Tracking
the Journey
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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.
Deja Vu (Day 104)
Day 104: S77° 52' 32.34", E167° 24' 47.88"
Duration: 10 Hr
Daily distance: 25.1 Mi
Distance to go: 11.1 Mi
Temperature: -9 °C
Wind chill: -22 °C
Altitude: 197 Ft
As I type this, we're camped about 15km from our Ross Island finish line, which is less than four hours' skiing away. We'll have a massive lie-in tomorrow before setting off in the afternoon, principally as the bases here run on New Zealand time, which is 11 hours ahead of us, so if anyone's going to be there to wave us over the line and take a photo for our holiday snaps, we need to fit in with their time zone.
Antarctica, true to form, didn't make life easy or comfortable for us today, and the weather seemed to be messing* with us in a spookily adversarial fashion; luring us - wearing far too little - out of the tent with bright sunshine and a still warmth first thing, before pelting us with a blizzard barely ninety minutes later. The wind intensified just as we stopped to eat and drink at our first break, and as we sat on our sledges with our down jackets on and our backs to the gale, whirling eddies and vortices of sandy spindrift were spun up into our faces, filling our pockets and sledges and anything else left unzipped for more than a few seconds with fine, gritty snow. It calmed down before we started skiing, then revved up again at the next break, in a pattern that dogged us for most of the day.
As I mentioned yesterday, our sheer exhaustion seems to be overriding any chance of outright back-slapping glee at being so close to pulling this vast journey off (our GPS says we've clocked a cumulative 2,859km now, which is 68 back-to-back marathons dragging sledges) but team morale is definitely much improved, and the prospect of skiing a mere 15km after a big lie-in seems infinitely more manageable than another mammoth day. Interestingly, despite never having seen the view we faced today, skiing past White Island towards the giant flanks of Mount Erebus until we picked up our final (hundred-day-old!) depot, before hanging a left and heading past Castle Rock towards McMurdo Sound, the scenery felt strangely familiar after so many years of dreaming of reaching this point.
We'll start skiing tomorrow in the late afternoon UK time so don't be alarmed if the tracker doesn't budge for a while after our usual kick-off. We should finish in the evening, but it may take us a while to get online again and send a blog post back, so watch this space. I'm sure Andy, Chessie and the team in London will update the site as soon as we phone in from Ross Island, so you'll be the first to know when we're home and dry.
At the moment, the magnitude of it all hasn't really sunk in yet, though I'm excited about getting more than five hours sleep for the first time in weeks, and I suspect lying here tomorrow morning the excitement - and if I'm honest, the sheer relief - may start to finally kick in...
*This may not be the precise word Tarka used as we were shouting at each other in the blizzard, but it was hard to hear him over the wind.
Comments
# Mal Owen, February 7th 2014
This is awesome ..... My nerves are wrecked.. ... I couldn’t cope with another 104 days !
# Heidi, February 7th 2014
Mal, that’s how I’ve felt since the turnaround at the pole. Waiting, watching….
# Rosie Vidovix Unsworth, February 7th 2014
@Mal I know how you feel. I have finished drinking Ben’s bottle of champagne and have just opened Tarka’s one now… you should try that. It helps!
What an amazing event for all os us!
By the way folks, if you are finding it hard to keep up with the text here the @scottexpedition team on Twitter is doing a fabulous job in keeping everyone up to date.
# Dave, February 7th 2014
Like astronauts returning from the moon, re-entry phase.
# Offroading Home, February 7th 2014
(12:54 pm GMT) By now they’re probably on solid ground. The last track point showed 0.75 miles and was nearly there.
# Dave, February 7th 2014
“How was your day at the office, honey?”
“It was a long one, over 2,500 hours, but extremely fulfilling.”
# Richard Pierce, February 7th 2014
Brilliant. R
# JamesM, February 7th 2014
I am fighting to stay awake here but determined to see Ben and Tarka cross the finish line.
Just in case I fall asleep i would like to say congratulations and well done guys for making history.
