Vinson climbers and Pole skiers grounded. Pontrandolfo’s position.
(Correne Coetzer) Henry Worsley crossed a degree, and got trapped in a storm, huddled on his sled for 4 hours yesterday. The three other ski teams on East Antarctica are grounded as well as climbing teams at Mount Vinson.
Over to the East, Michele Pontrandolfo also has a problem with the wind and Eric Philips prepares for his solo.
MICHELE PONTRANDOLFO
In East Antarctica: Judging by his co-ordinates, Michele does not get any kite winds.
Position Dec. 1 2015 4:12 pm
S 71º 5’25.90” E 011º 0’36.00’’ elev 1154 m
Position Wed Dec. 2nd, 20152:01:00 pm
S 71º 9’30.46” E 011º 1’41.52”, elev 1227 m
ERIC PHILIPS
Also in East Antarctica, Eric and his Chinese group visited the South Pole, Emperor Penguins and the Lazarev Ice Shelf. He started his preparations for his solo kite-ski expedition in Queen Maud Land.
HENRY WORSLEY
Over to the East, Henry emphasizes that the weather and snow conditions dictates this day and progress. Three days in a row of white-out conditions and soft snow were challenging. He says the soft snow and the heavy sled made it impossible to maintain any rhythm. He was satisfied to manage to keep in a straight line while navigating.
The sun eventually came out and he was treated with a beautiful view, overlooking the mountains , nunataks (mountains peaks above the snowline), snowfields and shimmering blue ice.
With the white-out gone and the sun shining, the wind picked up and temperatures plummeted to -28ºC. Despite the lower temps, Henry said he is warm because it is hard work pulling the heavy sled.
November 30th travel was marked by the peaks and troughs of huge rolling waves; rolling down is easy, the ups a noticeable climb, he reported.
Yesterday, December 1st, Henry sat for 4 hours on his sled in a storm, covered in his down jacket, wondering is he should go on or not. Putting up the tent was impossible in the high wind. His hands took a battering. When he moved, going was 1 mile per hour. The light was so flat and disorientating that he fell over twice when he stopped. The peaks and troughs were still there, although he could not see them in the flat light, but noticed when he went up and down.
Campsite Location S83º 28.008 W52º 58.426
Time Travelled Today 9 Hours
Distance Today 9.7 Nautical Miles
Accumulated Distance 175.5 Nautical Miles
Altitude 4639 Ft
Temperature -30°C
Wind Speed 30-35 Mph
TEAMS AT UNION GLACIER
Solo skier Luke Robertson, as well as Devon McDiarmid and his team Stew Edge, Mostafa Salameh and Shahrom Abdullah, and Carl Alvey and his team, Emma Kelty and Khai Nguyen are grounded at Union Glacier in very high winds. They report that a possible fly-out to their start points will be Friday, Dec. 4th.
Mount Vinson teams are tent bounded at Bace Camp.
DOUG TUMMINELLO
Doug is still in Punta Arenas, waiting to fly to Antarctica . His family, wife, daughter, son, mom and dad helped him organized and packed in Punta and went home.
Follow the teams’ progress in the Dispatch Stream on pythom.com
TEAMS:
(un)assisted and (un)supported definitions according to AdventureStats.com)
UNASSISTED UNSUPPORTED
(no resupplies, no kites)
Henry Worsley UK solo
Unassisted Unsupported traverse 1100nm / 2037km
Gould Bay, Berkner Island – Geographic South Pole – Shackleton Glacier (Ross Ice Shelf)
Luke Robertson UK, Scotland solo
Unassisted Unsupported 1130km
Hercules Inlet to Geographic South Pole
Doug Tumminello USA solo
Unassisted Unsupported 1130km
Hercules Inlet – Geographic South Pole
Devon McDiarmid (CA guide), Stew Edge (UK), Mostafa Salameh (Jordan), Shahrom Abdullah (Malaysia)
Unassisted Unsupported 890km
Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf (Messner) – G. South Pole
UNASSISTED SUPPORTED
no resupplies, kites
Michele Pontrandolfo (Italy) traverse solo
Coast at Novolazarevskaya – South Pole of Inaccessibility – Geographic South Pole – Hercules Inlet
ASSISTED UNSUPPORTED
resupplies, no kites
Carl Alvey (UK, guide), Emma Tamsin Kelty (UK), Khai Nguyen (CA/US)
Resupplies, no kites 1130km
Hercules Inlet – Geographic South Pole
ASSISTED SUPPORTED
resupply, kites
Devon McDiarmid (CA guide), Stew Edge (UK)
Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf (Messner) – G. South Pole – Hercules Inlet
Traverse: resupply at SP, kite-ski from Pole, 2020km
WEATHER MAPS:
https://earth.nullschool.net/
https://www.windyty.com/
Gateway port Cape Town, South Africa:
To ALCI /TAC camp Novolazarevskaya / Novo
70° 46’37”S, 011° 49’26”E
Gateway port Punta Arenas, Chile, South America:
To ALE/ANI main camp, Union Glacier
79° 45’S, 083° 14’W elev 708m
Lat: -79.760591 Lon: -82.856698
Hercules Inlet is located at 80°S near Union Glacier, 1130 km from the Geographic South Pole.
The Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf (Messner) start is 890 km in a straight line from the Pole.
Novolazarevskaya to South Pole of Inaccessibility (POI) is 1610 km in a straight line.
South Pole of Inaccessibility (POI)
2011-12 position: S82°06.696, E055°01.951 (Copeland/McNair-Landry)
On Dec. 14, 2014 Frédéric Dion reported the position the POI (at Lenin’s bust) as S82º 06.702′ E55º 2.087′ at an elevation of 3741 m.
Geographic South Pole (GSP): 90 degrees South
According to the Rules of Adventure at AdventureStats.com, to claim a “solo” achievement, requires an unassisted status – therefore no supplies carried by pilots or car drivers, or anything (food, fuel, etc) received from any person along the way. A solo person may be wind supported (kites/sails). Note that the Polar Rules were compiled by early Norwegian and British Polar explorers and are maintained today by the current community of veteran polar skiers.
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.
Previous in the link below: Antarctic Traverse skiers relay; Boeing and Three Teams at Union Glacier
