TCJ EDUCATION NEWSLETTER – 4TH OCTOBER 2013
Expedition news update:
Following days of digging out the snow and ice that has built up around the Cats after a long Antarctic winter, the machines are finally clear and the expedition team are now ready to attempt the long return journey of the expedition. A long awaited improvement in the weather conditions have helped the ice team begin the preparations to move north and with some serious man power the ice train was reassembled, all lined up and ready to roll!
The ice train has been assembled as follows:
The Living Caboose and a fuel scoot are positioned behind one Cat and the Science Caboose, a storage container and another fuel scoot are positioned behind the other.
An excerpt from Ice Team Leader Brian’s diary 24th September:
“We split the loads like this to spread the risks – food, communications, emergency equipment etc is divided up so that if anything bad should happen to one load we have essential survival equipment in the other.”
“After an early lunch we lurched northwards and said farewell to our winter camp which has been our home for over four months. Mixed emotions as we turned our back on the south, which had been our goal for so long, and turned our thoughts to edging homewards, of easing away from this relentlessly windy place, of losing altitude and finding it easier to catch our breath and of being able to make a really hot cup of tea – at nearly 3000m water boils at about 90C.”
More recent news:
The Ice Team have just overcome one of the more challenging parts of the journey home. In retracing their route the team recently reached and successfully ascended a treacherous hill surrounded by crevasses wide enough to swallow the 25-tonne machines and their occupants. The last time they had to cross this area it took them 3 days to cover 500 meters, which gave rise to the nickname ‘The Hill of Hell’!. We are glad to see the team have managed well the second time around.
What Lies Ahead?
Daily Report: Thursday 3rd October
There are 15km to travel to our previous summer depot site which marks the start of the next technical descent – a 7km section of blue ice which is heavily crevassed and steep. The large loads will have to be broken down into smaller units and it will take several days to get through this section.
Once on the move the team will have to re-negotiate the treacherous blue ice and crevasse fields that caused them so many problems on their way south. Although the location of these areas are now well known by the team, crossing them safely still presents a significant challenge and a cause of considerable anxiety.
Infographic:
A newsletter with a more visual infographic update to show to your school can be found here:
In other news:
We now have The Coldest Journey shop where you can buy merchandise.
You can find it here:
Finally…
Do your pupils have a burning question they would like to ask the Ice Team?
What do they eat? Where do they sleep? What is a crevasse?
Email us at education@thecoldestjourney.
The question
The name of your school
The name & age of the pupil asking the question.
Every week we will get the Ice Team to answer your questions, which will be posted in the following newsletter. There may even be a video to accompany the response on occasion.
Best wishes
The Education Team
The Coldest Journey
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