Sastrugi - Days 16 &17

The team breaking trail.

Dogs sleeping in snow drifts.

May 29, 2011

Day 17 - The team had ideal ski conditions today with blue skies and light winds. The temps remained at 0 degrees Celsius for the day allowing the team to remove their layers. Each member took a turn in the lead helping break trail. By the end of their 9 hour day they skied a kilometer down a slight hill and reached 30km. A total of 450km accomplished to date (and, keep in mind, Tony has a bit more mileage under his belt as he started his expedition from the coast). Current location N65.59.189 W039.27.396 and elevation 4,508 meters.


The team is getting close to the end, wrapping up their expedition in just a few more days!

Check out the audio update by Koen and the team sings "Hey Jude" for us!

May 28, 2011

Day 16 -  The team woke up to winds howling at 25 mph. The wind provided the team great views as they skied 28.3 km today. Known as Sastrugi, the winds form and harden the snow into various shapes, ridges and waves. 

Sastrugi, or zastrugi are sharp irregular grooves or ridges formed on a snow surface by wind erosion and deposition, and found in polar and temperate snow regions. They differ from sand dunes in that the ridges are markedly parallel to the prevailing winds.

Sastrugi are various surface irregularities resulting from wind erosion, saltation of snow particles and deposition. Smaller irregularities or this type are known as ripples (small, ~10 mm high), or wind ridges.

Larger features are especially troublesome to skiers and snowboarders. Traveling on the irregular surface of sastrugi can be very tiring, and can risk breaking equipment—ripples and waves are often undercut, the surface is hard and unforgiving with constant minor topographic changes between ridge and trough. Definition courtesy of Wikipedia.com

Listen to the audio update by Tony Hampson-Tindale!