Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1258433
spirit is willing, but the body is weak. The only sensible decision is to come back to the camp. We are extremely exhausted and even having a look ahead takes energy away. When you close your eyes, it is easier. You want to drink very much, but we only have snow. Eating snow gives water, but it takes temperature, or energy away, which needs to be supplemented by feeding. How- ever, the food is gone. What to do? Expose yourself to dehydra- tion or risk hypothermia? We stop for about 30 minutes in a small rock cavity. Within this time, the sweaty body cools down very fast. The air temperature de- creases below –40°C. They have managed to melt and heat some snow on the petrol stove. Howev- er, you have to move on prompt- ly. When you stop for one hour in such conditions it may result in a disease. It is getting harder to take the subsequent steps. A few hours later, extremely exhausted, we got to the tent. Finally, just briefly about frost, i.e. what is obvious in winter in Yakutia. From my point of view, it is a threat that had better not be underestimated in any respect, but you should not be exagger- atedly afraid of it. You had better be afraid of the wind, but luckily our stay in Yakutia has not been not too gusty. Personally, I prefer a frost with 25°C in Yakutia than -5°C in Poland. This is due to the high degree of continental climate in that area. There is little rainfall, a distance to the nearest sea is large, and an arrival of the humid air masses from the Arctic Ocean or the Sea of Okhotsk is limited by the great mountain ranges. Thus, the air is very dry and the feeling of cold is completely dif- ferent, milder. In Yakutia during a short day in winter, the Sun can warm up so much that, in spite of the temperature around -20°C, a thin jumper is enough (Photo #22). Certainly, after dark, things change immeasurably. A low lev- el of precipitation also means that the avalanche risk during our stay (February - March) was practically at the level of zero. No fresh snow has fallen for about a month, and avalanches have al- ready fallen from each couloir. In fact, during one-month stay in Ya- kutia it was only one cloudy day. The peak remains unnamed. We do not give up. We are already making another attempt in sum- mer 2020. We have come too far to withdraw from the entire proj- ect of the ‚Dybowski's Peak' expe- dition. AHOY! EXPEDITION