Already on the ice

Published on 02.11.2011 - General Info

Four expeditions are already on the move

We have quite an early start this antarctic season with the polar expeditions. As early as the very beginning of November, four expeditions are on the move already.

On October 28 took place the first ALE/ANI flight from Punta Del Este (Chile) to Union Glacier base camp.

Four expeditions at least were on board : the Catalan team Bosch/Gel (South Pole 1911-2011, two men one goal), the Australians duo Justin Jones and James Castrission, who plan to trek from the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole and back, without assistance of any kind, the four Norwegians from 'SP 1911-2011 Centenary Expedition', Vegard Ulvang, Jan-Gunnar Winther, Stein P. Aasheim and Harald Dag Jølle and also the two teams from 'South Pole 1911 2011, Centenary Expedition to the South Pole', who will each take a different itinerary, the one Scott followed starting from Cape Evans and the other one followed by Amundsen, starting at the Bay of Whales.

The positions of the four expeditions are :

'South Pole 1911-12011, two men one goal' : 30 October was their first progression day, after having been dropped by Twin Otter at Hercules Inlet. They had a pretty tough start : "So far is hard to mount and dismount our tent. The strong wind gusts makes it incredibly difficult and time consuming. Monday the 1st was even worse, We only moved 10 Km. in 6 hours with a height difference of 300 meters. In the steep slopes we moved first together one sledge and the other one. We overturned a few times because the terrain is sometimes abrupt and there is also little ice waves called SASTRUGUIS making a very unstable progress again, with strong wind gusts windward. In a nutshell: If this carries on like that, we will spend a good two months!! ..."
'Crossing the ice' : Justin Jones and James Castrission hav also been dropped at Hercules Inlet but seem less pessimistic that the two Catalans. "... Today was a hard slog though. As we approach the 81 degree mark, we now understand why this is the toughest part of the journey. Uphill. Icy. Windy. Cold. Add to that the 160 kg pulks that we each drag behind us. Despite this, we made some good progress and are really happy to have conquered the first hill. We travelled approximately 12.1 km and gained 300 m in elevation. We are now at 544 m above sea level – but we still have a long way up to go. The South Pole is 2,835 m above sea level…."
'SP 1911-2011 Centenary Expedition' : the four Norwegians have been dropped at the Bay of Whales on 30 October a little further (40 km) than the historic place from where Amundsen took off. They have started quite slowly also, making 20 km for the first day (01 November).
'South Pole 1911 2011, Centenary Expedition to the South Pole' : The two teams are still at Union Glacier ALE base camp making the last checks.