End Of The Antarctic Season
Published on 26.01.2008 - General Info
The end of the Antarctic season is drawing nigh. Explorapoles takes stock of the ups and downs of these last two months.
If one had to pinpoint one key fact of this 2007-2008 Antarctic season, it would be, in our view, that for the first time in the history of the polar regions, the general public had direct and easy access (although they had to register, it was free) to the progress of a scientific expedition and its work on the ice. We're talking about the Norwegian-US Scientific Traverse of East Antarctica Expedition.
This important expedition, which is an American-Norwegian project, left the Norwegian station of Troll on 16 November 2007 and was due to reach the South Pole. Unfortunately, following successive engine failures, the sixteen scientists and technicians had to set up a base camp approximately 400 km from their goal. The expedition should last two seasons. Several times per week, the website's writers (scientists, don't forget) zoomed in on fascinating polar subjects, explaining them in such a way that laymen could understand them. At the International Polar Foundation, all our efforts focus on raising awareness on polar environmental protection and on establishing a better communication between science and the general public. We think this expedition will have marked a turning-point in polar adventure.
Alongside this "first", there was also this interesting experiment made by some British professors who went to a glacier in the Ellsworth Mountains in order to live a great adventure and to harness their professional knowledge in search of new discoveries. Another fascinating adventure.
Apart from that, there have been no great sporting achievements on the Antarctic polar icecap this winter. Instead, we have seen an increase in the number of adventurers who have chosen the 6th Continent for their feats for one reason or another, whether humanitarian or other.
Among them, we would like nevertheless to emphasise the courage of some which, injured and handicapped by extreme pain, did not want to give up as they approached the pole. The selflessness of their companions, who slowed down the trek in order to wait for them, should also be pointed out - we're thinking in particular of the ANI South Pole Quest 2007/08 Expedition.
We should also note the opening of a new route by the Interchange Shackleton South Pole Expedition 2007, which had the idea to follow, to a large extent, the route Sir Ernest Shackleton had intended to take when he left towards the South Pole in 1914, just as the First World War had broken out. However, the shipwreck of his three-master, Endurance, prevented him from finishing this route.
To make a link with the Arctic season that is opening in less than two months, we would like to remind you that the Tara sailing ship finally got out of the ice on 20 January and that Jean-Louis Etienne's airship with which he had proposed to measure the thickness of the Arctic pack ice smashed to pieces in Provence, on 22 January at 06 00 am.
We would advise our readers who are interested in the kayak expedition of the American Jon Bowermaster through the waters of the Antarctic Peninsula to follow this adventure on-line on his website, as updates are almost exclusively radio transmissions.
There are finally all the other polar expeditions (on Mount Vinson in particular) which we haven't had time to talk about (and which furthermore do not always have an on-line following facility) but which have also had some great adventures.
