Colin O’Brady’s time in Antarctica isn’t getting any faster. After two weeks of “nearly continuous whiteouts,” he took a rest day on day 30 of his expedition. After spending a day eating and sleeping, he awoke to fresh snow, hardly ideal conditions to pull his 180kg sled. He made a go of it, but managed less than 10km in 10 hours.
Fresh snow on day 31. Photo: Colin O’Brady
O’Brady reported more whiteout conditions for days 32 and 33, though his photos appear to show at least enough light to make out the horizon. Day 33 surprised him with warm temperatures, enough to see him “fully stripped down, shirt off, no snow suit, otherwise, I’d be drenched in sweat.”
However, warm conditions don’t make for easier hauling, keeping the snow soft. O’Brady was forced to double-haul, covering three kilometers for every one kilometer of forward progress.
In his most recent update, on day 36 of his journey, the sun finally emerged, but only at 1 am. By the time O’Brady left his tent at 6 am, the world had returned to a white haze.
O’Brady’s tracker puts him near 82°S. Though the tracker doesn’t provide distances, by our estimates, he has done just 80km in the last week due to the tough conditions. On this 2,865km expedition, he has skied roughly 320km so far — about 11 percent of the distance in one-third of the total time he has. This leaves a daunting sprint ahead of him, even with two months of supplies remaining.
The South Pole of Inaccessibility
Last week, kite-skiing pair Matthieu Tordeur and Heidi Sevestre made it to one of the most remote spots on the planet, the South Pole of Inaccessibility. They arrived on day 42 of their expedition, after 1,800km from the Russian research station Novolazarevskaya.
Matthieu Tordeur and Heidi Sevestre’s full route. Image: Under Antarctica
Now on day 47, they are making good time (and distance), despite stopping every two hours to check surface radar data.
Tordeur and Sevestre at the Pole of Inaccessibility. Photo: Under Antarctica
Hercules Inlet
American Monet Izabeth is 22 days into her journey from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole and continues to struggle with polar thigh (a friction rash). By adding extra layers to keep warm, Izabeth reports she is more prone to chafing and is “more susceptible to a fungal infection.” However, she is picking up her pace and recently put in her longest daily distance, just over 25km.
Andrea Dorantes is also soldiering on, though she’s had at least one scare. “There are moments that put your heart in your throat…like when I found a hole in the sled and a tank of fuel came out. What if it gets lost? The expedition is over,” she wrote on her social media.
By “hole in the sled,” she likely meant a gap in the sled cover, and that one fuel bottle fell out as the sled bounced over rough sastrugi. In the end, Dorantes found the fuel bottle and continues toward the Pole.
After his resupply at Thiels Corner, Sebastian Orskaug has made better progress and now has 273km remaining to the South Pole.
Speed record still within reach?
We may have jinxed Tom Hunt with our last update, in which we reported chipper updates and no major issues. Today, on day 19, Hunt reported “a big f* you to Garmin,” after his primary GPS suffered a malfunction that sent him 10km in the wrong direction. This was a discouraging waste of time and energy for Hunt, who needed to average around 60km per day to beat Vincent Colliard’s 22-day, 6-hour, and 8-minute time to the South Pole from Hercules Inlet.
He has around three days of food left, has recently found a bit of frostbite on his cheek, and has around 240km remaining — meaning that he now needs to cover even more than 60km/day if he’s to finish before his food runs out. It’s going to be tight, both in terms of the record and reaching the Pole before running out of supplies. His updates, even while delivering a string of curses, continue to be an enjoyable listen.
Other expeditions
Ian Hughes. Photo: Ian Hughes
After 34 days, Ian Hughes is still making solid progress, averaging 25km per day despite the sastrugi. He has less than 250km to go to the South Pole and hopes to finish by Christmas Day.
Like O’Brady, the Norwegian duo of Kathinka and Emma Gyllenhammar report plenty of days with poor visibility:
“Today started in the glass of milk again,” they wrote on day 33. In their latest update, they reached the Thiel Mountains and will now begin the uphill slog to the polar plateau and the South Pole.
