No rest for the wicked. Today was "official" rest day. Jan-Frode and Ståle decided to go for the offer, while the others decided to enjoy the ski-tracks from the Tromsø team towards Peak 3266, on the other side of the glacier.
| Going to the "hockey hole" in -20 deg. C. is still a "sensational" affair. But by bringing along the ice axe, a functional technique was applied. With the limited space in the tent, one should think that keeping track of things is trivial. Not so. I am now missing one battery for the camera and one sock. I decided that a strong discipline was called for. I got tired of looking for a fleeze glove that were accidently stuck to my back, while Torstein was laughing his pants off. |
We left camp 10:00AM. Stopped by the Tromsø camp and learned that they were heading towards Cone and Dome. At least they could enjoy our tracks up to 2700m. We continued towards Peak 3266. The trip across the glacier took 2 hours before we took on a very strenuous hill. Petter was not happy. All ski-tracks had been made by skiers with skins, and were 2-3 degrees steeper than Petter (skiing on vax only) cared for.
Above the steep hill, we crossed a crevasse over a snowbridge (unroped) and had a long, but gentle ascent ahead of us up to Peak 3266. We reached the summit 15:45PM. Per Ove and Torstein had plans for skiing down a different route, and continued on the ridge for further exploration.
| I once again had developed headache and nausea. I turned around after a short round of pictures. I'm getting so tired of this condition. At this very moment, the spirit started to fade. Still on the agenda were several mountains above 3000m. Neither Diamox nor the 2200m base camp seemed to help much. I didn't look forward to the continuation. Just wanted to get it over with. |
I waited for Petter down by the crevasse. He had waited on the summit watching Torstein and Per Ove. They decided to come back up again and run down the ascent route. I ran with Petter down to the glacier, and then I headed back to camp alone while Petter was waiting to take pictures of the others. I was back at the tent 17:50PM. The trip altogether was more than 20Km.
|
From my tent, in the evening, I heard Petter making plans about
hitting Cone and Dome in one day. I invited Petter in for a talk.
My opinion was that this plan would prevent one or more members from
getting both summits. I would probably get sick after the Dome ascent,
and one or two of the others might find the number of vertical ascent
meters a bit too much. Torstein backed me up, and Petter decided that
we would dedicate two days for the Cone and Dome ascents.
This evening's dinner was record small. We had been running on DryTech so far, and tried Pasta this evening. The dinner amounted to only a few spoons of pasta per person. On the trips so far, I had hardly had anything for lunch. I just can't get myself to force the Power Bars down. I was dreaming about bisquits, and understood well that I could have paid more attention to the food planning process before the trip. I enjoyed Torstein's company, and laughing came easy. We started to develop a morbid form of humour, and could wake up shivering by laughter of a bad joke that would not survive any other environment. |
Others were also feeling that lunch food in particular was scarce. Petter agreed to make a phone call and get some more bisquits in with the plane that would pick up the Tromsø team. Spirit was lifted through this decision, but it wasn't the final discussion about food during this trip.
| This was the coldest evening so far. By 21:05PM, it was -24 deg. C. outside. Torstein leaves the tent for a pee. I can hear him running. I was trying to clean my throat in the meantime. I was developing a nasty caugh, which I prayed would disappear very quickly. I also had to leave the tent, and when I came back, I announced the following Greenland rule: "When peeing in -30 degrees C., shaking is mandatory and not an option". Torstein laughed his hat off, and there would be several more "Greenland rules" to follow in the following days. "You're not as hungry as you think you are - or was it the other way around?", was one of them. |
No Javascript:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
May 17
May 19
