Antarctic Update

A big Happy Birthday to Bryony who celebrated her 21st yesterday. The team plans on having a rest today to fix a few items (bindings/tents/jackets) and to try and recover from the cold completely, which is refusing to budge! Also gives Bryony a chance to enjoy a rest on her Birthday!

The team sighted the Thiel Hills a couple of days ago. "It was novel having something to look at; it's been just white and blue the past 6 days!" This is the location of the teams second re-supply, just past 85' South - Halfway! Another rest day is planned at the re-supply, and then it's a straight run to the pole, trying to make up time (the guides have worked out that, even with the delays with losing a team member and other issues, they are only 24 hours behind schedule).

Bryony mentioned how difficult it was to tell the passage of time while skiing, thanks to the 24 hour daylight, saying "it's quite bewildering, you don't know when to stop or how far you've been going; you get physically tired, but your head just keeps going since it doesn't get dark". This isn't however her biggest complaint when it came to the environment. This came in the form of a phenomenon known as flat light or a sector white-out. During a these conditions of low light and overcast conditions it becomes impossible to discern the distance away from a snowy surface. The horizon is non-existent and the only gauge of surfaces is your ski tracks or other team members in front! Bryony likened it to "being in a 2D world".

Expedition Update

What a challenge it must be to have spilled soup down your anorak, have it freeze and then be trapped inside!  This is what happened to Bryony this week.  Just one of a number of small mishaps that the team have experienced on their journey so far.

100 years ago yesterday, the Amundsen expedition made it to the geographic South Pole (90°S) a whole 34 days before the British expedition. Bryony and the team are well on their way to reaching the pole by the 17^th January, a century after the First British explorer managed the same feat.

For more detailed updates go to

www.southpoleadventure.com

Antarctic Update 1st to 4th December 2012

For the past four days the team has made excellent progress, and I’m happy to announce that Bryony has now passed 81° South, with her current position at http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=-81.135266&lon=-081223350 at an altitude of around 1000m. But the past few days have been taxing…

2^nd December

Bryony faces her first full day of whiteout conditions! Being able to see only a few meters on front of you is problem in the Antarctic with Sastrugi (wind-blown ridges in the snow) proving a real problem. Every member of the team fell at least a few times, with their skis hitting these snow drifts and tumbling forward! This was made more difficult for Bryony when her goggles fogged up. This condensation then froze, leaving a 5 pence piece sized whole through which to navigate! After the final rest stop this was rectified, just in time for conditions to clear!

So, would these conditions slow the team down? Travelling 19.5km Bryony managed her longest days skiing yet!

3^rd December

The bad news came from Ronnie on the evening of the 2^nd. He tells the team of the continued muscle problems he’s faced over the past few days, causing lack of sleep and exhaustion. After a lengthy discussion, it was decided that it would be safest for Ronnie to be medevac’d back to America to recover rather than risk further injury with more than three quarters of the expedition remaining.
Unfortunately, that caused problems firstly for the planned distance to be covered on the 3^rd. Of course, once the medevac was signalled for, the team would need to remain in the same position, awaiting transport in the form of ski-equipped light aircraft. From the initial call at 09:00 (local-time) it took 11 hours for the plane to arrive, cutting short any chance of skiing that day; though Ronnie was able to be safely flown out without incident.

Bryony would like to send a massive thanks to Chris of Icke Fitness, who has provided excellent training, nutritional plans, and support; without whom it could have been her on the plane heading home.

With conditions such as whiteouts (which can be more extreme than Bryony faced on Friday) and other complications, the team has allowed themselves three full rest days. Because of this, the team is not necessarily behind. So; what does the team do on a rest day? Well I can only speak for Bryony (and for those of you that know her this will not come as a surprise), you sleep! Catching up on some well needed napping, helping refuel for the next few days. Of course, there was still time for some shenanigans, including a snowball fight, which apparently becomes serious when shovels are involved! I’ve been informed that the snow varies vastly over different areas, not always good for snowballs!

4^th December

Fantastic progress from the team yesterday, with a total distance of 21km behind them, helped by the previous days rest and superb conditions with very little wind and temperatures around -12°C. The team has also elected to take rest breaks every 5km instead of every 1.5 hours to provide more challenging goals. I’m told “it’s nice to stop and know another quarter of the days skiing is behind you”. Speaking to Bryony in the early hours of this morning she explains that the weather is so nice they have started eating OUTSIDE in the evenings, nothing like a little Antarctic al fresco dining! Hoping to get pictures of this phenomenon soon!

And the weather's too warm at the Antarctic?!

With over 50km into the expedition the team is now well on their way, and getting into routines which will help them reach their goal in good time.

The weather has been "fantastic and beautiful" with some halo phenomenon including various sun halos appearing during the 18km stint the team managed yesterday. With external temperatures reaching an incredible 4°C above zero the group would appear to be blessed with what can only be described as the the Great British Weather. A pity then that these high temperatures could cause issues for the team. Bryony was forced to take more rest breaks due to overheating! The biggest issue in the Antarctic is trying to keep out the cold, but issues can also arise if any of the team get too hot. Being too hot causes sweating, which will conduct heat far better than air within the many layers of clothes, allowing heat to easily be leached from the body and cause hypothermia. During skiing the team have been removing their outermost layers to avoid such problems, putting them on when they stop to rest.

When asked how difficult it is to pull heavy pulks all day, Bryony answered, "You don't notice it really. We have stops every hour and a half for a rest and food, and after that it's just head down. It seems to fly by, just white, blue and sunny all the time!"

Lets hope the weather cools (only a little) and the team keep up the good progress so far!