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Old 11-21-2009, 11:59 PM   #68
Abe Sargent
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Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Catonsville, MD
The following morning Fenor prepares a nice hot breakfast, a welcome sight to greet you in this icy wasteland. I eat a bowl of steaming stew gratefully. The morning is beautiful and we make quick time. By nightfall we have reached Syem Island ahead of schedule. Syem Island is a pinnacle of granite that juts out of the ice 400 feet. We make camp tonight on the leeward side to avoid most of the wind.

I am asked to roll the dice. I get a 4.

The next day snow clouds appear in the sky around Syem Island. We arrive at the edge of the Viad Glacier in a few hours. Bits of ice jut out at every angle and present a most unusual obstacle. We have to walk the sledges in a few places, and try hard to get to the smoother going of the regular glacier in a bit.

We cover about a half of a mile through this before we come across a major crevasse in the ice. It is only a few feet wide but it is miles long. We tie a rope around everyone in order to help us get to safety. The hardest part will be getting the dogs and sleds across. Luckily, we manage it alright.

Finally we come to an even larger crevasse over 8 feet wide. Our sledges are ten feet long and ought to be able to be used as bridges to cross the fissure, but if the ice give sway, it’s bye bye Kai Lord. We can either try and use the sledges as bridges, or we can jump across with the Kanu-dogs, and then pull the sledges after us. I prefer the latter choice because it seems like everything is in my control. The first one hopes the ice holds, but I have no way of knowing it, but the second is a jump under my control and pulling under it as well.

Dyce makes it over but Irian slips and has to be pulled up by Dyce. Now it is my time. I am asked to roll the dice, and add two if I have Hunting. I roll a 8. It takes nearly an hour to cross, but everything and everyone is okay. We have finished the ascent of Viad Glacier today, and camp in a small bowl in the ice.
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