Inside 80ºS, UPDATED: solo status lost

The three solo ladies are on the ice, with the traverse and return journey men UPDATE: Emma lost her solo status, only 2 solo ladies. UPDATE 2: Risto messaged Exweb about snow conditions.

Update Nov. 22, 2016:

The Finland return solo skier, Risto Hallikainen messaged Explorersweb/Pythom, explaining the snow conditions in 80ºS. “Have you heard that here is very gripping snow?😁 I would not have thought that it is so slow. And if I try to go faster, I get only sweat in my clothes.” He and Italian, Pontrandolfo, haul the heaviest sleds, up to 180 kg as they want to complete their expeditions unassisted. Message sent from Lat -80.960827 Lon -079.943497. By now, Risto has probably crossed into 81 degrees.

November 21:

Skiers from the Hercules Inlet side cover good miles. All of them travel the 1130 km unassisted (no resupplies) to the South Pole, [except Emma who had to get help from ALE and lost her solo status in the process.] Temperatures are -15ºC, which is a bit warm for sledge-hauling, but the wind-chill brings the temperatures down. From Novo side, no favorable kiting winds have arrived.

Explorers House map with interactive South Pole ski routes

2016-17 Antarctica Ski Expedition List – updated

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).

From Hercules Inlet start point:

Polish solo lady, Małgorzata Wojtaczka landed at Hercules Inlet on November 18 at 14h00 and started her solo ski to the South Pole with a 110 kg sled. She started off in sunny, -15ºC weather, with a 15-20 km/h wind. “Dream weather for the first day,” Malgorzata said. Latest position Nov. 21 04:00:05 UTC: 80° 06.299S, 080° 24.019W, 672 meter above sea level. Watch a video here of her preparations and training in Patagonia, activities in Punta Arenas and getting on the bus to the Punta Arenas Airport.

Solo Johanna Davidsson reported November 20, Day 6, that she has covered 100 km. She has done 20 km yesterday. She feels good, her body feels strong and it has been sunny most days but yesterday visibility was poor, which made traveling harder. Her routine: “eat, take down tent, ski, eat, ski, put up tent, eat, sleep, REPEAT! lucky to be here.” Latest position Nov. 20, 20:52 UTC, Latitude: -80.8082 Longitude: -80.0000 Altitude: 774 meter.

UPDATE Nov. 21, 2016,1PM: Emma Kelty encountered difficulties with the cooker, sastrugi, hills, her neck, GPS, glove and more recently fuel canisters, and it seems she had to ask for help as she reported on Day 5, “sadly after the scenario with the fuel canisters today racing [unassisted] to the Pole is out.” She wanted to break the record for the fasted solo, unassisted lady on this classic route.

AdventureStats special: What is solo?

Risto Hallikainen (solo) makes good miles. He reported 18.8 km on this tracker yesterday. He is pulling a heavy 160-180 kg sled for his solo return journey. Nov 21, 201612:10:15 AM, Elevation: 760.58 m, Lat: -80.756635 Lon: -080.008363

Lou Rudd (leader), Oliver Stoten, Chris Brooke, Alex Brazier, Alun George and James Facer-Childs: Nov. 19 was a bit of a climb to get past Three Sails (a prominent rocky/ snow feature on the route, not far from Patriot Hills). As they cleared Three Sails, there was quite a big snow bank, which took a bit of climbing and some quite hard work getting up that, Lou reported. They also had to negotiate their way through some sastrugi. The afternoon was a more level plateau and better weather. They generate quite a lot of body heat with their 100 kg sleds, but they are comfortable with the wind-chill cooling down the -15C to probable -25. Distance 12.8 nm, in 8 hours skiing (9 hours with the breaks). Nov. 20: The men encountered lots of sastrugi and covered 13.2 nautical miles (24.5 km).

UPDATE Nov. 21, 2016,1PM, Team report updated: they have crossed into 81ºS yesterday, with a distance of 14.4 nm.

From Novolazarevskaya start point:

Traverse solo kiter Michele Pontrandolfo said in his latest update that he was hoping for a weather improvement yesterday afternoon (Sunday, Nov, 20) to get his kites in the air. He has almost 4000 km to travel and is trying to keep his mood up all the time. Still no update on his tracker since Nov. 16. Also -15 without the wind-chill.

Follow team blogs in the Dispatch stream on pythom.com

South Pole 2016-17 Interviews on Explorersweb/Pythom:

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

[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)

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

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

Exweb South Pole Interview with Johanna Davidsson: kite return attempt

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Explorers House map with interactive South Pole ski routes

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AdventureStats.com for Polar Statistics and Rules. Skiers from the Hercules Inlet side cover good miles. All of the travel the 1130 km unassisted (no resupplies) to the South Pole, except Emma who had to get help from ALE and lost her solo status in the process. Temperatures 15ºC, which is a bit warm for sledge-hauling, but the wind-chill brings the temperatures down. From Novo side, no favorable kiting winds has arrived. 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.

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.

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

Gateway port Punta Arenas, Chile, South America:

To ALE base camp, Union Glacier