Every Step - Alone in Antarctica: The First Woman to Ski Solo Across the Southern Ice - page 14

it was too windy and stayed in that place for quite a while
before the weather improved.'
His photographs depicted incredible mountainscapes
draped in snow which crumpled like starched linen as
it tumbled down the sides of the crags. Of most interest
were pictures of the entrance to the Leverett Glacier, an
easily missed gap in a seemingly continuous barricade of
mountains, but there were limited images of the glacier itself.
The few Valdi had taken showed a near-perfect surface of
smooth hard snow.
'We didn't see any crevasses on the glacier, not one,' he told
me. 'We saw plenty on the valley sides but none at all on the
glacier itself.'
This was reassuring news. If a heavy six-wheeled truck had
not been bothered by hidden crevasses, it was even less likely
that I would have any trouble on skis. Unfortunately, Valdi
wasn't able to be so confident when I asked about the gradient
of the glacier. The weather had closed in as the team had
reached the steepest sections of ice, making it difficult to judge
the severity of the slope. He fell silent for a while, thinking
over what he could remember. I had only known Valdi for a
few hours but there was a quiet surety in his tone that made
me trust his judgement. 'I don't think you will have a problem
skiing up this glacier,' he said finally.
I nodded my appreciation of his appraisal, fully aware of
how difficult it must have been for him to express such a
critical opinion when he knew what importance I would attach
to it. We fell into a companionable silence, each of us looking
at the map on the table, lost in our private thoughts. I stared
at the contours of the Leverett and knew: this was my route
across Antarctica.