The Basque Team : almost flying home
Published on 08.01.2012 - TransAntartika 2011
The three basque climbers are ski/kiting quite fast on the way back to Hercules Inlet. On 6 January, they have no more than 430 kil to go.
Impressive progression of these three Basque alpinists. On day 49 of their voyage (3 January), Alberto Iñurrategi, Juan Vallejo y Mikel Zabalza had done so far almost 2.576 kil since their start from the russian base Novolazarevskaya.
In addition, these last days, approaching the Thiel Mountains, they have covered on 5 January 180 kil (their best mileage so far) and the next day, they made 162 kil in 11 hours. That means that in four days, they have covered half of the distance South Pole > Hercules Inlet.
The fact that the itinerary is no more ascending towards the Pole but descending towards the Antarctic coast helps the trio (and also the other expeditions doing the same trek) to go faster.
One tedium though : the three climbers are completely fed up with the monotony of the polar food. It's become almost an effort fro them to start eating the three meals they take during the day and before going to bed.
