Race to the Bottom of the Earth by Rebecca E. F. Barone

Author:Rebecca E. F. Barone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

On the polar plateau, Antarctica—Day 27—November 29, 2018

Colin was twenty-seven miles ahead of Lou—almost two days of travel.

The winds were brutal, and he had entered yet another field of sastrugi. Yet he was still moving. In spite of it all, Colin kept pulling and kept going forward.

That is, right until the moment the skins covering the bottom of his skis ripped off and his skis slid out from underneath him. The skins acted like a ratchet, smoothly sliding in one direction, but baring teeth and acting as a brake when pushed in the other direction. Without skins, he had no traction. He had no grip to haul the pulk. Colin was “stopped dead in [his] tracks.”201

He had a spare set of skins, but attaching them to his skis meant that he needed to set up the tent. In the howling wind, he needed the tent’s protection to find the spare, glue it on, and wait for the glue to dry. It was a simple repair, but it meant hours and hours of preparation and setup. And he hadn’t thought to bring a spare pair of skis, like Lou.

Four miles into his day, Colin was done. By the time he got everything set up and repaired, and the glue dried, it was so late in the day as to be pointless to dismantle his camp and ski on.

The delay had caused him to lose twelve miles off his lead. It was, he recalled, “the most challenging and frustrating day” yet.202 Less than a day’s travel now separated the two men.

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