Blowing Snow
By Brian Newham (written on Saturday evening) A grey and breezy start to the day which gradually deteriorated into blowing snow and visibility of only about 100m. Anyone who knows the term “whiteout” will know what we have been experiencing – the sky merges with the ground, there is no contrast at all and its quite disorientating. Despite the conditions we were able to push slowly southwards and…
We’re On Our Way – At Last!
Spencer Smirl’s latest blog. The first successful day of travel finally happened. Well, not completely successful, but just about. Yesterday was Thursday the 7th of February. It was our 18th day on the Antarctic continent. Long days spent unloading and assembling our massive amount of kit. The sun never stopped shining and the temperature didn’t spend much time below zero. The struggles of coping…
“Moving South” – by Brian Newham
The Ice Train is on the move for the very first time. This morning we made final preparations and stowed the last of our equipment before setting out on our journey to lay a fuel depot further south. The strategy behind the fuel depot is twofold. Firstly, we need to reduce the weights that we are towing so we need to position fuel between our starting point at the coast and the Pole – we w…
“Turbulence”
By Anton Bowring, on-board the SA Agulhas. The lavatory in my cabin exploded this evening. At the time I was minding my own business and, having minded it, I pulled the lever – not hard, mind you. Well, I was terrified, the thing erupted with a belching noise, half gurgle and half woosh! Great clumps of water leapt into the air and crashed on the floor increasing in size until I was pressed to…
“Ice Train” – by Richmond Dykes
I have put it to the group as what to call the configuration of all the pieces of equipment once hooked together ready to pull out on our fuel laying journey. Their answer: Ice Train. This actually takes its name from the Land Trains that roll across the Australian Outback; we are not much different from them other than them having blue skies, red dirt, plenty of heat and kangaroos where we w…
Hours of Daylight
As you will see from the chart, it is changing quite rapidly at this time of year and it won’t be long before we start getting proper darkness at night. As we move further south whilst we are laying the depot the nights will obviously get longer.
Mountains Of The Mind
When in surroundings such as many of us involved with this expedition have experienced over the last few weeks, it’s easy to let one’s mind wander with abstract thoughts, promoted by the immensity of this landscape. Here’s some thoughts and visions that prompted me to producing a piece writing. Hopefully penned in the same vein as one of my favourite books about the North – Arctic Dreams by Barry…
“One journey ends and another starts”
By Geoff Long, on board SA Agulhas. We’ve been steaming steadily north at 11 knots for over a day now, the pack was kind to us and we’ve left behind the gentle rolling carpet of sea ice, escaping its grasp easily, reaching open water after only 30 miles. Now sailing through calm grey seas, the magical world of colourful ice, crevasses and penguins whilst still relatively near, seems so far away.
Camp 2 – by Rob Lambert
Since we arrived at the ice edge a couple of weeks ago, our work here has concentrated on getting all of our kit out from the various ship’s holds and hidey holes and onto the ice. As equipment was craned ashore it was whisked away by our myriad of helpers, scurrying busily like so many oompah loompahs (though considerably more attractive), and deposited at one of three main work sites. Firstly,…
“The Work Continues” – by Ian Prickett
The ship has finally sailed and left the six of us with nowhere to run (ski/drive/follow) other than South. I have been waiting for this moment for ages now and it seemed as if it was never going to happen for a while. Thinking back to September in the lashing UK rain, being flooded out stuck in the corner of the Finning car park, Brian and myself were certainly very doubtful that we would hav…
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