Conditions Report
Report from November 9, 2022
Nope, a full-on powder day in Antarctica is not a normal thing…
But, that’s precisely what happened on November 9, 2022.
My group was the last Zodiac off the ship.
There was powder everywhere…
As the groups in front of us toiled up the mountain, breaking trail and heading towards Tennant Peak on Ronge Island (my favorite zone to ski in Antarctica), I was scheming…
The most obvious, wide open, gorgeous, between crevasse zones area to ski was calling my name…
As we neared the top of this powder bowl, I saw clouds approaching.
I did the math and realized we’d be in the clouds on the summit if we continued.
The sneaky snake option popped into my head.
“This powder bowl is the crown jewel of this run, it’s powder (which never happens), it’s untouched, and we’re standing right on top of it…”
It didn’t take long to convince my clients that this was the move.
We ripped skins, dropped in, and laughed our heads off.
We’d poached the powder from the other groups above, but hey, we were the last Zodiac off the boat and in that position, you have to be cunning…
From there, we skied right down to the beach on the north shore of the island and listened to the waves.
From the waves we could see my favorite run in Antarctica.
We skinned back up near penguins, curled around, navigated the wind spines, and ended up atop a steep, smooth shot right down to the sea.
I dropped first and the snow wasn’t the pow we’d had in the morning – it was a cream cheese that allowed for big, fast turns and fun.
Right back to the beach, right back to the breaking waves.
We skinned home through penguins very happy.
Then we went for a Zodiac ride and saw arched & cathedral-ized icebergs.
Then, we went to the Cuverville penguin colony and saw hundreds of penguins swim and waddle.
Then we did the Polar Plunge in 28ºF water.
Then we saw a Leopard Seal and pup (even the Expedition Leader who’s been on 200 trips hadn’t ever seen a Leopard Seal pup)!
Then after dinner, we saw Humpback Whales doing all kinds of weird stuff off the ship’s bow.
This felt like living an entire week in one day 🙂
