SRV'ing round a ridge world - Pomeche 2 c

[sgurr]

Day 28: Friends and flyving

The day starts with a quick meander to the edge of an icy section of ridge where I stop and later have the pleasure of meeting up with Cmdrs Florenus and Alvin Wall, with a ridge laid out in front for our driving fun and frustration:

Over the next hour we drive, flyve, scratch and scrape our way along this section, staying together unless one of us decided to detour into the nearest hole (no point in us all going in ).

We all got smacked around as we tried to pick our way across:

There were steep sections (2 srvs in this):

There were flatter sections:

and then there were the surprise crevasses that snuck up and did their best to swallow srv victims (yes, there's an srv down there):

as well as elegant recoveries as attempt 2 saw that particular crevasse crossed and landed in style:

Source: https://youtu.be/lWurK-8Ha8U



It's always great to be sharing a journey with others, especially when in good company.

We took in the view of the not quite Epic but still huge peak, and me musing whether the lump on the left was Alvin's ice cream mountain (inspired post that), but apparently not.

And then it was time for a break. Thanks for the company Cmdrs o7



What followed next much later in the day was a far more hectic affair as I went all in flyving speed to cover ground. My aim was to get within another 1 or 2 sessions of the finish line and I made good progress, along the way crossing Alec's finish line:

and coming across yet another crash site and gathering up 6 escape pods and my ship is now full.
There's a marker there for dedicated rescue efforts.

In my haste however I managed to make a blunder and realised way too late that I needed to be on the other side of that canyon:

which meant backtracking about 5 degrees to where the canyon gets shallow enough to cross.

Before starting out I had scouted the east end of the Pomeche ridge to make sure that it was possible to get back on, and it is but requires some careful route finding, and that ridge on the left above was the route.

Eventually I found myself where I wanted to be, with about 25 degrees to go and on the edge of what might be the most technically challenging part of the journey.

There wasn't a good view where I stopped but the map might give some idea:

o7 Cmdrs

Link to Day 29 - Part 1

 

[Florenus]

The day starts with a quick meander to the edge of an icy section of ridge where I stop and later have the pleasure of meeting up with Cmdrs Florenus and Alvin Wall

Thanks again for having me. Driving in good company is more fun than I remembered. I've had really great time.

Now, I love this screenshot:

It tells more about your skill than anything else could.

While we're struggling to keep up, jumping in sheer terror over the chasm that suprised us (By "we" I mean mostly myself), Sgurr leisurely rolls his SVR over mid flight, and takes a picture

 

[Walter2]

Fortunately, we weren't running voice comms as I got to practise a few choice words.
But it was fun.

 

[Crank Larson]

I did say I'd extract the unexpectedly pleasant jump from the footage the other day. So here it is.

Source: https://youtu.be/3zVPM5LR23c

 

[sgurr]

Thanks again for having me. Driving in good company is more fun than I remembered. I've had really great time.

Now, I love this screenshot:

It tells more about your skill than anything else could.

While we're struggling to keep up, jumping in sheer terror over the chasm that suprised us (By "we" I mean mostly myself), Sgurr leisurely rolls his SVR over mid flight, and takes a picture

Thanks Florenus.
That's a frame grab from video but I do try and look for shots I might want later.

I did say I'd extract the unexpectedly pleasant jump from the footage the other day. So here it is.

Source: https://youtu.be/3zVPM5LR23c

That's just lovely, complete contrast to my experience on that

 

[sgurr]

Circumnavigation update Monday, the sun's just too lovely for computering today.

 

[sgurr]

Day 29 - part 1: The final leaps?

This is later than I wanted, it's a long one.


Pomeche has a 5.2 day rotation, and 5.6 day orbit around its parent gas giant. With a 742km radius it's 4662km round, each degree roughly 13km.

I worked out that to do a full circumnavigation in the daylight you'd only have to average ~10m/s for the 5ish days.
For some reason that really surprised me given how long this has taken me, but then I've been enjoying the journey too much, (perhaps occasionally taking an unnecessarily scenic route.)

There's also the element of challenge to Pomeche 2 C, to see if I could find a route through its remarkable terrain, and when I set out I genuinely didn't know the answer to that.
Obviously I now think that not only is a circumnavigation possible, but that with a good route choice it could even be done through driving alone.

Not my route though, starting and finishing on Alec's Pomeche ridge challenge adds terrain:

that driving alone wouldn't be able to manage.

I've mentioned this but before I set out I had to make sure of two things, that I could get off and then get back on to the Pomeche ridge.
For the end I'd explored the lower risk path, trying to run through the canyons here and even experimented with some sections.
What I discovered was that the canyons themselves could be impossible with holes so deep, steep and wide they would swallow an srv without a thought or care, and the journey would be over.

After a lot of scouting I thought I'd solved the puzzle, and leaping this canyon and aiming for the dip was the opening challenge:

This last section still had the potential to be the most difficult terrain I'd encountered.

