South Pole via Kansas Glacier
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2017-11-27
Jan 03
#34: snow quake
Published at 06:15
Finally. An entire day of low to no wind and mostly blue sky. The rejigging of sled weights worked a treat for the first couple of hours but Paul steadily deteriorated, trashed from yesterday?s haul and swollen toes on his right foot. We still managed a solid 17km.
While in the tent we experienced a startling phenomenon. I?ve heard them on many occasions but never from the tent and nothing like this. We could hear a deep rumble to the west approaching as fast as a jet. I knew immediately what it was but held my breath as it hurtled towards us. Within seconds the noise was upon us and I instinctively ducked, despite knowing the effect would be a slumping below us, while looking at the tent walls for fear it might be some violent wind event. The Doppler effect was intense, like that of a fighter jet flying through the tent and the rumble continued for some time to the east. It was a snow quake like no other. From my understanding these are caused when a hoar frost develops just below the surface, likely due to temperature change though I suspect the recent winds may also have had some contributing effect. A trigger can make the upper layer slump through the frost and with boundless acres of this structure the result is like a horizontal avalanche.
Tomorrow we cross the 89th parallel.
Pics
1. Selfie
2. The team heading south
Eric
While in the tent we experienced a startling phenomenon. I?ve heard them on many occasions but never from the tent and nothing like this. We could hear a deep rumble to the west approaching as fast as a jet. I knew immediately what it was but held my breath as it hurtled towards us. Within seconds the noise was upon us and I instinctively ducked, despite knowing the effect would be a slumping below us, while looking at the tent walls for fear it might be some violent wind event. The Doppler effect was intense, like that of a fighter jet flying through the tent and the rumble continued for some time to the east. It was a snow quake like no other. From my understanding these are caused when a hoar frost develops just below the surface, likely due to temperature change though I suspect the recent winds may also have had some contributing effect. A trigger can make the upper layer slump through the frost and with boundless acres of this structure the result is like a horizontal avalanche.
Tomorrow we cross the 89th parallel.
Pics
1. Selfie
2. The team heading south
Eric
- Name: Camp 29
- Elevation: 2922 m
- Latitude: 88° 52’ 7” South
- Longitude: 137° 24’ 59” West
image2
image1
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