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.

Breezy (Day 20)

Day 20: S79° 23' 57.24", E168° 30' 52.14"

Duration: 6 Hr

Daily distance: 8.1 Mi

Distance to go: 1661 Mi

Temperature: -14 °C

Wind chill: -28 °C

Altitude: 243 Ft

I don't think either of us slept particularly well last night. I certainly didn't, as it got so windy during the middle of the night that it sounded like a helicopter was trying to land on top of us, and we woke up to a gale that was doing its best to take our tent down and blow it out to sea. Tarka rolled over to face me and rolled his eyes from under the hood of his sleeping bag, and I shook my head in response. It didn't sound like we were going to be able to move, so we stayed in bed for another hour to see if it would clear. 

The wind was still going bananas when we got up, but we couldn't face a lost day waiting in the tent and decided to do battle with the weather for half a day on half rations. When you have breakfast and dinner tomorrow, be thankful that you're not sharing your bowl or plate with a hungry teammate, counting spoonfuls and eyeing each other's spoonfuls with a blend of suspicion and envy. It's no fun. Our flasks of energy drink during the day tasted watered-down to near-homoeopathic levels. 

Luckily the ambient air temperature was quite high (-14 degrees centigrade) so even with the wind blowing so hard that you could lean against it, like a lamppost or a tree, the windchill hovered just above -30, and we were able to make relatively good progress.

We bashed out six belly-rumbling hours in the end, before wrestling to pitch our madly flapping tent again this evening.

A few questions:

Q) How do you change clothes when you are so cold?

A) Not very often is the answer. Tarka and I have been in the same thermal underwear for 20 days now, though we'll treat ourselves to a new set soon (and we'll do that in the comfort of our sleeping bags). Socks we change every night, rotating and drying them so our feet stay relatively healthy, and we sometimes have to add or remove a layer of insulation during the day, which can be refreshing it it's windy. We also have quilted Primaloft vests or gilets (Mountain Equipment Compressor vests) that we wear over our windproof outer jackets and they're proving really handy when it comes to regulating our temperature.

Q) Why has Scott's journey not been done before? A) Crikey, I could write pages on this, but in short I suspect because it's a very long, very hard walk in a very cold place where nothing lives, which is also logistically rather complex to organise (Antarctica is the same size as China and India put together).

Comments

# Jon, November 14th 2013

I don’t think its the type of questions that are being asked here that some people are upset about, it is the tone of them. They seem accusatory as there is some conspiracy at play.

I am sure all will be revealed in good time and we don’t have to read the blogs or support the expedition, its our choice. I can imagine that after 6 hours of hauling and burning 6000 + calories a day, the last thing they feel like doing is updating a blog.

Well done guys - very jealous of you with all that free time to think about what you want to and the peace of mind that comes with standing out in front of the march with nothing to see but an endless white horizon, contemplating your place in this world. However when you reach the Beardmore, you can keep that to yourselves, I won’t envy you at all then.

# Ed Coats, November 14th 2013

Guys! Are you both ok out there? I f you feel anything like I did 5 years ago out there then right about now the reality of what you have taken on is really kicking in… Over 1600mile to go! Darkness you and I have never witnessed before.
Scott went there over 100yrs ago. If these days don’t break you they will only make you stronger! All the negative/positve comments on this blog are simply a group of enthusiasts that want I be out there with you right now… to trying to gleen from your experiences how it is going. I remember walking a long way once in Antarctica as a total novice and it was harder than you can believe. I walked 473 miles in 18 days on the plateau and it broke me but my strength came from my belief in what we were doing as a TEAM! I had two incredible team mates pushing me on at every stage. We got out strategy wrong at times and learnt a lot on the way but also had to admit the need to change direction and strategy. This is not easy when you have stated what your intentions are way ahead of a great challenge like this. Guys! Keep going, but do stay strong and remember that Captaim Scott was a courageous man. He got many things right but he was also wrong in his planning. The benefit of the retrospectoscope. Bliss! Good luck to WWTW soldiers also undertaking one hell of a journey.
Right back to the day job. Good hunting. Ed

# Mal Owen, November 14th 2013

I follow and eagerly await each blog, accepting it for what it is. I am happy to wait for info until Ben, Tarka or the team give it. I shall never have the opportunity to get to this wonderful place and therefore the very real descriptions that Ben has been posting in real time are truly awesome and will surely be inspiring our youngsters to become future explorers. Thankyou Tarka and Ben for sharing your experiences.

# George Chapman, November 14th 2013

The best and only way to control “Trolls” is to ignore them. They live everywhere on the internet.

# KM Frost, November 14th 2013

All you folks who are pushing so hard for YOUR questions to be answered, I think you need to chillax a bit.  This will be a slowly unfolding story, clearly.  In the meantime, we’re getting AMAZING photos, and rather poetic and wonderfully descriptive writing.In other places on this blog and on the website, and in videos, they explained their rationale on going on half rations.  There are also children in school following this blog, and a lot of their questions were generously answered. These are incredible times, technologically. What an amazing thing that we get to tag along.  It’s THEIR trip, let them do it THEIR way.  Go Ben and Tarka!! Thank-you for writing! Sending best thoughts for best results!

# Kristoffer, November 15th 2013

People who wonder why not enough information was given prior to launch are not trolls.  This is not about us not being relaxed, this is about us wondering why not enough information was given prior to launch, and why we’re being given what information we currently are.  Right now, I see an unfortunate phenomenon infecting people in the comments: I will leave it to the more intelligent people who recognize the symptoms to draw their conclusions.

# not worth to be mentioned, November 15th 2013

Stay Strong guys!

# dj, November 15th 2013

Perhaps it has occured to others midst the issues; but, Ben and Tarka are camping tonight approximately where the “best guess” of the location for Scott’s original “One Ton” depot was stored.  And, tomorrows journey should take them past where Scott’s tent was found for the final time.  If you haven’t done so yet, perhaps you’d like to obain the (unofficial) Scott Expedition Google Earth Resource File and check out the comparison trails. Download from http://offroadinghome.blogspot.com/2013/10/scott-expedition-resource-file.html then click on the “Scott’s 1912 Voyage” folder - green trail going to the pole, purple trail coming back.

# Kristoffer, November 15th 2013

dj, I downloaded the file again, but could not find the folder.  I did find the “Robert Scott’s Expedition” folder, though.  The scott_expedition.kml file does contain an option titled “Historic Scott Route Robert Falcon Scott”, which shows Scott’s route as a yellow line.

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