Sunny weather has most skiers celebrating easy navigation and fully charged devices, but a few must pick up their pace. Kristin Harila has begun her South Pole push from Hercules Inlet and is making good time. Norwegian Hege Victoria has recently announced she intends to break the women’s speed record on the Hercules Inlet to South Pole route.
Crossings explained
Before the expedition news, a clarification. In previous stories this year, we’ve referred to crossings generically, but it’s worth being more specific to avoid any confusion. The Polar Expeditions Classification Scheme (PECS) clarifies the difference between a full crossing and an inland or partial crossing.
A full crossing is from coastline to coastline. Because ice shelves in Antarctica permanently extend well beyond the landmass itself, a full crossing begins and ends at the open ocean via the South Pole.
An inland crossing, on the other hand, skips the vast ice sheets that protrude from the Antarctic landmass. The majority of modern Antarctic crossings are inland crossings.
For more on this topic, check out this ExplorersWeb story.
Crossings
Ashkay Nanavati’s solo, unsupported crossing is the longest effort in Antarctica this season. As you can see from his proposed route below, Nanavati is undertaking a full crossing.
Photo: Ashkay Nanavati
The skier hopes to travel 2,736km in 110 days, hauling a sled that started out weighing 170kg. He’s now 33 days into the effort, just shy of the 82nd parallel, and has covered 466km.
That averages out to roughly 14km per day. Nanavati will have to pick up the pace if he wants to hit his target. However, we can expect him to increase his daily distances as his sled lightens on the back half of his journey. Nanavati has repeatedly said he plans to increase his pace gradually and is trying not to go too hard right out of the gate.
“The current challenge…is a thin layer of new snow that hit a few days ago. It was my understanding that the Filchner Ice Shelf would be a hard surface, and I did get that for a day, but then that night, which was a few nights ago, some new snow hit,” he said in his latest audio update.
“It’s not that bad at all, nothing compared to the soft snow on Berkner [Island]…but you do feel it a little bit. It’s not so much the struggle that bothers me…it’s just that it makes it a little harder to get the kilometers. But no complaints,” Nanavati continued.
Nanavati’s tracker. Photo: Screenshot
As of day 35 of Youngmi Kim’s 1,700km solo supported (she will resupply at the South Pole) crossing, the South Korean has skied 751km. She’s attempting an inland crossing. Looking at the map below, you can see she began skiing at the edge of the landmass itself and will stop at the inner edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.
Photo: Google Earth, ExplorersWeb
Kim is 3/4 of the way between the 86th and 87th parallel. In a December 11 text update, she celebrated a window of sunny weather, noting that it’s the first time all her devices have been fully charged at the same time.
Kim’s tracker. Photo: Screenshot
Kim is skiing Felicity Aston‘s 2011 route in reverse. Aston was the first woman to make an inland crossing solo. Youngmi Kim hopes to be the second.
Hercules Inlet to the South Pole
Indian skier Satish Gogineni is consistently making over 22km per day with ten hours of effort, and he’s happy with that progress. Gogineni spent some time in a recent update talking about the sastrugi he’s navigated in the last week, describing the experience as “like Jurassic Park.” We’re not entirely sure what that means, but we like it.
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Danish skier Rasmus Kragh is behind where he needs to be in terms of daily travel, and he knows it.
“The speed needs to be increased, or I’ll run out of food somewhere out here in the middle of the ice. I have food left for another 30 days,” he noted in a recent Facebook post. But he remains hopeful, explaining that skiing conditions are good at the moment and his sled now weighs under 100kg.
“This project is probably the most persistent and binding thing I have ever done,” he said (note this is a clumsy internet translation from Danish, but the meaning comes through).
English skier Catherine Buford is 22 days in and has traveled 284km. She’ll reach the halfway point between the 82nd and 83rd parallels soon.
A run of good visibility has helped her to make progress without having to stop for constant compass checks. In her latest voice update, she said, “I’ll get my bearing for the day, then find something to fix my eyes on in the distance from that bearing, then just keep going to the next thing in line, and the next thing in line. Then, every two to three hours, I’ll switch on my GPS and make sure I’m not going too off course.”
In whiteout conditions, this strategy doesn’t work, and skiers lose valuable time constantly checking their bearings.
Buford’s tracker. Photo: Screenshot
Norwegian Karen Kyllesø is also 22 days in but has covered 342km compared to Buford’s 284. Kyllesø had most of her gear custom-made and began her journey with a sled weighing less than 100kg. In her last update, she said she’d managed to ski 25km in one day and was “starting to feel the flow much better now, so that’s a very good sign.”
The typically cheerful Kyllesø seems to be having a blast and almost always mentions how much she’s enjoying herself.
Kyllesø’s tracker. Photo: Screenshot
A few weeks ago, we mentioned that multi-discipline athlete Kristin Harila would soon be undertaking a solo unsupported South Pole push on the Hercules Inlet route. Harila began that journey nearly five days ago and has skied 151km at the time of writing. She is on a fast pace, consistently logging 30kms in 12-hour stints.
“But of course, I wish the conditions on the snow were a little bit better, so I could go a little bit faster,” Harila said in a voice note update.
Harila’s tracker. Photo: Screenshot
Norwegian Hege Victoria has also recently announced that she intends to break the women’s speed record from Hercules Inlet to the Pole. The record is currently held by Preet Chandi, who set it last year at 31 days, 13 hours, and 19 minutes. Four days ago, Victoria was at Union Glacier. ExplorersWeb will begin providing updates on the expedition once it begins.
The Hercules Inlet to the South Pole route is 1,130km long, so most skiers (except for Harila and Victoria) are roughly 1/4 of the way to the Pole.
Messner Start to South Pole
Turkish skier Ali Riza Bilal, also on day 22, has traveled 317km despite persistent ski binding issues, and a host of other gear trouble. The binding problem is making sastrugi navigation difficult.
The Messner Start to South Pole route is 911km long, so Bilal is about 1/3 of the way through.
Bilal’s mental state has been troubled for almost the entire expedition. According to his Instagram feed, Bilal “feels lonely and down while walking,” but he did manage to listen to some music, which cheered him slightly (his headphones have also been malfunctioning, apparently).
Photo: Screenshot
John Huntington is currently just over the 85th parallel and is making better time. He is 355km into the route on day 22 and has traveled over 130km since last week’s update.
“We are definitely getting there,” the English skier noted in a recent audio update. He’s been happy with his progress and celebrated with a short (10km) day yesterday.
Huntington’s tracker. Photo: Screenshot
Berkner Island to South Pole
Now 28 days into his 1,400km Berkner Island to South Pole journey, Frederick Fennessy is making good time. He’s 603km in and averaging about 20km per day. He recently crossed the 83rd parallel.
Fennessy’s tracker. Photo: Screenshot
But his pace is taking a toll.
“Feeling okay over the last few days. At times, absolutely exhausted,” the skier admitted in his most recent update. “Legs shattered, probably from the increase in altitude. Skied around some masses the last couple of days, small detour, but uneventful.”
Take a look at the above map, and you can see what he’s talking about.
