South Pole ski return: Ben and Tarka pass Scott’s last 1912 camp

Posted: Jan 31, 2014 05:28 pm EST

 

(By Correne Coetzer) On the Ross Ice Shelf, Ben Saunders and Tarka L’Herpiniere entered 79 degrees South on their return journey, and picked up a depot yesterday. Today they plan to pass Bowers, Wilson and Scott’s last 1912 camp, as well as One Ton Depot, Ben reported. The men expect to see land again in the form of Minna Bluff, and perhaps the distant summits of Erebus and Terror in the next day or so as well.

 

Ben added, “Tarka and I talked a lot today about what it must have been like for Scott, Oates, Wilson and Bowers out here a century ago, and more than a month later into the autumn than we are now.

 

South Pole anniversary final: March 29, 1912

 

South Pole anniversary 100 years ago: Three bodies in a snowed-up tent

 

South Pole 100 years ago: The World learns about Scott's fate

 

 

Vesa Luomala and Daniel Burton were the last coast-to-Pole skier and cyclist flown out on the 27th via Union Glacier. ANI/ALE made special arrangements with Ben and Tarka to pick them up later than the season’s closing date on January 27.

 

 

Place available on a Ski Last Degree next season

 

Christoph Höbenreich sent over news from Austria that he is organizing another Ski Last Degree South Pole in Dec. 2014 / Jan. 2015, with one place available. “We are already an international team of 5 (2 Austrians, 2 Norwegians, 1 German) – so we have a definite go”, he stated.

 

Dates: From 29.12.2014 until Jan 16th 2015. Expedition members meet in Punta Arenas on Dec. 30th 2014.

Itinerary is via Punta and Union Glacier.

Ski start: 89° South – skiing110 km across the last degree of latitude to the Geographical South Pole with the legendary Amundsen-Scott station.

Days in Antarctica: 12 days, January 3rd - 14^th 2015; total 20 travel days.

Team Size: 5 members + 1 experienced polarguide (Christoph Höbenreich, UIAGM Mountain- & Skiguide, IPGA Polarguide, ex ANI Mt.Vinson-Basecamp manager, 2 x LD North Pole, 1 x LD South Pole)

Temperature Range: -20 to -35°C

Contact: christoph.hoebenreich@aon.at

 

2013 South Pole teams on the ice

 

Assisted, Unsupported

 

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

 

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.

 

 

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).

 

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AdventureStats and Rules of Adventure

 

Adventure Network International (ANI) / ALE

Antarctic Logistics Centre International (ALCI) / TAC

 

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