UPDATED: Lou Rudd’s British team finished traverse on Antarctica

Risto Hallikainen and Malgorzata Wojtaczka are navigating in poor visibility in their respective last degrees. Mike Horn is just over halfway to his boat. 100 km marathon took place.

January 24, 2017:

Malgorzata says she has two days food left, and 30-35 hours to complete the expedition, Due to lots of fresh snow, strong headwinds, and wind-chill down to -46C, she can’t go faster than 1 mile per hour. Currently she is skiing 14-15 hours per day. She says she needs at least a 12 hours break inbetween to camp, eat, and warm up. “I know it’s really close…”

Risto’s latest position: Jan 24, 2017, 12:37:30 PM Elevation: 764.92 m Lat: -80.258678 Lon: -80.594888.

January 23, 2017:

Lou Rudd and his 4 mates completed their traverse from Hercules Inlet via the Geographic South Pole to the bottom of the Shackleton Glacier. Risto is doing more than marathon distances per day on his skies. Malgorzata is cutting sleep time to ski longer hours per day.

Interactive Map: Antarctica Skiing Routes

2016-17 Antarctica Ski Expedition List

Lou Rudd (leader), Oliver Stoten, Chris Brooke, Alex Brazier, and James Facer-Childs (All UK) traverse to Shackleton Glacier: The Army Reservists reached their goal, they reported in a post dated January 21. It seems as if their updates are posted a day after the actual day, which means they have reached the Ross Ice Shelf in 67 days. They completed the 1130 km to the South Pole in quite a fast 41 days. The rest of the route, down the Shackleton Glacier was, in a straight line, half the distance. The guys completed the Hercules Inlet route unassisted and unsupported. At the Pole they picked up a resupply, and continued their traverse across Titan Dome to the bottom of the Shackleton Glacier.

S70.1015 W009.8249 start point, kite-support traverse, Mike Horn ZA/CH. On January 19, Mike reported that he got into the 70 latitudes the previous day, and that he is almost halfway on his traverse, returning to his boat. “So much happiness, enjoyment, satisfaction, relief and emotional enrichment have come from this trip so far that I don’t regret one second the pain, disappointments, frustration, hardship and suffering I had to go through to sit in my tent alone and appreciated the beauty of the nothingness around me.” 1400 km to go, he said at S79 17′ E138 45′.

January 20: little wind, no sun and it was “dark”. He had to make 4 kite changes and covered 138 km and just passed his halfway mark. 1,280 km to go. S78 06 E137 00’.

January 21: Mike’s kite broke off in strong winds and blew away. He walked for hours to find it, hooked to a sastrugi. When he made camp, his tent nearly blew away when the back anchor came undone. Distance 153 km at S76 48′ and E134 56’.

Hercules Inlet 80ºS return Journey Risto Hallikainen (FI) 2,260 km: Finland home team member, Vesa Luomala reported to us that Risto has reached his “last degree” and “we expect him to reach Hercules Inlet tomorrow Tuesday, January 24, as there is approx. 80 km to go. Yesterday he commented that the white-out was still on. Messages have been very short lately, I expect he is really tired or so. Hope we get longer comments for you after he finishes the expedition.” Risto has been covering 40-60 km per day to complete his expedition in time. Latest location Jan. 23, 2017, 11:31:30 PM Elevation: 769.26 m, Lat: -80.681286 Lon: -80.089816.

Hercules Inlet 80ºS unassisted unsupported to the Pole, Małgorzata Wojtaczka (PL, solo) 1,130 km. On January 19, she reported to have crossed 89ºS. Malgorzata said the high altitude and the snow without glide are tiring. She also feels every mile in her muscles. She sleeps less to spend more time on her skis. Winds are strong and temperatures are down to -30. She says she has to dress properly and eat enough, although her candy are running low.

A few days ago she was in an “unexpected” snow storm. She took shelter in her tent and used the time to sleep. When she got going again, she changed to night time. Malgorzata says she is longing for a shower and fresh homemade food.

Latest report on January 20, Malgorzata says the deep, slow snow in the last degree is hard work and she is sweating. It feels as if she is dragging two tractor tires behind her. She says she does not count her miles, she is just walking, knowing the season will be closing down soon. Her candy are finished and she is having porridge from her thermos every two hours when she takes a break. The sun has been gone for a few days already. The wind turned from south the east and is “less annoying”. But visibility is still poor in cloudy weather.

Rerun – AdventureStats Special: What is Solo?

Ultra Marathon

The 2017 Antarctic 100k took place January 21st when 10 competitors took on the challenge, as Richard Donovan informed us at the start of the season. It is the 13th edition of the 100km race.

They reported: ”The great news is that we have a 100% finish rate in the last running of the Antarctic 100k. We had some notable performances today with Kurt Alderweireldt of Belgium winning the men’s race in a time of 11:13.53 hrs. Jennifer Cheung (HKG) won the women’s event in a time of 18:34.54 hrs while being a guide to the first blind person to complete the Antarctic 100k; Siu Wai Leung (HKG) 18:34.54 hrs. Race Director, Richard Donovan, who was the first to run the Antarctic 100k in 2006 was, appropriately, the last person to finish the event.”

Follow team blogs in the Dispatch stream on pythom.com

South Pole 2016-17 Interviews on Explorersweb/Pythom:

Exweb South Pole Interview with Johanna Davidsson: kite return attempt

Interview with Pata Degerman: Longest Snowmobile attempt on Antarctica

[UPDATE 2] Risto Hallikainen, solo South Pole return ski attempt (Interview)

1989: Arved Fuchs traversed Antarctica, with Messner (Interview)

Ryan Waters to guide Fuchs-Messner route (Antarctica 2016-17 interview)

Canadian Sébastien Lapierre to attempt solo ski to South Pole (Interview)

Cycle Antarctica: Hank van Weelden Pole to Coast attempt (Interview)

Emma Kelty: speed ski and return attempt (Exweb South Pole interview)

Eric Philips, South Pole 2016-17 New Start Point attempt (Interview)

Previous/Related on Explorersweb/Pythom:

Brits descending Shackleton Glacier; Horn’s close encounters UPDATED

Exweb/Pythom Best of 2016: Girard’s Flight of the Century… and more

Johanna Davidsson set New Solo Female Speed Record

Editorial: Might is The Answer to Why (Updated)

Antarctica Current: Polar How-To-Guide Heads-Up

HumanEdgeTech Expedition Technology (e.g.CONTACT software)

AdventureStats.com for Polar Statistics and Rules. Note that a solo claim has to be unassisted,

therefore no supplies carried by pilots or car drivers, or anything (food, fuel, etc) received from any person along the way. A solo person may be wind supported (kites/sails). Claiming to have ‘skied to the Pole’, a full route (from a coastal start point) has to be completed, without flying part of the route.

1 nautical mile = 1,852 km

Hercules Inlet is located at 80°S near Union Glacier, 1130 km from the Geographic South Pole.

The Fuchs-Messner start is 890 km in a straight line from the Pole.

Novo to GSP is 2,140 km in a straight line

Novolazarevskaya to South Pole of Inaccessibility (POI) is 1610 km in a straight line.

South Pole of Inaccessibility (POI):

2011-12 position: S82°06.696, E055°01.951 (Copeland/McNair-Landry)

On Dec. 14, 2014 Frédéric Dion reported the position the POI (at Lenin’s bust) as S82º 06.702′ E55º 2.087′ at an elevation of 3741 m.

Geographic South Pole (GSP): 90 degrees South

Gateway port Cape Town, South Africa:

To ALCI /TAC base camp Novolazarevskaya / Novo

70° 46’37”S, 011° 49’26”E