Colin O’Brady is reporting much better snow and visibility, and his daily distances have perked up considerably. Two days ago, he broke his daily distance record for the expedition, covering almost 29km in 12 hours.
“For 25 days, I covered 135 miles [217km]. In just the last 10 days, I’ve covered more than 150 miles [241km]…I’m now moving four times faster than when this all started,” O’Brady wrote recently on social media.
O’Brady is 50 days in and had planned to complete his crossing in 100 days. With over 2,000km remaining, he still needs to move much faster in order to finish before his remaining 53 days of rations run out.
His tracker places him roughly halfway between 84° and 85°, near the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. Ahead of him, the TransAntarctic mountains loom on the edge of the Antarctic landmass.
Kite skiers
Matthieu Tordeur and Heidi Sevestre celebrated Christmas after a few good days of wind, but have since returned to the doldrums.
“Over the past few days, we experienced very little wind,” they wrote. “As a result, we were stuck at camp for two full days. Rather than enduring this forced pause, we made the most of it. We reviewed our crevasse-rescue procedures and carried out the final repairs needed for this last stretch toward the South Pole.”
Matthieu Tordeur and Heidi Sevestre on Christmas morning. Photo: Matthieu Tordeur/Heidi Sevestre
The repairs were important; Sevestre’s second sled cracked after one too many sastrugi. The first sled was already damaged and would accumulate “dozens of kilos of snow” each day. Eventually, the first sled split completely, and they had to redistribute gear among the working sleds and give Tordeur more weight.
The pair is about a degree and a half from the South Pole, although their tracker shows them running parallel to the Pole rather than directly toward it. This is for good reason.
“This [route] is due to the presence of a zone surrounding the Pole known as the Clean Air Sector. It is a protected area dedicated to science, with a radius of about 150km, which we are not allowed to cross. We therefore have to detour toward a point north of the Pole before descending directly toward it,” they explained.
Tryggvason arrives at Bay of Whales
Hoddi Tryggvason finished his 3,500km ski-kite journey at the Bay of Whales on December 28. The Icelandic adventurer started his expedition on November 4 from Novo Station on the north coast, kited to the South Pole, and then finished by crossing the Ross Ice Shelf in the south. Tryggvason may be the first person to arrive in the Bay of Whales area without using a plane since Roald Amundsen.
A plane was due to pick Tryggvason up on December 29, and he planned to immediately continue to Argentina if flights and weather allowed.
Hercules Inlet
American Monet Izabeth arrived at Thiel’s Corner yesterday, about halfway to the South Pole. “Finally, the powder snow has gone! The skiing has become a bit easier,” she wrote in a recent update.
Mexican mountaineer Andrea Dorantes is a bit further ahead and is approaching the final two degrees. She has started to put in some bigger days, starting 2026 with a 30km+ day.
Sebastian Orskaug arrived at the South Pole on New Year’s Eve, 48 days after leaving Hercules Inlet. Orskaug had originally planned to ski-sail out, but decided to drop the return leg and enjoy his time at the Pole.
Tom Hunt
After missing out on the Hercules Inlet to South Pole speed record, Tom Hunt’s final run to the finish line is proving a colossal struggle.
In our last update, he reported some frostnip and had just picked up a resupply. On December 27, he was 60km from the Pole but reported he’d had no sleep after covering about 40km. He had planned to finish the next day, but this didn’t happen because of a hamstring injury.
“The doctors [at Antarctica Logistics & Expeditions] say I can’t take any more painkillers, so I won’t finish today because my legs won’t move enough,” Hunt said in a voice note on December 28. Food was also a concern; he had been at a calorie deficit for some time.
“I don’t want to be medically evacuated 50km from the Pole, so I might need another resupply to make it,” he said.
He did, in fact, receive a second food resupply, and by December 31, he sounded much more positive after breaking a two-day fast.
“This has been a great day, in terms of morale and health, I think it has been the best day since the first day. It has been eating, it has been drugs. The inflammation in my body has gone down so much, and now I can see how skinny I have become. I started at 93kg, I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m now below 80kg.”
In his most recent update, Hunt reports covering over 20km. Creeping toward the Pole, he thought he’d finish the next day. However, his tracker still puts him at the same location at the time of writing on January 2, roughly 30km from the finish line. Hopefully, he can stumble to the Pole soon.
Other expeditions
Norwegian duo Kathinka and Emma Gyllenhammar remain upbeat and celebrated Kathinka’s birthday on December 27. They have roughly 200km remaining to the South Pole, passing 88° just before the New Year.
