From the Ice

For those of you who don’t know already, you can see all the latest images of The Coldest Journey – in fact all the images we have ever posted – on our Flickr feed. Just follow the GALLERY link on the home page or, to make life really easy, click…

Question Three: Why don’t the tools break in the cold temperatures? Do all the joints expand and contract at different rates as the temperatures fluctuate? (by Avril Hall-Evitts)   This is a major problem that we face here.  99% of the time if we have a problem it will be due to something outside failing or about to fail.  The cold makes even the simplest of things almost impossible to…

Home again – the Cats return after a long day on the ice – by Brian Newham…

Load relaying has continued although once we reached the blue ice area we lost traction and had to break the loads down further to six loads and also double-head on some sections (i.e. two Cats pulling each load). It has slowed progress considerably. Units 1 & 2 have been moved 13km further south and we are hoping that all the remaining fuel scoots will reach the same position by the time w…

Question Two: Once you get to the South Pole how much interaction will you have with the resident overwinterers at the station, and can they offer support? (by Will Dawson) It will be entirely down to the overwinterers at the South Pole station if they wish to invite us in.  During the summer months, the US base has a firm ‘no interaction’ policy with expedition teams due to the shear amount of…

Over the weekend we asked you to send us your questions for Ian Prickett. Despite working 15-hour days outside in the cold, Ian managed to squeeze in enough time get back with his answers. I’ll reveal them in three instalments for maximum impact! Question One: As one who knows you extremely well, and knowing how you hate an untidy bedroom… Where do you put your laundry and where does it get…

Photo by Brian Newham. At last the condtions have improved and the Ice Team are on the move again. Both cabooses and fuel scoots now half way up the hill and we are hoping to have everything at the fuel depot within the next few…

At HQ we are waiting for latest status report from the ice. Temperature at 7am (BST) was -30C with 35 knot gusts and heavy drifting snow. While we wait for a progress report, here is a video “our man with the cam” Ian Prickett produced a couple of days ago when the terrible weather abated for a short while.