The Blog

Q: What are the general factors that motivate you as a team to complete the journey? (by Abdalla Yassin) A: Unfortunately our plan to cross the continent in winter is not going to happen but we all came here with different personal motivating factors. As a team, and that includes the many people in the UK and elsewhere that have helped to make this expedition happen, it was always about…

The Antarctic ice sheet is the largest single mass of ice on Earth. It covers an area of almost 14 million km² and contains 30 million km³ of ice. Around 90 per cent of the fresh water on the Earth’s surface is held in the ice sheet, an amount equivalent to 70m of water in the world’s oceans. In East Antarctica the ice sheet rests on a major land mass, but in West Antarctica the bed is in…

Thank you to everyone who sent us their questions for the Ice Team last weekend. We now have the answers for you; but rather than give them all in one long burst, we’re going to roll them out five at a time for the next few days. So if you’re question doesn’t appear below, it will soon.   Q: What are the plans to get the Cat’s thawed out and re-started?  Any expected issues? (by…

It’s amazing the difference feeling the sun on your face can have!  A stunning day down here today. Here’s to many more! By Ian Prickett…

Samples known as ice cores are regularly drilled through the ice in Antarctica for various scientific research. They are removed as a long cylinder of ice that gives an indication of the past going back as far as 800,000 years. The properties of the ice, of dust trapped in the ice, and even of air bubbles trapped in the ice give valuable information about the earth’s climate at various times in…

A Belgica is a species of flightless midge, native to Antarctica. Impressively, even though it is only between 2-6 millimeters long, it is the largest terrestrial animal on the continent, and of course its only insect. All other animals on Antarctica spend at least part of the time in…

With the return of the sun the flags have been raised… Photo by Ian Prickett…

As all of our supporters will know, one of the main aims of the Coldest Journey is to raise $10M for Seeing is Believing. The Challenge Yourself appeal has got people around the world putting themselves to the test with all manner of crazy ideas for raising money and well done to them. Yesterday, I met up with all four of the curiously named Channel Arm Bandits, who will be crossing the Englis…

The sun is back today after several days of high winds and cloud cover. Unbelievably it is now above the horizon for 5 hours but the drifting snow which is obscuring the horizon means that we will only have seen it today for about 3 hrs. There is still no warmth from the sun as it’s at a very low angle but above us we can see a pale blue sky and it’s very pleasant to have sunlight streaming…