Tracking
the Journey
-
Distance to go:
0 Mi
Distance
Ben and Tarka will cover 1800 miles starting from Scott's Terra Nova Hut at the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole and back to the coast again. That's equivalent to 69 back-to-back marathons hauling up to 200kg each (the weight of roughly two adult men) of kit and supplies necessary to survive.
Distances here are shown in statute miles.
Retracing Scott’s original 1911-12 route, Ben Saunders and Tarka will start at Scott’s Hut on the north shore of Cape Evans on Ross Island. They will traverse the Ross Ice Shelf, before climbing nearly 8000ft on one of the world’s largest glaciers, the Beardmore Glacier, on to the Antarctic Plateau; and onwards to the South Pole. From the Pole it’s back the way they came, finishing 900 miles (1,450km) later back where they began at the coast.
About The Scott Expedition
In 1911-12 the British raced the Norwegians to be the first to reach the last place on earth - the South Pole. The Norwegians set out using dogs, while the British were forced to haul the sledges themselves. In January 1912, the leader of the British Terra Nova expedition, Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his companions reached the South Pole to find the Norwegians had forestalled them. Bitterly disappointed they turned for home, but the extreme cold and rigours of the journey took their toll and the entire team perished. Their journey has never been attempted since, and remains unfinished to this day.
Ben Saunders and his teammate Tarka L’Herpiniere are setting out to honour Scott’s legacy by becoming the first to retrace and complete Scott’s original, perilous Terra Nova expedition.
The Scott Expedition is a 1,800-mile (2,900km), four-month return journey from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back on foot following Scott’s route. Equivalent to 69 back-to-back marathons, the team will face temperatures as low as -50 °C and will haul sled loads of up to 200kg each.
More than just an incredible journey of physical endurance however, the Scott Expedition is a message to the world about challenge.
Inspired by Captain Scott himself, and by expedition patron Robert Swan (2041), this journey is a statement that with the right knowledge, skills and values anyone can pursue their dreams and make a positive change to the future of the planet.
Ben and Tarka are live in Antarctica now. Watch their journey unfold.
Follow Ben’s daily blog on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google+. Subscribe to Scott Expedition on YouTube to be the first to see video sent back from Antarctica.
The total journey is approximately the same distance as from Paris to Moscow, or from the surface of the earth to its core.
