Explorersweb

Antony Jinman and his drones at the South Pole

Posted: Jan 17, 2014 07:37 am EST

(By Correne Coetzer, updated Jan 19 16:20) Antony Jinman arrived at the South Pole on January 16, he told ExplorersWeb [Ed note, correction, not as previously reported by his home team, on January 17th.]

Poor visibility, soft, sticky snow, wind and bitter cold make the skiers dig deep after weeks of day-in-and-day-out on the ice. Cyclist, Juan Menendez Granados, in particular, is weak; he feels very tired for the last few days; not sleeping much and having hardly any food to eat.

Marty Fagan says, “honestly I have never done anything so physically, mentally, or emotionally more difficult than this.”

Unsupported, Unassisted

Yesterday cyclist Juan Menendez Granados’ home team reported Juan is weak, he feels very tired for the last few days of so much effort. He decided to take a break, because he “didn't feel well, wearing several days sleeping just 4 or 5 hours and very poor feeding". Even so, he made 8 hours on route and he advanced 19 km, leaving the pole at 48.5 km. "I wish with all my might to reach the Pole,”says Juan, and do so as soon as possible. But I have to be very cool head, but I have to be very cool head, I can't do what is impossible.”

On January 16, Vesa Luomala’s position was 88.45.03 S 82.34.79 W, skiing 29.6 km after two days of 22.5 km 22.8 km. Zero visibility slowed him down. “Uphill+whiteout+sastrugi = day from hell”, stated three days ago. Soft snow turned into a surface better for skiing yesterday.

Chris and Marty Fagan should arrive at the South Pole tomorrow, from the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf start. In yesterday’s low visibility Chris and Marty changed their navigation strategy, instead of swapping leads every hour, they swapped leads on who was the strongest “and both of us had good periods of strength and it went well,” Chis says. They have originally packed food for 45 days and are stretching it; yesterday was Day 46. They are on rations that they either saved or pulled out of other days.

Assisted, Unsupported

Ben Saunders and Tarka L'Herpiniere, also very hungry, are descending the Beardmore Glacier on their return journey. They traveled 12 miles in 4.5 hours yetserday. Day 84: S84° 32' 33", E168° 12' 16.2" Temp. a warm -9ºC.

Carl Alvey and Lewis Clarke hope to arrive at the Pole on January 18th. The windchill is predicted to be -46ºC, Lewis’ home team told ExplorersWeb. He is tired and cold 16-year-old Lewis reported to Base Camp; after more than 1000 km on the go.

Cyclist Daniel Burton entered the last degree yesterday. He reported heavy clouds, low visibility, light snow fall and soft snow conditions over the past three days.

The Hercules Inlet ANI team, Devon McDiarmid, Joshua Hodgkinson and Wen Yuan, is back at Union Glacier.

Follow daily South Pole blog updates with RSS feeds in the News Stream on ExplorersWeb and the Pythom app or click the links below.

2013 South Pole teams

Unassisted, unsupported:

Vesa Luomala, FI, Hercules Inlet, solo

Antony Jinman, UK, Hercules Inlet, solo, completed

Marty and Chris Fagan, USA, Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf start

Juan Menendez Granados, ES, Hercules Inlet, solo cycle

Assisted, Unsupported

Ben Saunders and Tarka L’Herpiniere, UK, UK/FR, Cape Evans return journey

Daniel Burton, USA, Hercules Inlet, cycle

Carl Alvey (ANI guide) and Lewis Clarke, UK, Hercules Inlet

Devon McDiarmid (CA, ANI guide), Joshua Hodgkinson (AU), and Wen Yuan (China), Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf [Update Jan. 02:50 EDT correction: Arabella Slinger, is not part of Devon’s team as previously stated. ANI reported to ExWeb that she suffered an injury prior and is not in the team guided by Devon.] completed

Other

ANSMET meteorite hunters 2013-14

Dronning Maud Land Project Facebook and Blog page

Aleksander Gamme, Espen Fadnes, Kjersti Eide, Jonas Langseth, Andy Kirkpatrick and Ingeborg Jakobsen.