I'd parked up a long way back from the edge but in the moment there was no way I could just go for it, instead I had to scout my take off point and heading. The nerves were showing themselves even just looking, the adrenaline making my hands shake as I peered over the edge.

Once I'd picked the line I backed up from the canyon, repaired at the ship, and picked a starting point far enough back to build the necessary speed for the leap:

And I couldn't go right there.
I had to take time to settle myself and get the breathing under control. It was far worse than starting an SRV race, maybe because there were consequences, but the races had also been good practice for finding some calm.

And then it was time, or more accurately there was nothing to be gained by waiting any longer.
The approach goes really well and I get a lot of speed approaching the edge and takeoff.

If you're able the video shows what happens next:

Source: https://youtu.be/DhIEYX8wOnk


.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
but in the end, this really isn't where I wanted to be:

I take a moment to get my bearings, and the only option right now is up the south wall.
The next 20 minutes are the most frantic of my journey by far, desperately trying to climb using every trick in my book, and slowly and steadily it works.

Then I stop making progress.
The ground is very uneven, and while in theory I'd be willing to have a go at this 75ish degree slope:

In practice I'd need to be able to build momentum and the terrain is just too rough for that. I'm not getting out on the south side

The slopes on the north side are looking more and more inviting, smoother and maybe, just maybe, at a shallow enough angle for an SRV to grovel up. It's not like I have a choice at this point anyway.

So looking from here:

I bounce off the ground on the right, far gnarlier than it looks, and aim for the darker area below on the north wall.

This is actually where I first bounced on the canyon floor, but I had too much momentum to stop.
I use the boost to brake the fall, and with a best guess for the safest ground I stick the landing this time.

Taking a careful look around there's maybe two choices, left or right from here:

A quick explore left makes it seem initially unlikely so right it is, and with some zigzagging and careful boosting to maintain momentum I make some progress.
The slope has giant shallow scoops, which allow for respite in the shallower angles at the bottom, but then momentum is needed to push past the steeper sections at their tops.
It takes a few attempts to push through the first two scoops until I get to just below the edge of the third:

Looks like it should be possible to just drive up that doesn't it!
The srv has barely enough grip to stay still, much less drive up. What it can do is move sideways into the scoop itself and get enough traction in there for a little speed.

What's tantalising is that I can see beyond the scoop the slope gets less steep, so I spend the next 40 minutes throwing myself at it, sometimes getting a little more height than others but honestly it feels like I'm smacking my head against a wall and I'm losing hope.


Alec comes over the comms, asks how I'm doing. When I explain he generously offers to come and help scout and 5 minutes later I have some very welcome company and encouragement.
Note, Alec's ship is level here, and I'm sat still on the canyon side looking through the roof:

Over the next half hour he looks at the canyon floor in each direction (massive holes and probably impassable) and elsewhere on the canyon walls, and where I am is probably my best chance.

What he also does is pick the best looking line from his ship vantage point which is a massive help.

The next attempt is easily the best so far and I'm somehow holding on to momentum until an unfortunate clip sends me tumbling, but I'm suddenly hopeful that a repeat could work.
Alec's footage does a great job of showing the canyon as well as what happens next:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOZ1ShzAtk4&feature=youtu.be


I keep throwing myself at the slope but it becomes clear that I'm not making progress. I'm tired from the efforts and despondent.

"What's your fallback?"
There isn't one. I need to get out or I'm not finishing the circumnavigation.
I badly need to take a break so thank Alec, I'm so grateful for the company and help.


A little later and I'm thinking about my personal choice for how I started, and aborted the first attempt, on this adventure.
And I'm ok with it the possibility of the circumnavigation not happening because the journey has been a great adventure. I've loved it.

For the moment this is where I am:

o7 Cmdrs

Part 2 will follow later today

Edit: Unedited footage from the start to where Alec later met up with me. Doesn't show the many attempts at the slope before or after he arrived.

Source: https://youtu.be/N8zSlKn8UsM

 

[Florenus]

That was intense. Last entry literally kept me on the edge of my seat.
I hope you'll make it back somehow!

 

[Alec Turner]

I can vouch for Sgurr's despondency, it was heartbraking really. His situtation looked unbelievably bleak. The slope up above him, even with the best traverse heading I could spot, was seemingly just too steep and icy to climb (my footage, despite rolling almost level at the beginning to try and illustrate the gradient, really doesn't do it justice - it was 70° or more of sheer ice cliff). The only other option for the unaided SRV was to slide down to the bottom and attempt to drive along the floor of the ravine to somewhere with an easier climb back up. But, despite preliminary scouting suggesting passable sections of ravine floor, both directions ultimately revealed other areas that were just deep crevasses to hell with no way to edge around them. But, to the absolute credit of Sgurr's determination, he repeatedly refused my offers of an air lift on my ship. He was going to do this thing properly (unaided using just the SRV's abilities alone) or not at all.

