Colin O’Brady is approaching 83° and is inching his daily distances higher. On December 23, he covered around 20km, his best to date, then bested it with just over 23km on Christmas Day.
O’Brady is 43 days in, and his sled is now significantly lighter, yet with so much distance still lying ahead of him (we estimate around 2,400km), he’ll need to average 40km per day for two months to finish without a resupply.
Polar guide Eric Philips told ExplorersWeb: “A full unsupported ski crossing of Antarctica (even a supported one has never been done) is exceedingly difficult, on the border of human capability. I think it’s doable, [but] likely not this year.”
O’Brady is still grinding toward the Pole. Photo: Colin O’Brady
Kite skiers
Matthieu Tordeur and Heidi Sevestre have made good progress from the South Pole of Inaccessibility toward the South Pole. On December 21, they broke their distance record, covering 130km.
Yesterday, they had 700km remaining to the Pole and 1,800km remaining to Hercules Inlet. They are almost exactly halfway through their expedition.
“All is well, we are in good shape, we are progressing every day as the wind allows,” Tordeur wrote on social media.
Hercules Inlet
American Monet Izabeth had been dealing with poor visibility and elected to take a rest on day 25, to “wash some clothes and ease her muscles.” The next day was clearer, but fresh powder made pulling the sled hard work.
“I’m days away from Thiel [Thiel’s Corner, a landmark on the route]and then weeks from the Pole. The past two weeks have been tough and [felt] much longer than 14 days. Hitting this milestone feels a bit like a wake-up call for how far I’ve come and how fast the finish is approaching,” Izabeth wrote on Christmas Day.
Sebastian Orskaug is on the home stretch. Orskaug should enter the last degree today and has less than 140km remaining to the Pole.
Mexican mountaineer Andrea Dorantes has not updated her social media or website since our last update.
Speed record attempt falls short
A file image of Tom Hunt. Hunt’s speed record looked on track until the final few days. Photo: Tom Hunt
After a brave effort, Tom Hunt’s quest for the Hercules Inlet to South Pole speed record ended just before Christmas. Short of food, he made the difficult decision to receive a food resupply from Antarctica Logistics & Expeditions.
On Christmas Eve, he arrived at the food resupply point and crossed into the last degree. “Only about 111km left. Week one, Tom would have said [I’ll be at the South Pole in] two days…now it might be more like three or four days,” he said.
Last week, he reported some frostnip on his cheek; now he also reports frostbite on his thumb. To make matters worse, his lips have been black for “the last two weeks,” and more recently, his buff had frozen to them. Removing it ripped off some skin. It was serious enough that on Christmas Day, he took a day off to treat his face.
His tracker puts him at 89° today.
Other expeditions
Ian Hughes had a relaxed final run to the Pole, arriving on Christmas Day and celebrating with a “stiff Baileys.” Hughes skied the 911km Messner Route in 41 days.
Ian Hughes at the Pole. Photo: Ian Hughes
Norwegian duo Kathinka and Emma Gyllenhammar have reported excellent weather in the run-up to Christmas: “It’s wonderful skiing here at 86°. Good cold temperatures and wind made the snow easy to move on, and we cruised across the plains.”
They are climbing to the polar plateau and reached 86° and 1,800m above sea level on December 22 (day 39 of their expedition), with roughly another 1,000 vertical meters to climb toward the Pole.
