Whiteout
A quick update (before I tuck into my freeze-dried beef stew) to let you all know that we've had another long and challenging day (10.5 hours) but we're both now safely tucked up in our sleeping bags.
Today's challenge was principally weather-related – whiteout. I've skied through many days of whiteout on the Arctic Ocean, but I've never before had to do it with crevasses (we saw a whopper today, looming out of the mist) and mountains thrown into the equation. The sun put in an appearance at times, and it wasn't as bad as what I'm sure Antarctica will be throwing at us this winter, but it certainly made things tougher today.
Whiteout is essentially a combination of low cloud (or even mist/fog) and snow. There's no sun, no shadow, no contrast and you lose all sense of perspective and distance. We navigated today using compass and GPS (satellite navigation) and our tracks from a few days ago were entirely blown over. In a fitting end to the day, the sun came out as we were putting the tent up, and we were rewarded with one of the most incredible views I've ever seen. I'll post that picture tomorrow…
— Filed under Greenland