 

[Florenus]

His situtation looked unbelievably bleak.

Maybe I'm clutching at straws here, but past tense suggest that you've seen "the next episode" already and it's going to be ok?

I actually enjoy the suspense, but only if it turns out fine.
I refuse to believe Sgurr would be defeated by Pomeche so close to the finish.

 

[Alec Turner]

Maybe I'm clutching at straws here, but past tense suggest that you've seen "the next episode" already and it's going to be ok?

I actually enjoy the suspense, but only if it turns out fine.
I refuse to believe Sgurr would be defeated by Pomeche so close to the finish.

Well, it was past tense as in "I was writing about something that happened a few days ago". Nothing more or less was intended or should be implied.

 

[sgurr]

Day 29 - part 2: The neverending sliding story


I'm not sure I feel rested. It's kinda hard to rest when the ground isn't where it's supposed to be, ie. down, and this is the 'gentle' part of the slope where the srv can get grip:

Things aren't any better looking the other way, although that canyon is going to have to be Plan B if things don't work out here. I really hope it doesn't come to that, before then I'm going to give the slope a couple of sessions of effort, finger's crossed:

Maybe not rested then but the break's left me as ready as I'm going to be for some more efforts to get up this slope.

I've spent some time going over the onboard recordings of my failures earlier in the day, focussing on the one attempt where I got some real momentum.
Watching it again I realise how tantalisingly close it was to a golden attempt, the first with Alec showing the line, and if it hadn't been for the clip I would've been on easier angled ground.
But that gives me hope, if I've done it once I can do it again right?

Right?
I make a few attempts, sliding back down and going again almost immediately, then stop and compare what I'm doing with that almost golden earlier attempt and I'm not even close to the speed and height I need.

So I take different angles, pin the throttle on full, ease the throttle in, spin out, boost away from the wall too much, hit too heavy a landing, waste the boost and run out just when I need a bar or two more.
Sometimes I can't even get a straight line from the start and the attempt doesn't get past a few seconds.

These three rocks:

Getting between the first two is my aim, it's where I 'think' the slope eases and I keep falling short, whereas on 'that' attempt I was in among them.

I go again and again, continually sliding back down, and I'm getting frustrated.
I'm also obsessed. What I had intended to be a short session of efforts stretches out as I desperately hope that the next will be the one.

Then there is a one, not THE one, but one where I get level with the first rock and srv holds grip on the slope. I let out a breath just as gravity takes over, the traction was the briefest of moments but it was there.

I go again and hit the same spot, but this time side on and just as the srv briefly holds grip I boost again, out up and back in, gaining a few metres in height hoping that the slope angle eases just a fraction more.
This time, finally, when I soft land the srv stops in place, those few extra metres making all the difference.

I'm in between the rocks, still looks improbable though:

While I suspect if I went back without a circumnavigation on the line I could scoot up the rest of the slope I daren't take any risks now.
I reverse to get a slight run up, turn the run up into the slope, boost up, away and back to soft land side on, then repeat gaining a few metres at a time.

Gradually, and methodically, I gain height but I have no idea why I'm still sticking to the slope:

but I'm also not questioning it with the top in touching distance:

Two more runups and suddenly the wheels had traction and I'm racing up the slope for the lip of the canyon:

I don't think I can describe the relief I felt, but I'm really looking forward to some less stressful travelling.

I make my way back east along the canyon lip, to a point where I know the canyon can be jumped, and recall the ship.
Settling in for a break I'm tired but calm, and crossing fingers for no more big adventures from here on in. I feel very fortunate:

This is the climb to the lip (video still loading/processing as I post):

Source: https://youtu.be/gEu7b_hLqQI



I'll make another attempt to finish Wedsnesday


o7 Cmdrs

Link to Day 30, the last day

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

To frack with the new NASA mars probe, SGURR is the real embodiment of perseverance.

 

[Walter2]

It's no good - I'll have to go back into therapy.

 

[sgurr]

and done:

Thanks again for the company


Proper update Fri/Sat


o7 Cmdrs

 

[Nick Sticks]

E P I C adventure!
Well done Cmdr!

 

[Alec Turner]

Really sensational achievement @sgurr (one I geuinely believed impossible).

Can't wait to read the final log.

 

[Osashes]

Incredible stuff! Awesome job!

 

[Alec Turner]

While we await the final update I just wanted to share a screenshot I found on my hard drive from a few days ago when Sgurr was in serious trouble.

You really couldn't have dropped an SRV into a worse situation I think!

 

[Walter2]

While we await the final update I just wanted to share a screenshot I found on my hard drive from a few days ago when Sgurr was in serious trouble.

You really couldn't have dropped an SRV into a worse situation I think!

Between you and me, I've always thought he was nuts.

However, I did see he and Crank float up one of those ice cliffs as if they were being pulled up by a winch. Seriously impressive skills developed to conquer the harshest of environments and implemented with aplomb and élan.

I hate them both.