Glacier Ski Camp, Wahoo Tower Area - Day 8

LOC: Snow Cave

Sky Overcast Thin, Wind L, BARO 770 Rising, S1, 0.7°C

The storm continued through all of the day and all through the night.

We awoke yesterday morning to improving weather. I was roused from my slumber by Martina saying the weather looked better and we could get out for a ski, and it did look better through breakfast and while getting ready to go. But the barometer was dropping rapidly and the weather was significantly degraded by the time we got going.

We had plans for traversing around Mt. Dolphin and heading towards Mt. Oluk. However, with poor visibility we decided to just ski down the glacier heading East. After a few turns we stopped and ate. We relaxed happy to be out of the wind which seemed to never stop at camp. We put on our skins and returned to camp. It was a total white out and Martina did a great job getting us home quickly.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing in the snow cave. When we went to bed it had started snowing heavily and we all had a job to do digging out our tents before packing it in. Martina remarked, “we'd really be in trouble it the wind picks up. All this light snow would bury us.”

I had been in my tent only a short while when the wind picked up. I rolled over and hoped for the best. With my hood and bag pulled over my head and cinched tight, I tried to sleep but the wind got louder and louder. I could hear voices yelling outside and hoped they were alright. Then the wind eased for a moment and I heard Martina say, “We have to move the tent!” That's when I knew that I couldn't hide in my sleeping bag any more. We were in trouble. The snow behind my head had piled up to half the height of the tent and I needed to get out and deal with it. This was at 3:30am.

Outside the tent, I saw Sam, Martina and Kat moving Kat's tent. It was being constantly buried behind the walls we had built to protect her from the wind.

I was digging out my tent when I found out Sam's tent had been shredded and he couldn't return to it. He asked if he could share my tent and I agreed. Martina's tent was getting buried and she didn't know what to do. I didn't think I could help, so I started rearranging my gear to make room for Sam. Sam helped Martina sort herself out by digging an exit channel for the snow to blow out. Then he joined me in the tent at 5:30am. The wind continued to howl and we fell asleep.

At 8:00am, we awoke and the sun was out. It was still snowing and a little windy but much improved. My companions were exhausted, especially Sam. We dug out and Sam called Dale on the satellite phone and we rejoiced when we heard the weather forecast was good for the rest of the week.