Two Teams and Two Solos Nearing the End
Published on 20.01.2012 - General Info
British explorer Felicity Aston on the satphone
© Expedition website
On the Union Glacier ALE base camp side of the Antarctic, there are 4 expeditions left on the ice : all are approaching the Hercules Inlet shore. Some are quite near, others still a bit far...
Felicity Aston (solo), from her Twitter pages, 19 January : Spent the morning stumbling around in a whiteout and the afternoon stripping down to my thermals in the fiercely hot sun! I can see mountains and they look beautiful. It's like first sight of a finish line. I stopped in my tracks and cried. White out this morning. Antarctica isn't going to let me have it easy. As much as I'm looking forward to the end and counting the miles, I've also been getting pangs of regret that it might soon be over.
Cas & Jonesy (from their blog) : Day 82. Cas and Jonesy have 2 full days of food with them to cover 120 km to the next cache for resupply. They are both nursing injuries, high levels of fatigue, hunger and mental exhaustion. But this is the crucial part of the journey. Regardless of how they feel right now, they must go beyond that and just keep skiing. They have just over 300km to the finish line and only a week left on the ice. Big suspense.
Copeland & McNair : A quite frustrating end of the voyage. Both men get up when the wind is coming, they break up camp and lift the kites. But, since three days now, each time they try to kite, the winds "do not keep tjheir promise" and short time after being on, the kites "fall out of the sky, without ceremony". Their last position '18 January) : S 85°50.641 - W 084°39.674′ with an elevation of 5.323 feet. Another big suspense.
Gamme Aleksander (solo) : The Norwegian Tour Operator has another 210 kil to go. He is progressing these last days at a pace of about 39 kil a day. His chances of arriving on time at HI are ok. Six days to cover 210 kil, with a bit of pushing hard and being very careful, he'll be on time -no matter the weather.
