LOO-JW - Alone in Antarctica: The First Woman to Ski Solo Across the Southern Ice - page 54

themselves over this very ground. Glancing directly upwards I
could still see solid blue sky and the sun blazing unhindered by
cloud, but all around me at ground level hazy squalls of wind-
blown snow started to obscure my view. The drifts rose like
sylphs from the ground, rushing towards me in gusts as if I was
being attacked by wraiths. Occasionally I would catch sight
of an indistinct mass of white darting towards me from the
periphery of my goggle-restricted vision and it would make me
physically jump in fright as if a vaporous mugger was about to
tackle me to the ground.
Within hours the slope of the glacier became significantly
steeper and I began breathing harder as I shortened my stride,
feeling the weight of my sledges pulling me backwards. Despite
the short strips of velvet-like material stuck to the underside of
my skis to grip the snow, my footing frequently slipped on the
increasingly icy surface and I concentrated on treading down
hard to increase my hold. Waves of translucent white rolled
towards me at intervals from the top of the glacier, the noise
of the wind reaching a crescendo as it got closer, tearing at my
clothing as it passed and momentarily obliterating my sight
completely. Then it would be gone and I would look ahead
for the next wave. I became very good at judging the speed of
the oncoming surges, waiting until they were almost upon me
before bowing my head into the airstream and adjusting my
footing to brace myself against the force of the wind pushing
against my body and sledges.
At first I tried to maintain my normal routine of moving for
an hour or two before stopping for a short break to fill my
mouth with chocolate and gulp some water but the increasing
effort of pulling the sledges up an ever more slippery and
steepening slope soon had me pausing every few minutes to lean