Arctic Trucks

 

We woke up at 6 a.m. and I was not feeling too good. I had a bad headache and nausea. I realized that the altitude was starting to affect our body. I had not anticipated this but we had climbed rather fast. Deirdre, our doctor, had the situation under control and she knew exactly was happening. We left the camp but the driving conditions were not very good. The sastrugis are getting bigger, our speed was down to 15-20 km per hour and the car engines were losing power because of the cold. We had to drive in the fourth gear to get the automatic transmission to work normally.
During the day Hjalti got weaker and weaker but I managed to sleep a little while Kenny was driving but he did not seem to feel the altitude much. Deirdre was also feeling this a little.
In the end we put both the trailers on Hjalti‘s car so that car now had 14 barrels. Kenny and I forged the way. When the snow got even heavier we put tow from my car to Hjaltis car to help him with all the weight since the car was sinking into the snow and did not have the power or the grip to pull the trailers. The temperature was down to minus 24 and a little wind from the east. The wind always seems to come from the east here. The snow was soft, apart from the sastrugis which are very hard. The cars are losing power in the cold and we need find a solution to this problem.
We ended the day in location South 7405, East 1109, around 400 kilometers from Novo in the altitude of 3.300 meters.

 

Gíslí Jónsson

 

We left our camps after having a breakfast and taking down the tents. We continued to ETL where we had been before. From there we used a route that I had put on the maps using a Google air photos and it turned out to be useful. We drove in the valleys as much as we could, since it is more likely to find cracks up on the hills. We did not have any trouble and we manage to drive at 20-25 pr. hour. The sastrugis are getting bigger and they throw the cars and the trailers to and fro. We decided to put down our tents 20-25 kilometers from ETL and have some dinner. Putting up the tents, heating water and getting ready for the night takes a lot of time, if we stop at 19:00 we are in bed by midnight.  We are starting to feel the thin air but in the cold you automatically struggle to keep warm and get heat into the body for the night.
Our camp is located South 7300 100, East 1047 720 and the altitude is 3.091 meter.

 

Gísli Jónsson

Hjalti and Gísli have been feeling mountain sick for the last two days. They are starting to feel better; hopefully this will be over soon!

 

Today we left for the main trip to leave oil up on the plateau. The cars were loaded with 8 barrels each, total of 16 barrels. We also had 3 aluminum boxes with tools and spare parts for the cars. We filled the tanks of the cars with oil and left Novo at 11, two cars and two trailers. The first 100 kilometers were very easy to drive but we had to stop on a regular basis to rearrange the barrels because the straps loosened up in all the shaken.  When we got over the mountain close to Novo a crack opened underneath my trailer. We found a way past the crack but Hjalti trailer also fell down but we managed to tow the trailer up. We decided to find a new way through this area on the way back.
At 19:00 the crack area was behind us and then we put up our tents. The temperature is minus 20 and there is some wind. The cars are using 60-70 liters per hundred kilometers.  We are now 147 kilometers from Novo.
Hjalti and I got the bigger tent of the two we borrowed in Novo.  All our tents were left behind in London with a lot of our gear. The clothes we got from Cintamani in Iceland have really saved our lives. The tent we slept in is what we would call a good summer tent in Iceland. The one Kenny and Deirdre are using is very small and not much to look at. We can’t cook indoor and it is a bit cold to cook outside in minus 20! In the end it all went well and we were reasonably warm.
Our location is South 7154 East 1101 and the altitude is 2.072 meters.

Gísli Jónsson

 

We woke up at 7:30 and got a breakfast in the food tent. We used the morning to align the wheels of my car and then we went over the cars, tightened the bolts, measured the oil and so on.
Around noon I picked up two Russian scientists at Oasis. They were on their way to a Russian station located in the middle of the plateau. They were very happy to get to sit in the car for 15 minutes instead of 45 in the tank. They were able to look at view and listen to music instead of being in the terrible noise of the tank. Everybody is very impressed about the cars and they see a lot of opportunities regarding transportation in the area. We belief that a regular 38 inch Hilux could be used for almost everything on this area from the mountains down to the coast. 
The weather here at Novo is minus 6 degrees and rather windy.

 

Gísli Jónsson

 

We woke up at 12 o‘clock from a much needed sleep. The tour yesterday had been both long and hard.
We worked on getting the trailers ready for use. Andrei, which has been most helpful and fixed us up with everything we need, came and invited us to a sauna down at Oasis. We were very surprised to hear that they had a sauna here. The sauna was extremely hot and Andrei hit us with branch which I understand is a Russian tradition. He gave us a special treatment and this was supposed to be very healthy and good for you! Afterwards we went to the camp and met Vladimir who is in charge there. He gave us some freshly baked pancakes and a glass of vodka! We also got some fresh vegetables and salted tomatoes. Vladimir played on his harmonica and a seven string guitar and Andrei sang with him. We had a lot of fun and this describes the culture here, everybody is willing to make the stay here as easy and enjoyable as possible. I have not yet met a boring person here and the spirit is great!

 

Gísli Jónsson

Today Hjalti and Gísli managed to drive up to the plateau 183 kilometers from Novo, through the crevases area. They found a suitable place for the airport to land and then drove back to Novo. Fuel consumption is approximately 30 liter pr. 100 km. This is big news within this area. Everything is going according to plan!