News from HQ

Very exciting day yesterday! We have taken over the warehouse at the docklands and started taking delivery of the heavy equipment. With the help of a 50-tonne crane, the fabulous removal men from Revells and about half a dozen extremely capable and patient truck drivers we managed to squeeze everything in and lock up by 6pm. Lots more on the way today and tomorrow… We will be uploading loads…

On Monday 12th October our Cold Equipment Team Leader, Steve Holland did  the morning assembly at Kimbolton Prep School. The week before, Mr Hall, one of the staff, had been using The Coldest Journey website to discuss leadership when Lucy, one of the pupils said: “That’s my uncle!” A few emails and calls later and Steve was stood in front of 300 small faces discussing the serious planning…

Inside this modest looking chest of drawers are all of the tools for the expedition provided by Snap-On Industrial – that’s nearly 400 individual pieces! Containing everything from a video inspection tool to chisels to pliers to hammers to drills to ratchets to impact guns, sockets and so much more, this extraordinarily well-designed and rugged box will serve as a treasure chest to t…

Good morning to you all. And what a morning it is! Not a cloud to be seen from Operations HQ in Pall Mall, London. Certainly makes travelling to work a pleasure. But enough of this! I am pleased to say that we have added extra content to the website which I hope you will find very interesting. The additions include detailed information and images from the all-important Cold Chamber testing days,…

Dearr All, The SA Agulhas sailed from Cape Town today at 13.00hrs (UK time) – destination London. If you want to follow the ship’s progress, while in coastal waters you can visit the website: www.marinetraffic.com/ais. On the map the ship is coloured blue and is heading in a North Westerly direction from Cape Town. I should get regular reports from the Captain and I shall try to post her daily…

Falling down a crevasse is one of the biggest threats to the success of the expedition, as well as to the lives of six-man ice team. Being prepared for such an eventuality is key, and last month the guys spent two days in the Lake District receiving crevasse rescue training from the experts. Read ice member Ian Prickett’s account of the trip on the website under The Expedition > Preparations…

Following the final phase of the cold chamber tests carried out in September at Millbrook Proving Grounds, we have finally been able to put together the best combinations of clothing that are likely to be used on the ice during the traverse. With the expedition taking place in one of the harshest environments in the world and at harshest time of the year, getting the clothing right has been of…

Feeling fairly excitable after having experienced the cold chamber at close to -60C, wrapped in an incredible down-filled cloud, it wasn’t long before Hugh and I struck upon a fanciful idea: to fully understand the benefit of the amazing technologies used to maintain our team on the ice at super low temperatures, we wanted to see how long we could last in normal civvy clothing. Ian Prickett had…

Did you know that we have a dedicated Facebook page for The Coldest Journey? See more stories, pics and videos at…