We had a really good day today. We made it passed 88S and conditions have really improved. We are on a flat plateau with almost no sastrugi! The start of the day was hard, uphill through sastrugi but then once we passed 88S it all got better. We are sitting in our tent now high on the polar plateau. We still have 200 hard kilometres to go to reach the South Pole and hope to be there by the 18th January.
To our family, friends, sponsors and supporters,
We have made the difficult decision to end our expedition at the South Pole. After losing a crucial week to weather delays at the start of the expedition our objective became that much harder – covering 2023kms across Antarctica in 66 days, a formidable but not impossible challenge. We needed everything to go right to be in with a chance of making it to the Ross Ice Shelf. It has been been an extremely challenging Antarctic season for all expeditions on the continent. For us, 200kms of soft powder snow through the Pensacola Mountains and 386kms (and counting) of solid sastrugi has significantly slowed our progress. We find ourselves now with not enough time or supplies to go more than a few days beyond the South Pole and feel the correct decision is to finish there.
We started this journey on the very edge of the Antarctic continent, the only expedition to start at this further point at the north end of Berkner Island amongst the Emperor Penguins and Icebergs of the Weddell Sea. Although disappointed that we will not make the crossing we will be extremely proud to complete the 1400km trek from the coast to the South Pole.
Thank you all so much for your support and kind messages, they have kept us going through some hard times. We hope you will continue to cheer us on to the end of this epic journey.
Sincerely, Gareth and Rich
Suunto Stats
Skiing Time 10hr 10mins
Distance 23kms
Gareth
Average HR 115
Max HR 171
Calories burned 7480
Richard
Average HR 118
Max HR 175
Calories burned 7648
