What’s happening with the other projects?
Published on 21.11.2009 - General Info
It's time to do a quick review of progress in some of the other adventures due to take place during this 2009-10 season on the Antarctic. Some of them will certainly be setting out, while others probably won't be.
Notwithstanding the fact that we have contacted them on various occasions, we have had no further news from the following expeditions, starting with the duo of Hannah McKeand and Arnold Witzig. The plan here is for Hannah to guide the Canadian veteran from the Messner Start to the South Pole. As the route they are taking is slightly shorter that the classic trek between Hercules Inlet and the South Pole, chances are they could arrive with the next rotation of ALE's Ilyushins.
There has also been radio silence from the Brazilian Julio Fiadi, who has designed a really weird-looking capsule for travelling over the icecap when making the crossing between Hercules Inlet and the South Pole. Although ALE has mentioned Fiadi's presence on the list of expeditions, as well as at its website, it appears that everything else has ground to a halt.
And no news from the Moon Regan motorised crossing, either. The website reporting on the expedition (which did part of the route last year, before abandoning the attempt) is still up and running, although no-one is responding.
However, there has been some positive news from Australia, where at the beginning of December Eric Philips will be taking a group of 13 students from Geelong Grammar School. The intrepid youngsters will be crossing Drake Passage aboard two yachts (which is quite an adventure in itself, in view of the fact they will have to contend with the Roaring Forties and the Furious Fifties along the way), setting out from Ushuaia to carry out mini-expeditions on skis and by kayak to historical sites with major environmental implications in the immediate surroundings of the Antarctic peninsula. Eric will coordinate the logistics side of the skiing and kayaking parts of the expedition.
The Geelong Grammar School is Australia's largest co-educational boarding school and is located in the state of Victoria. The school is best known for its International Baccalaureate (IB) programme, which focuses its teaching on the total overall development of pupils (aged 3 to 12), as well as its research and discovery capabilities - not only in the classroom, but also in everyday life. Geelong Grammar is a benchmark in Australian education circles, with a reputation that extends well outside the country.
