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Rocking out at the Poles
Agu 3, 2004 12: 21 EST
Unlike Everest, Polar skiers typically listen to music during the day, while moving. Whereas expedition climbers get to rest upon arrival at Camp, and throw on the tunes, Polar skiers are in a flurry to get camp setup, food prepared, equipment fixed, and then to bed – Not too much time to rock out at night.
Today we’ll look at two music solutions for the Polar skier. The first is the Ipod. Unlike Everest or other mountain expeditions, the good thing is that the Polar skier will be well within the Ipod’s 10,000 ft. ceiling. Usage has shown that Ipods can indeed go higher most of the time. The factory states the operating temperature to be 0 degree Celsius and non-operating temp to be –20 degrees C. South and North Pole expeditions routinely experience temperatures way below these limits. At a certain temperature, the Ipod just won’t work, and if it does work, the colder it is, the less battery time – common sense. Rosie Stancer, who skied to the South Pole last year said there were times when even if she did keep it tucked in her jacket that it wouldn’t work, and then at other times it would last at most about two hours.
Another alternative for music that has been used with much success is the Minidisc. You have to bring along many discs to have the sheer amount of music that an Ipod contains in itself, however, a couple AA lithium batteries will last for several days, being used in excess of 5 hours a day. The Minidisc also would not work when it got way too cold, but otherwise it was reliable over 90% of the time.
For you Ipod freaks though, there are some alternative solutions for power. You can either buy or easily make an external battery pack that will hold 4 AA lithium batteries. This will work quite well to increase the length of listening time, however, how much in addition you’ll get in the Antarctic – remains to be seen. A standard Ipod is supposed to last 10 hours, and Rosie got 2 hours at most – so that’s about a fifth of standard. Belkin has 4 AA’s as lasting 15 hours – make those lithium AA’s and you’ll tack on a couple more. Still, even at 20 hrs normal, you’ll only get maybe 4 down in Antarctica. That could be up to 4 batteries a day – costly and heavy.
A standard Ipod battery, that is in the unit runs at 3.7 volts and around 850 to 1230 mAh, depending on what generation Ipod you have. There are kits out there to retrofit a 2000mAh battery directly into the Ipod, so it holds a bigger charge.
As it stands now, the minidisk seems like the most reliable alternative – it’s been tried and tested on both North and South Pole unsupported skis. The Ipod is a newcomer and even though Rosie got marginal results with it last fall doesn’t mean that there are ways to suck more out of the unit – keeping it right next to your body or going with alternative power solutions, like AA battery packs or even switching out the existing battery.
The ideal is to bring both, with the Ipod as the primary and the Minidisc if it should crash or be unusable. On a supported ski, this might be an option, however, on a unsupported ski, every ounce of weight is crucial. Rosie did make the Pole last year unsupported and was using the Ipod, however, unlike the MiniDisc users who got aural pleasure throughout the day, Rosie was limited to just a few short hours, “It became a treat that I could look forward to.”
ExplorersWeb knows of some skiers this fall who plan on using the Ipod. The important piece of knowledge here is that the Ipod’s battery as it comes from the factory is not adequate enough for the needs of a Polar adventurer. Replacements, retrofits, and external solutions will be necessary. The only question is whether or not the additional weight and power consumption is worth having that many songs instantly accessible without having to change out a disc. Hopefully after this fall’s multiple Antarctic Ipod experiences, we’ll see if Apple’s device will rule out over the minidisk for those wishing to rock out at the Poles!
Rosie Stancer, who reached the Pole this past season currently holds the second fastest time ever for an unsupported expedition, 44 days.
Image courtesy of Apple.com.
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