previous  -  #  -  next

Dispatches: Pea souper - Thursday, 25th March 2004

Day's Statistics

Expedition & Environmental Statistics:
Position:82.59.2N 98.16.6E (view route map)
Daily distance:-2.5 nm
Total distance:70.8 nm
Distance to go:836.8 nm
Travelling time:0hrs
Temperature:-19°C
Conditions:Southerly drift, whiteout, south-westerly winds
view large image
view large image

I woke up this morning to the thickest, cloudiest, whitest whiteout
I've ever experienced. I couldn't see a thing. The wind is blowing like mad and it's snowing again. To top it all off, I've drifted south nearly three nautical miles and am currently surfing south east (mostly east, luckily) at an incredible speed. I'm certainly 'getting the full benefit of the package' (one of my favourite army catchphrases). I'm sure Pen & I never had it this bad in 2001.

I took the decision to stay put - I'd crossed some really dodgy ice yesterday and didn't want to be effectively blind in the same situation - the whole Dominick/Frederic thing has made me far less gung-ho about taking risks.

My plan is to get an early night and then put in a big, big day tomorrow. Today I've been writing my diary, reinforcing the broken boot and sewing up holes in gloves. My mum would be proud of my new found sewing skills and the boot repair mk.3 looks like it could be a winner.

Today is dedicated to John and Marie-Christine Ridgway, and to Andy, Nick, Tom, Ward, Sanel and Desmond. Into the mist...

Visitor Comments

# You totally ROCK!!

I'm a former US soldier, civilian cop (bobby,) and now paraplegic. Your will and determination is a credit to all humans. What you are doing has implications on so many levels. You totally ROCK!!!!

Way to gut it out, man.

Paul

By Paul Christian on Saturday, 27 March - 02:59 am -0800

# CRAZY

HEY, I THINK YOU ARE CRAZY YOU COULD DIE AND THAT'S A RISK I'M NOT WILLING TO TAKE. WE ARE JUST READING THE STUFF YOUR WRITING IT IS AWSOME BUT I STILL THINK YOUR CRAZY GOOD LUCK

By JL on Friday, 26 March - 08:14 pm -0800

# Hi!!

Hello, your nuts and you are also crazy!! In social studies we're doing Aboriginal People + Early Explorers. You my friend fit in there but you really are crazy

By Shorty on Friday, 26 March - 08:13 pm -0800

# Ben's whereabouts

Don't worry, the support team is aware of where he is at all times and he has a daily phone conversation with the expedition manager, Tony, every day at a set time after which Ben submits his report.

By Helen Haile on Friday, 26 March - 02:00 pm -0800

# A well deserved rest.

Take it easy today Ben, repair your boot, get some rest then tomorrow you will manage to cover lots of miles - I just know it.

Take care mate!

P.s. Mike Kobold, rotfl at your lizard story :-D

By Brian Nielsen on Friday, 26 March - 01:43 pm -0800

# Wrong date is okay.

He just put in the wrong date - it's easy to get confused while in his state of mind all day. And LEGEND hasn't cleared the comments in 3 days, pretty soon this site will be jammed up and you won't be able to leave comments. You'll see a dispatch within about 1 hour 1/2 from now 8:39EST he's usually not late, don't worry everybody, when you don't get one at all that's when it's time to become precautious (!).

Ben is okay- I know.

christy

By Christy on Friday, 26 March - 01:41 pm -0800

# don't worry yet

it looks as if what appears to be the latest message is wrongly dated, I'm pretty sure it is really Thursdays 25 March (see 24 march different story in historical dispatches)!

we should see another - 26th - hopefully in 3hours time or so -n you had me worried for a while.

By Alexander and Thomas Eckl on Friday, 26 March - 01:08 pm -0800

# Wrong date?

I think the latest dispatch was for the 25th, not the 24th, since there's already a 24th, and the latest one was posted about the same time yesterday as others are posted on other days. If Ben posts at his normal daily time, we should see a new post in the next 2-3 hours.

By Gwen on Friday, 26 March - 01:05 pm -0800

# Dispatch late?

It is now Friday March 26 in the central time zone of the USA, and the last dispatch I see is dated the 24'th. Anyone know what is going on?

By Calvin Clift on Friday, 26 March - 12:53 pm -0800

Dispatches Archive

The following dispatches are an archive spanning the 4-5 months that Ben spent prior to the expedition, the expedition itself, and the returning home period.

Sole destroying stuff

Sole destroying stuff - Tuesday, 23rd March 2004

I think it's a very English trait that when disaster strikes, you can still sum it up with a cheesy pun. My right boot felt a bit odd yesterday, but I thought nothing of it. When I came to put it on this morning, I noticed there was a lot of ice ...read more

Boot bodging

Boot bodging - Wednesday, 24th March 2004

The good news? I've finally passed 83 degrees and the ice conditions are improving. The bad? Yesterday's elaborate boot repair didn't last long and I was back to square one last night. I spent an hour this morning repairing it again, this time with ...read more

Pea souper

Pea souper - Thursday, 25th March 2004

I woke up this morning to the thickest, cloudiest, whitest whiteoutI've ever experienced. I couldn't see a thing. The wind is blowing like mad and it's snowing again. To top it all off, I've drifted south nearly three nautical miles and am currently ...

The Broken Boot Blues

The Broken Boot Blues - Friday, 26th March 2004

I woke up this morning,feelin' kinda glad.Had I fixed my boots?Man, I thought I had. Boooo hooooo...I've got those broken boot blues. Started out just fine,but with each mile I traveled,my screws unscrewed,and my gaffer tape ...read more

Longer days

Longer days - Saturday, 27th March 2004

It won't have escaped most of you that conditions haven't been ideal so far, and that I'm a wee bit further south than I'd like to be. I used to do a paper round when I was a school kid and Sundays were the worst - the supplements and magazines ...read more

Browse by month February | March | April | May | June

“Everest is very dangerous, but crossing the North Pole, which I attempted to do...is ten times more dangerous” - Reinhold Messner