330 Degrees
For the past few days, we've been heading inland on a bearing of 330 degrees (NNWish). Now we've left the mountains of the coast behind, the plateau of the Greenland icecap itself is featureless, with no landmarks and very little in the way of navigational cues. Every direction looks exactly the same, which, according to Tony, who's been boning up on his metaphysics, means that we could walk in any direction and be going the right way. Luckily, Tony is not in sole charge of navigation.
We can find our way using a number of means:
- GPS (v. accurate but impractical when it comes to a) battery life and b) holding the unit while juggling a pair of ski poles.
- Compass: equally accurate and no problem with batteries, but does tend to mean your lasting impression of the great outdoors is a dial with a little red arrow.
- Appeals to the Almighty: supposedly infallible, but based on previous performance can be erratic. Strictly a last resort.
- The power of the sun! (And a few other clues.) With a bit of practice, skis and poles make a fine sundial. At 6am our shadows point due west, at midday due north, and at 6pm due east, so we can work out our bearing without resorting to gadgets. Also, thanks to recent northerly winds, the sastrugi (ridges in the snow – see pic) run north-south, so providing our skis are crossing them at 45 degrees or so, we're on the right track. Tony and I amazed ourselves today when a quick lunchtime check of the GPS revealed we'd skied for six miles on a bearing of *exactly* 330 degrees, just using the sun.
After a bit of mutual back-slapping, I thought I'd play a practical joke on Tony by sitting on his sledge as he skied off. Except he didn't seem to notice the combined weight of his sledge, my sledge and me (280kg or 616lbs in total), merely adjusting his harness slightly and leaning into it a bit further as he skied. As I scooted along giggling, with my knees by my ears and my skis like outriggers, giving the occasional push with my poles, I reflected that I couldn't have a better team mate for Antarctica.
And I wondered, briefly, how many times I might be able to pull the same trick down south…
— Filed under Greenland