James
# CaninesCashews, February 7th 2014
Less than a mile…
# dj, February 7th 2014
less than a mile? A mile would get them into the ocean - they’ve only got a half mile from their last trackpoint clear up to the webcam! This is getting exciting, just hope Andy can make this happen - we’d sure like to see they guys on camera.
# CaninesCashews, February 7th 2014
DJ I think 1/2 mile is still less than a mile :-)
# dj, February 9th 2014
Yes, you are completely correct—so is an inch, but that’s not what I would call it. Either way - the pain is nearly over!
# Intrepid, February 7th 2014
I’m so excited it’s difficult to stay virtually glued to these keys.
# Rebecca, February 7th 2014
I know what you mean! I feel like running around the house, my heart is racing. But I need to stay sitting here, refreshing, refreshing, refreshing….
# Offroading Home, February 7th 2014
They’re on solid ground! Just 500 yards more to the Scott Base (and the web cam).
# dj, February 7th 2014
For those of you following this thread (and who have the resource file on Google Earth) - Ben and Tarka are now trudging up the 500 yard winding road to the Scott Base buildings. I’ve added a placemark on the corner of the building where Richard has been telling me they have the web cam set up. Of course it’s been there all along but we’ve just remembered it and have been begging Andy and the gang to ask Ben and Tarka to go stand in front of it while it refreshes so we can get a shot. Andy has written back to say that “I can ask” - so now it’s all up to Ben and Tarka and how they feel about it. Sure would be nice if they could do it on their way up the hill and before everyone across the pond (UK) goes to bed. The poor guys are up way past their bed time.
# Richard Pierce, February 7th 2014
Ok, I’m a wus; I admit it. It’s all the nicotine, wine and Guinness. And the 10-minute mileing. ;-) R
# dj, February 7th 2014
Oh, also if they’ve got their Nano still turned on, standing there to make sure the camera refreshes will probably send a trackpoint for us all to see as well—- double benefit and documentation! Now if they had a reporter from one of those London newspapers there to snap a photo - it’d make a great front page lead story. Ben’s got a camera doesn’t he - maybe he can get one of the locals to do a “touristy” thing and snap a photo.
# Dave, February 7th 2014
Rumors of a striptease will prove unfounded.
# dj, February 7th 2014
The next ping should have them on top of the hill next to (or in) a building. 500 yards isn’t much compared to what they’ve done.
# Intrepid, February 7th 2014
Haha! Wondering what they really are feeling, talking about, or singing…. or walking in silence…
# dj, February 7th 2014
Richard… is that time on the web cam correct? It says 14:40 - that would be 2 am - are they going to find all the doors locked and everyone in bed?
# Richard Pierce, February 7th 2014
The webcam and Scott Base are on NZ time, so it’s actually mid-afternoon for them. R
# Intrepid, February 7th 2014
Would you go to sleep if you knew they were coming?
# dj, February 7th 2014
Richard, now I’m worrying that I’m looking at the wrong camera. It says 12:19:43 - and it’s the one you have to remember to refresh yourself. It’s got a green building and two white vans and two containers in the frame and the ocean in the background. Is that the one you’ve got too? Why does it say 2 am?
# dj, February 7th 2014
Oh crap. And I was in the Navy too! 14:00 is 2 pm in the afternoon!
# Richard Pierce, February 7th 2014
Time difference is a dreadful thing. I always think everyone should use GMT, even if that means half the world has to work in the dark.
PS - That’s a joke, by the way.
R
# Wayne, February 7th 2014
2 white vans and a yellow van. Mine says 14:23
# dj, February 7th 2014
Richard… I totally agree! As long as it’s your half that’s in the dark —- that’s a joke too.
# CaninesCashews, February 7th 2014
The suspense…
# Richard Pierce, February 7th 2014
Still waiting for the next ping. R
# dj, February 7th 2014
YEs it’s overdue - last one was at 6:03 MST
# dj, February 7th 2014
They’ve got to have gone inside a building and maybe talking with ANdy on the phone——- AANNDDYY!
# dj, February 7th 2014
And it looks like the sun’s going down on the web cam - they’re gonna need to make this happen soon or it’ll be too dark to see them on the camera.