Progress Report

by Brian Newham The Ice Team set off this morning in moderate conditions, hoping to make 24km south and get themselve at the edge of a blue ice area and the start of another 7km section with steep slopes and crevassing. The winds have crept up a little to around 13knots and the temperature is approaching minus 20C. The team are hoping to build on their good work of yesterday during which they…

Another day of  decent progress today, covering 18km across partly crevassed areas without any problems. We are now camped at the bottom of the next technical section (see pic) which will require us to ferry loads for 7km. It will probably take five loads with both Cats taking each load. Round trip will be about 3hrs, so it won’t be a fast process. Tomorrow we have another day’s work on one of…

After the frustrations of the last two days, today has been a good day. Having started the vehicle preheat before the sun rose and quickly reassembled the Ice Train, we were on the move by 0830. It was an overcast start with poor contrast and no horizon but the vehicles are now both running well and we were soon clocking up some distance. It stayed like that for much of the day until lat…

The Ice Team is at the same position as yesterday having been unable to take advantage of excellent travelling conditions. The team recently found some issues with the fuel scoot runners so took the opportunity to rectify these whilst conditions were favourable. All seven scoots that the team have with them are now fixed, but it took the whole day to complete. They will have to do similar…

The very strong winds of the last two days moderated during the morning and we were able to dig out the Ice Train and reassemble. We then made slow progress across an area of Blue Ice where load ferrying was necessary due to insufficient traction. We are now at the location where we have agreed to depot the Belgian Lehmann sledge (S71 26′ 26.3″, E023 36′ 23.6″). Work is continuing this evening to…

As of 0600 GMT today the Ice Team was still at their overnight position. It’s only -10C outside but the wind is still gusting up around 40knots. Thankfully the visibility has much improved and they’re hoping to dig out today and make progress over the tricky section of blue ice three kilometres away. Once they have crossed the blue ice they will depot the Belgian Lehmann sledge plus all t…

The Ice Team is stuck in the middle of a blizzard at S71 22′ 22.4″,  E023 36′ 27.8″ with near-zero visibility and gusts over 50 knots. In conditions like these it is impractical and too dangerous to carry on and so the team have to make do huddled up in the living caboose together. The conditions also hamper communications, but we will provide more updates as soon as we have news from t…

The latest from the ice is that the team will not be ready to begin today. As much as a shame and a frustration that this is, the good news is that the weather is continuing to improve and the team has been able to spend much of the afternoon digging out the Ice Train and sorting out equipment. At the latest update, everything was back on the surface except a couple of fuel scoots which will b…

Status report sent direct to Operations HQ at 1223 GMT: “Things have taken a rapid turn for the better in the last few hours. Wind has dropped off and the sun has come out. We are currently digging the Ice Train out – its a big job. Cabooses are out as is the ISO and 2 x fuel scoots. The Belgian Lehmann is next but I’m not joking when I say you can’t see it and there is two metres of snow on to…

After five years of planning and preparation, the time has nearly come for our epic expedition to begin. In less than three days’ time the Ice Team will begin what looks set set to become one of the most historic feats of human endeavour for many years. To make the first ever attempt to cross the Antarctic during the polar winter official, the Ice Team cannot start the traverse until after t…