The Goliath Expedition

3 February 2006
A lot of pissing about means a late start again and when we do get going it’s at a pretty slow pace. The wind is up, giving us a hard time. The worst of Dimitris frost bitten fingers is starting to look pretty nasty. The day drags on. I still wear my light walking clothes which means I really need to keep moving at a good pace. Consequently, almost instinctively I will shoot off but then have to wait until Dimitri catches me up. We barely make 10 miles before it’s time to start thinking about where to sleep.

Reaching a place called Cape Douglas I decide that it will be a good idea to pitch tent on the southern side of the Cape, up against the shoreline, as the wind is blowing in from the north. Here we can expect some shelter in amongst the 8ft pressure ridges that have been pushed up against the cliff face. It looks ideal. On hearing the ice move, creek and groan, Dimitri asks if it’s not a better idea to try and move more inland. However, I can’t see a way to get inland and as we are only 10ft from the cliff I’m happy that this is OK. We may well be on the shore anyway as this ice could have been pushed up over the sand. My major concern is keeping our flimsy tent out of the wind. To go any further would put us on the north side of the Cape and into the full wrath of the wind.
” No” say I, ” We’ll be fine.”
Up goes the tent and we hunker down. As the night goes on the winds begin to rage. I’m worried that we’ll suffer structural damage to the tent and start losing poles. With a deafening roar, it thrashes about all night like a wild animal. Eventually I hear Dimitris muffled voice from somewhere deep in his sleeping bag.
” It’s 9am, what do you want to do?”
The storm is still raging and the tent is being flattened on top of us.
” Lets stay here and we’ll ride this one out.” I reply, while thinking, Christ, if this is a sheltered spot imagine what it must be like around on the other side of the Cape.
The day just seemed to get worse and I become really worried that at some point the tent will fail and we’ll be in big trouble. We just lie in our sleeping bags, wrapped up tightly, hoping for the best.

I have been expecting a change in the weather at some point as it’s been unusually cold for this part of Alaska. For some time now, a high pressure system has hung over this area keeping these cold temperatures in situ. Finally, a low front is moving in and with it will come warmer weather. However, for now it is also bringing these horrendous winds. It’s a real pain to be pinned down like this for countless hours and come the evening my back is killing me. I slip my hand out once in a while and grope around for a packet of peanuts or something similar. Other than that we do not eat or drink. We pee in bottles, a common enough practice in tent life, yet I still manage to spill my bottle in my sleeping bag today… very unpleasant. Snow covers a good portion of the inside of the tent! As we are fully zipped up I haven’t a clue as to how it managed to find its way in here.