new skis and I know I cannot use soylent. It does not give me that energy needed here.Photo shows the inside of my tent (they are called clamshells or clams because of their shape). They are very comfortable for tents.Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

Waiting for the start

You probably know by now that traveling to and in Antarctica is not easy. It's all about weather and the white continent is not known for having good weather. We were very busy the past two days, preparing our sleds for the first leg of the journey and the caches along the way. Everything is in place and we were ready to fly to Hercules inlet to start. In fact there were a window to fly today. However there a bad weather system coming in on Sunday and peaks throughout Monday. We decided that it is best to wait out the weather at union glacier camp rather than in the tent. According to the forecast the next flying window is Tuesday afternoon. Until then I'm trying to put up even more weight. Good thing is food at UG camp is amazingly delicious and plenty.Photo shows dining/socialize tent at UG. Its definitely much bigger than the one in Patriot Hills last time i was there. Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

My new home

My new home in Union glacier for the next few days before the start of the ski journey to the south poleSent from Iridium Mail & Web.

From Antarctica - November 26, 2015 at 02:29PM

The bus came came to the hostal at 9am and everyone was ready. We went around picking up more people, mainly the Vinson climbers. We still had to go through security, just like any airport but our carry-ons stayed on the bus. We bypass ed the xray bag check. After 45 minutes waiting at the gate, we now were ready to board the bus then the aircraft. We could see the illushin. We also saw another aircraft from Iceland Air. I was joking with Shahrom that if we used the icelandic airplane, it would also make sense cuz were going to the land that is covered by ice. The bus went pass the illushin and stopped in front of the Iceland air. What? This plane is not part of the plan! Once we entered, wow every seat is in business class. I couldn't believe it that we are using a Boeing 757 to fly to Antarctica in this kind of luxury. Apparently this is the first time ALE uses this type of plane to transport people. Thanks ALE for this incredible surprise.

It's a go

Finally the null pointer of the linked list is found. We got the message this morning around 8:10 from Devon saying it's a go and we must be ready by 9 o'clock pick up at our hostal. We're pretty much have everything packed. Everyone is so excited and very ready. There will be a few days preparing for the routes and caches among other things (and of course weather!) before we actually start skiing. But for now, we will be one hop closer.