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.
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
# Intrepid, February 7th 2014
My eyes are soooo tired… I don’t drink coffee or smoke. I can’t see anyone on the webcam. Are you seeing things that aren’t there? :)
# Dave, February 7th 2014
The tap-dancing penguin disappeared when I rubbed my eyes.
# dj, February 7th 2014
@intrepid… who are you talking to? As I speak, there is nothing on the cam. But those people commenting several minutes ago were back then, this is now. That’s how a camera works it isn’t permanent. Right now there is just an empty parking lot with vans and a tank and the ocean in the background. The shadow of a man that they talked about 10 minutes ago has gone.
# Intrepid, February 7th 2014
@ Dave
I’ve rubbed my eyes and now I’m seeing Penguin…
@ dj
About that autorefresh… I ‘m going to get some of that right now too…
# Austin Duryea, February 7th 2014
Wwwwwwowowowoowoowowowowooooowooowowowoowowowo they made it
# Wayne, February 7th 2014
Congratulations to Ben and Tarka.
Off to bed now. Good night and God bless.
# MarinaK, February 7th 2014
…. and to think they now have to get back to their tent! Hopefully someone will give them a lift?!
# Jackson, February 7th 2014
Congrats!!! Great Job!
When this wraps up I am gonna miss this blog and all those who posted often. I think we should setup a follow-on blog called “I Survived Watching Ben and Tarka in Antartica from my Warm Home” where we can all hang out.
Looking forward to the next Ben post.
# Heidi, February 7th 2014
My sentiments exactly.
# CaninesCashews, February 7th 2014
Too buzzed to go to bed. Bugger.
Here’s hoping everyone doesn’t just disappear off of here, photos and video to follow soonish I’m sure.
Oh and I did another image to celebrate - for those not on my twitter feed (@caninescashews) http://pic.twitter.com/6GaPAYItuJ
Enjoy.
Gav.
# Wayne, February 7th 2014
Nice one. Cheers.
# heid, February 7th 2014
Wonderful image. Thank you.
# Mal Owen, February 7th 2014
I haven’t disappeared yet .... love it.. thx
# Mal Owen, February 7th 2014
Some time ago I found a picture online of a lone trekker pulling his sledge across icy land. I can’t remember where I got it from but it took my eye. I set it as wallpaper on my ipad and every time I scrolled across the home screens to get to my scottexpedition.com link, the little man walked with me… I imagined he was Ben or Tarka.
I feel sad that he will now stop walking with me every day… I have travelled many miles with him….but also I am so very happy that his journey has come to an end because that means you have followed and achieved your dream and are safely home, able to share the future with your loved ones.
Congratulations to you both. What you set out to accomplish together, in memory of Scott and his Polar Party, is now wonderfully etched in your memories forever, and thanks to yourselves, in mine.
JOB WELL DONE
I had never followed a blog before. I’m pleased to say you were my first. It has been such an enjoyable, gripping, emotional, learning and sharing experience and I have gained much from it. I shall be lost without my daily Antarctica fix and it will be a hard act to follow. I would like to offer my sincerest thanks for the teamwork which got Ben and Tarka to the end of their history-making journey and gave to so many people across continents, from all walks of life, a chance to follow their imaginary dream. Please continue to update us on your future adventuring.
Thankyou Ben, Tarka, families and Team.
And of course my thanks to all blog supporters who I have shared the last 105 plus a bit days with…I have had a brfilliant time and will miss the chortles.
# Heidi, February 7th 2014
You describe the sentiment of many.
# Andrea, February 7th 2014
There is here a new entry here in blog, posted by the team.
# Dave, February 7th 2014
There’s a lone figure right now. Is it Ben?
# Marina K, February 7th 2014
Not sure if this will work but here is the base with I assume Ben standing in the white towards the middle of the screen! If this doesn’t work someone tell me how to put a screenshot into this comment box…
Screen Shot 2014-02-07 at 02.20.45.png
# dj, February 7th 2014
@Marina… You cannot place a screenshot on this comment section. They’ve dummied-down the comments so that they will only accept one link. That said, I sat here at my computer waiting against hope for them to ever publish a trackpoint that they had accomplished the deed and I kept refreshing the web cam in case they decided to come. I never saw anything SO if you’ve got something I’d REALLY like to see it. You can send it to me through the email link on the Offroading Home web site: http://offroadinghome.djmed.net - just send it as an attachment and if we agree that it is them I’ll publish it on the web for everyone to see. I will be doing a series of articles on the expedition over a couple of weeks - hopefully with interviews from followers of the expedition. http://offroadinghome.blogspot.com
I see that over an hour after Twitter got the message that they arrived on soil - someone placed a trackpoint at the top of the hill. Whether it came from their Nano Tracker automatically or it was hand-placed by one of the team is uncertain.
# MarinaK, February 7th 2014
OK so crashing out now… will try again in the morning if someone tells me how but we may well have better shots by then!
# Dave, February 7th 2014
Let’s see if this works: http://smg.photobucket.com/user/hearshey/media/BenatScottBase_zpscd9d2535.jpg.html
# Dave, February 7th 2014
Try copying the link address and pasting it into a browser rather than clicking on it.
# Lydia, February 7th 2014
Just watching BBC Breakfast - Report on Ben at 0845 - if any of you are still out there…....
Lydia