News & Pictures

The distance from our chosen start point on the Antarctic coast at Hercules Inlet to the Pole is almost exactly 691 miles - in a straight line.  Unfortunately, straight lines are difficult to walk, especially when having to circumnavigate crevasses, hills and sastrugi, as well as when walking in white-out conditions where one's natural tendancy is to walk round in circles. 

If we measure our progress at the end of each day, it's likely that we'll record ourselves doing about 5% more than this, or some 725 miles, each way.  Of course within each day we'll be wandering around a bit too, probably adding as much as another 5% to our distance, but we won't be recording that.

Allowing for flight delays, etc, we anticipate having 77 days in which to complete the expedition.  However, we also expect to lose, on average, 5 days, to weather where we feel it would be foolhardy to keep going - especially if bad weather coincides with a crevassed area. 

So, overall we expect to need to walk 1450 miles in 72 days, or just over 20 miles a day.  This is almost exactly double the distance John achieved in his 2006/07 expedition, so what's changed to make this realistic?

Several things:  Firstly experience - a knowledge of what conditions to expect, what weather is too bad to travel, what is safe and what isn't.  Secondly, motivation.  With two of us we will each motivate the other - to get up in the morning, to operate efficiently, to walk faster, to stay determined, etc.  Thirdly, Fitness.  In 2006 I had little idea of what was required to operate and succeed in the Antarctic environment.  Now I do.  We will both be extremely fit and, importantly, efficient at our normal energy levels. 

Of course working against us will be the fact that our sleds will weigh considerably more than last time. You can expect us to achieve nothing like 20 miles a day in the early stages of hte expedition as we pull up the steppest part of the trip with the sleds at their heaviest.  But of course distance lost early on has to be made up later, when we will probably be weaker.

So, to keep on track, do we walk a specific distance every day, and keep going come-what-may until we've completed it?  Do we walk for an agreed time each day, and stop then, no matter what distance we've done?  Do we take account of the daily conditions and our energy levels and adjust accordingly?

We have to carefully manage our calorie intake to ensure we have the right amount of food, but calorie consumption will vary depending on snow conditions, visibility, terrain, etc.  But most importantly, no matter how we are feeling, we need to maintain a strict routine.  The loss of routine over such a long period will invariably result in laziness, tiredness and loss of motivation, and the gradual slipping of targets and mileage.  So, predominantly we will walk for a specified period each day - aiming for 14 hours travelling in every 28 hour 'day'.  Any less, and our chance of reaching the coast in time for the last flight out will diminish.

Even so, pulling 185 kg sleds at 1.5 mph for 14 hours a day is pretty fast.  Up hill it will be impossible.  In soft snow it will be impossible.  But on average, we feel it is possible. Just.

Diary