Whiteout

I had heard that the April weather in south Greenland can get quite rough. When the season of polar night ends and the sun reappears and shines at a high angle, the atmosphere gets warm and the warm air is pushed by the cold air and moves around accordingly. In April, it is still cold (approx. -20 degrees Celsius), and the snow is dry and powdery. It is carried by the wind and flows like water in a river. When the wind is much stronger, the snow will be blown into the air and turns into a blizzard which completely obstructes ones vision. In such circumstances, even if the sky is blue, you can't see anything up to 30 meters above the ground. If it is a cloudy day, the sky dissappears and the horizon between the snow and the sky becomes inrecognizable. It is completely white in 360 degrees, and this is called a "whiteout".

Ohba, setting up a tent in a blizzard

In a day of whiteout, it feels like experiencing a sea sick. When skiing, it is hard to tell whether moving forward or staying at the same place. In such a day, I won't push myself. I try to relax myself in the tent by having a hot tea, writing a diary, making a plan on the map, or sleeping. There is no need to worry, because if the weather gets better and the good wind blows, we can advance 50 to 60km in a day, just like today.