South Pole via Kansas Glacier
Dispatches
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2018-01-11
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2018-01-10
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2018-01-09
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2018-01-08
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2018-01-07
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2018-01-05
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2018-01-04
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2018-01-03
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2018-01-01
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2017-12-31
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2017-12-27
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2017-12-26
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2017-12-14
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2017-12-12
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2017-12-11
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2017-12-11
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2017-12-10
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2017-12-09
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2017-12-08
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2017-12-07
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2017-12-06
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2017-12-05
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2017-11-27
Dec 07
#4: Day 2
Published at 05:58
Yesterday we switched to a different time zone (Anchorage) so that our noon would coincide with the sun?s zenith, meaning it would wheel around the sky behind as as we travelled, saving our eyes from constant glare. It also means our shadow is in front of us, a useful tool for navigation. At 12 noon it lays directly south, pointing at the pole (not entirely useful until we can ski directly to it) and shifts 15 degrees every hour.
Thankfully the strong wind petered out overnight and we woke to a fine morning with a bank of clouds still hovering over the mountains.
To our north we see the Ross Ice Shelf extending to the horizon. It was on this ice sheet that Captain Robert Scott and his team perished in March of 1912, having reached the pole but only to find Roald Amundsen?s tent standing there in priority.
Not far to our west lies the Axel Heiberg Glacier, discovered by Amundsen and further west again the Beardmore Glacier, discovered by Ernest Shackleton a few years earlier and used by Scott to gain access to the plateau and the pole. Between these glaciers lies the Shackleton, another massive glacier cutting through the Transantarctic Mountains, one that I pioneered together with Jon Muir and Peter Hillary in 1998. It?s good to be back in this place.
Today we covered a little over 19km in 7 hours of hauling. Towing a collective half tonne of food and equipment behind us, I reckon that?s pretty bloody good for a second day out.
Eric
Pics of our team in full stride, my shadow across sun-cupped snow and home on the range.
Thankfully the strong wind petered out overnight and we woke to a fine morning with a bank of clouds still hovering over the mountains.
To our north we see the Ross Ice Shelf extending to the horizon. It was on this ice sheet that Captain Robert Scott and his team perished in March of 1912, having reached the pole but only to find Roald Amundsen?s tent standing there in priority.
Not far to our west lies the Axel Heiberg Glacier, discovered by Amundsen and further west again the Beardmore Glacier, discovered by Ernest Shackleton a few years earlier and used by Scott to gain access to the plateau and the pole. Between these glaciers lies the Shackleton, another massive glacier cutting through the Transantarctic Mountains, one that I pioneered together with Jon Muir and Peter Hillary in 1998. It?s good to be back in this place.
Today we covered a little over 19km in 7 hours of hauling. Towing a collective half tonne of food and equipment behind us, I reckon that?s pretty bloody good for a second day out.
Eric
Pics of our team in full stride, my shadow across sun-cupped snow and home on the range.
- Name: Camp 2
- Elevation: 505 m
- Latitude: 85° 20’ 36” South
- Longitude: 137° 58’ 53” West
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