Australian Mawson Centenary Expedition Spirit of Mawson website

AAE 2013-2014 Interpret Science website [Rescued]

Arctic Trucks

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/ANI base camp, Union Glacier

79° 45'S, 083° 14'W

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

The bottom of the Leverett Glacier, at the Ross Ice Shelf, is located at about 85ºS, a distance of 550 km from the Geographic South Pole.

The Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf (Messner) start is 890 km in a straight line from the Pole.

1 nautical mile (nm) = 1.852 km

1 nm = 1.151 miles

1 knot = 1.852 km/h

1 degree of Latitude is 110 km / 60 nm / 70 miles

Sastrugi are hard snow bumps and can be as high as 10 feet

A nunatak is a top of a mountain visible above the snow surface.

South Pole of Inaccessibility 2011-12 position:

S82°06.696, E055°01.951

Geographic South Pole: 90 degrees South

A "solo" ski requires an unassisted status (therefore no supplies carried by pilots or car drivers, or anything received from any person).

Previous/Related:

South Pole update: food shortage, fatigue and cold

South Pole arrivals and False Record Claims

Cars on Antarctica

Gamme and team to climb, jump and ski in Dronning Maud Land

The Coldest Place on Earth

Antony Jinman with two drones to the South Pole, ExWeb interview

Carl Alvey to guide 16-year-old Lewis Clarke to the South Pole: ExWeb interview

China’s growing presence in Antarctica

ExWeb interview with Lewis Clarke (16): to ski 1130 km Hercules Inlet route

ExWeb interview with Vesa Luomala, "there is no room for underestimating a place like Antarctica"

ExWeb South Pole 2013 interview with Geoff Wilson, "my mind I feel will be the greatest maze of all"

Marty and Chris Fagan, married outdoor team for the past 15 years. ExWeb South Pole interview

ExWeb interview with Juan Menendez Granados: the greatest challenge

ExWeb South Pole 2013 interview with Geoff Wilson, "my mind I feel will be the greatest maze of all"

ExWeb South Pole kick-off interview: Daniel Burton, return cycle journey

ExWeb interview with Eric Philips, three decades of polar experience

Breaking news: Christian Eide bags the South Pole solo speed ski world record

AdventureStats and Rules of Adventure

Adventure Network International (ANI) / ALE

Antarctic Logistics Centre International (ALCI) / TAC

#polar #southpole2013 #southpole2013-14 #antarctica

Antony Jan. 15 with his 'Go Anywhere' toilet bags. As he approaches the South Pole, because of the delicate science research that's taking place around the area, all waste must be kept with him and disposed of in a special facility at the Pole.
courtesy Antony Jinman, SOURCE

A good weather day on the trek meant Antony was able to fly one of his Parrot AR Drone 2.0 cameras, capturing some unique aerial footage of his campsite and his journey. Antony worked with HumanEdgeTech Expedition Technology, a sister company of ExploresWeb, to develop the use of the drone on Antarctica. HumanEdge Tech also helped and supplied Antony with the rest of his technology.
courtesy Antony Jinman, SOURCE

Antony's position on January 12, on the Hercules Inlet route; 1130 km and gaining nearly 3000 m in altitude.
courtesy Antony Jinman, SOURCE

Marty Fagan says, "honestly have never done anything so physically, mentally, or emotionally more difficult than this."
courtesy Chris Fagan, SOURCE

Vesa Luomala: "Uphill+whiteout+sastrugi = day from hell"
courtesy Vesa Luomala:, SOURCE

Juan and the rest of the skiers/cyclist are compass bounded while navigating in the low/zero visibility.
courtesy Juan Menendez Granados, SOURCE

South Pole routes.
courtesy ExplorersWeb, SOURCE