Weather Shortened Day

Big winds will keep the Ruff Riders in their tents tomorrow

The Ruff Riders will have a chance to recharge their batteries tomorrow. Not their literal batteries. They charge those with solar panels, and unfortunately for them, they are once again engulfed in a whiteout. But they'll be able to get some rest as they wait out a Saturday windstorm in their tents.

They were only able to make a couple miles of progress today before bad weather forced an early stop. Keith reports that the temperature was -25 Fahrenheit (-31.6 Celsius), and to top it off, they were skiing right into a frigid headwind.

They knew that a windstorm was materializing, so instead of waiting until the very last minute, they decided to establish camp and leave themselves enough time to bulk it up a little bit in advance of the worst of the storm.

What do you do when you know a storm is coming?

First off, you want to position the tents so that the longer sidewalls are in line with the wind. That's a much more stable position than broadside.

After securing staking out all the support lines, Keith spearheaded a snow wall project. Snow walls help protect tents from the full force of the wind. Even if they're not 100% necessary for safety, they're nice to have because by deflecting wind around the tent, they make for a much quieter and more pleasant abode.

They cut compacted "bricks" of snow with shovels and a snow saw. And then arranged them arc shaped wall at the windward end of the tents. It's a big time and energy consuming task but an essential one to complete ahead of a storm.

All are comfortably resting up and enjoying dinner. They'll get to catch up on sleep and any reading they've been meaning to do. Storm days are often the only good opportunities to read, because travel days leave little time and energy for that.

That's all for now from the Ruff Riders. Check back tomorrow for more news and the answer to this trivia question:

What percentage of Greenland's surface area is covered by ice year round?