POLAR CROSSING HALTED, SCIENCE PROGRAMME TO TAKE PRECEDENCE

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…

“Ice making its way into the caravan. -50C and blowing more than 50 knots will do that.” – as tweeted by Ian Prickett this evening on his personal Twitter feed. As if the guys didn’t have enough things to worry about right now! They will get it sorted out soon enough, but ice on the INSIDE of your bedroom in one of the harshest places on Earth? Not nice. Keep strong Team, we’re right behind you.

Having consolidated a position on safe ground away from the crevasses, the Ice Team are taking stock of their situation. It is clear from their recent reconnaissance work that the terrain to the south is a complex and uncharted mass of crevasses which are hard to detect in the darkness, covered, as they are, by snow bridges.  Painstaking efforts have been made with the ground penetrating…

Video update by Richmond Dykes, featuring a rare appearance by Mary Mouse. Filming by Ian Prickett.

“Another 50ml of blood sucked out in the name of Science! Lets hope they go to Mars for all this!” – as posted on Ian Prickett’s twitter feed…

Here’s a pic of the new camp taken at twilight by Brian Newham. To avoid any confusion, the Ice Team are getting about two to three hours of twilight a day, and the rest of the time it is dark. This period is diminishing every day, and if they were further south there would be full darkness around the clock by now. Today the mechanics have been making the most of gentle winds to carry out…

Bridging Crevasses in the Dark Watch this video by Ian Prickett to get more of an idea of the working day for the Ice Team right now. It is near permanent darkness and the temperature has dropped as low as -50C with howling winds. Thankfully the winds have eased the last two days allowing Ian to get out with his camera and showing us what the team is up to. Thank you Ian.

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 sun set on the Ice Team some weeks ago by as you can see hear they still benefit from the most beautiful twilights which lighten the skies for an hour or so each day now. This picture was taken by Brian Newham four days ago when the wind dropped. As he put it, it was “quite pleasant in the garden” that day!