Progress Report

Fortunately the very strong winds that we had yesterday eased during the night to a more moderate 30 knots and that was enough to allow us to start the GPR survey of the route ahead. This is a badly crevassed area but thankfully many of the bridges that we built on our southbound journey we found were still intact. By lunchtime we had surveyed up and over the hill and  identified a few mor…

Today was a productive day. Overnight the wind eased slightly, although it was still over 40 knots, but more importantly there was less drifting snow in the air so visibility improved to a hundred meters or more. Added to that was an almost cloudless sky so surface contrast was good. It was time to move camp. After several hours of final snow clearance and a few tweaks on the skis to break t…

Six fuel scoots were moved 5.4km yesterday, and a further six were moved to the same location today.  Deteriorating conditions made it prudent to then call a halt and the cabooses were not moved. We now have just two loads left to move. We also carried out our weather observations for the Met Office as normal, as well as snow sampling, minor Cat maintenance and day one of a five day White Mars…

With the Met observations and GPS trials continuing daily in spite of the blizzard, today was the first time in more than two weeks that the winds have dropped enough to allow the team outside to work in earnest. The team took the opportunity to begin a new snow sampling regime, as well as some digging out of Cat’s. Brian Newham also managed to get this picture of camp. The intentions for…

To all of our supporters, The first ever attempt to cross Antarctica in winter, dubbed “The Coldest Journey”, has covered over 300 kilometers and climbed from sea level to almost 3,000 meters up to the polar plateau, since the five man team set out on 21st March this year.  This is the furthest distance and longest period that any expedition has travelled in the polar winter months.  Using…

The wind dropped to a very gentle breeze yesterday making life much easier for the Ice Team as they continued their progress over the crevasse fields towards the six remaining fuel scoots. The team shifted camp 500m in four loads, but despite all the careful reconnaissance and GPR surveying they still opened two crevasses which had to be repaired before crossing. Today the team will continue wit…

The team have spent the last two days using the GPR to survey the start of the 5km route back to the other six fuel scoots, which they need to reach in order to get the full Ice Train back together as a complete unit. This works by using one Cat to house the GPR unit and with two people working on foot with the antenna (see picture). Progress has been slow, with the team only surveying 500m.