Sastrugi

Many people think of the Antarctic Plateau as being uniformly flat, however, this is far from reality. The high winds sculpt the hard packed and rockhard snow in to wave forms, called Sastrugi, some of which can be up to 2m high. Traveling through this can be really slow going; you are either creeping over them or trying to find a clear route through them as if in a maze. The same thing happens in Greenland, and trying to kite ski through them can be a nightmare!