Posted: Jan 07, 2010 11:17 am EST
(TheOceans.net/ThePoles.com) Eric, teachers Justin Robinson and Stephen Pearce and thirteen Australian students sailed across Drake Passage, visited research stations, sledge-hauled across glaciers and did some restoration work.

Eric Philips sent ExplorersWeb a summary of their experience. Here goes:

Crossing Drake Passage

We sailed from Ushuaia, Argentina across Drake Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula in four days, arriving at Port Lockroy on December 11. The crossing was reasonably comfortable though most suffered seasickness to varying degrees, particularly me, the worst ocean traveller on the planet.

Both boats - Podorange and Spirit of Sydney - and their crews, were exceptional and we felt very secure at sea.

Port Lockroy

Our protected anchorage at Port Lockroy is surrounded by spearing mountains, icecliffs and islands inhabited by Gentoo penguins and Crabeater and Weddell seals.

Port Lockroy is visited daily by cruise ships. The students were universal in their opinion that visiting the Peninsula by sailing boat gives a more intimate, exciting and committing perspective of Antarctica.

At Port Lockroy we paid a quick visit to the English station, then set about planning our ski traverse of Wiencke Island.

Harbour Glacier to Damoy Point

The following day, with 6 students and one teacher, we were dropped off by Spirit on the northern end of Harbour Glacier. Towing sleds, we laboured up a snow ramp onto the glacier.

Here the clouds lifted revealing the jagged peaks of the Wall Range to our east and the equally spectacular Noble and Jabet Peaks to the west. Following a fine line between avalanche terrain and crevasses we skied south, reaching a pass at 4.30pm.

Here we built an igloo for 6 people and pitched a tent next to it, diving inside just as a blizzard hit fever pitch. It was too warm however and the igloo dripped all night, drenching the four boys inside.

Next day the weather cleared and we skied to Damoy Point on the western tip of the island, where we met the other students and staff who were doing some restoration work on Damoy Hut.

We all bunked in the hut for the night then skied back to the boats the following day. Unfortunately poor weather prevented the second group from doing a return journey.

Lamaire and Vernadsky

The following day we sailed south through the stunningly beautiful Lemaire Channel to Vernadsky, the Ukrainian base.

The men based there thrashed us in a game of soccer on their snowy pitch then pampered us with warm hospitality. Our activities in this area over the next few days included ice climbing, sea kayaking and skiing, together with tours of the neighbouring islands by Zodiac.

We also visited Wordie House, an old British hut that is being restored by a UK-based historic hut restoration team.
Mainland Antarctica

On December 21, the southern summer solstice, we left our anchorage and crossed Penola Strait to make landfall on the mainland of Antarctica.

This was the icing on the cake for these young adventurers, particularly as Antarctica's mountains and icebergs were glistening under a beautiful southern sun.

Cape Horn

Shortly after we headed north into the Drake Passage again to do battle with the wind and waves. Four days later South America emerged over the horizon and we anchored just south of Cape Horn in a protected bay.

Here we celebrated what is probably our most memorable Christmas ever. The following day we sailed to Puerto Williams on Chilean soil, returning to Ushuaia the following day, and journeys end.

Climate warming

We believe this to be the first school expedition to Antarctica. We know that other youth have been to Antarctica on cruise ships, including my own kids, but I think this is the first autonomous school expedition.

More importantly though, is the ambassadorship that these students return with. As a result of climate change the Peninsula is warmer than ever, rain is prevalent and some hills are becoming green with moss.

As we know, the future of the Earth will become the responsibility of our younger generations, and we encourage these students to take an active hand in turning the tide against climate warming.

Eric Philips, thirteen students and two staff, Justin Robinson and Stephen Pearce, from Geelong Grammar School, Australia, sailed across the Drake Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula on board two professionally crewed expedition sailing yachts.

Eric Philips worked as a musician and outdoor educator for 15 years before turning to full time adventure in 1993. An early pioneer in the use of steerable traction kites on polar expeditions, Eric used Quadrifoils to cross the Greenland icecap in 1995, to the South Pole in 98-99, across the South Patagonian Icecap in 2000 and Iceland's Mydalsjokull icecap in 2003.

He has skied to the North Pole (partial air lift), across Ellesmere Island's largest icecap and his 84-day expedition to the South Pole - chronicled in his book, Icetrek. The Bitter Journey to the South Pole - established a new route through the Transantarctic Mountains via the Shackleton Glacier.

Eric’s expeditions have produced four documentary films, including his Emmy Award-winning Greenland film, Chasing the Midnight Sun, and he featured as an expert host on the US adventure series, Global Extremes - Mt Everest.

Eric was the Director of Outdoor Education at Geelong Grammar School's renowned Timbertop campus for five years, and has worked as a Field Training Officer at Mawson Station for the Australian Antarctic Division. In 2004 Eric was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for services to Polar Exploration. He lives in Hobart, Australia where he runs his own polar adventure business, Icetrek Expeditions.

During the 2008-09 Antarctic season Eric Philips was the field leader of the AGAP (Antarctica's Gamburtsev Province) North camp. They were surveying and mapping the mysterious Gamburtsev Mountains underneath the ice sheet of Dome Argus (Dome A). Two teams were based in two main field camps, AGAP North and South.

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