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
# Jonas, February 6th 2014
Siigh. I will miss “this space”....
When will you go again?
(just kidding!)
# JamesM, February 6th 2014
Ben, Tarka, I have been following your epic adventure from day one, eagerly awaiting your daily updates but until now have never posted a comment. How could anything I say compare to what you have shared with us through your journey. I think I can say with certainty that we have all felt for you during your highs and lows and even had knotted stomachs at times when we haven’t seen updates, wondering what has happened. You and Tarka are truely an inspiration to us all and I would like to thank you for sharing your experience with me. It has been a pleasure and an honour to have read your blog and hopefully others feel the same.
I have been like a cat on a hot tin roof awaiting updates for todays finish and wish I could have been there to see you guys cross the finish line.
One thing that baffles me is I haven’t seen/heard any news coverage for this expedition which seems odd as what you have achieved is something gargantual. Is there a particular reason for this?
Stay safe and soak up the elation as you reach your final destination.
All the best to you and Tarka in your future endeavours.
James
# Dave, February 6th 2014
I’m not sure that’s accurate, James, and present the following link as an example. http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2014/02/02/behind-scenes-scott-expedition-incredible-south-pole-journey/8sBXpVFfb1V4YHcTzY9D2N/story.html
One conspiracy-theory enthusiast acquaintance has posited that the entire expedition is a fraud. No amount of media coverage at this point is likely to sway them. They’ll simply say it’s for the commercial benefit of the partners. I say they’re missing out on the excitement of an incredible and admirable effort.
# Richard Pierce, February 6th 2014
Unfortunately, the British media has not been covering it in any significant way. I hope this will change when they arrive at their goal.
As far as the fraud theory is concerned, I know people on the grond in NZ and on the Ice, and they’re there alright.
R
# Rosie Vidovix Unsworth, February 6th 2014
Anytime someone gets up to do something amazing there is always the nasty jealous people poo pooing the idea and pointing out what could have been done better.
Ben and Tarka are minutes from completing a hell of a challenge. Let’s ignore the critics and celebrate with them!
Champagne, anyone?
# Richard Pierce, February 6th 2014
I’d love some champagne. Ice cold, please. Thank you. R
# Rosie Vidovix Unsworth, February 6th 2014
Hey everyone
Follow Ben and Tarka on Twitter @scottexpedition. The account has been updated regularly today.
Not long now… #historyinthemaking
# JamesM, February 6th 2014
Dave, I don’t believe for one moment that this has all been a fraudulant episode to benefit their commercial partners. The conspiracy theorists can think what they like.
Richard, I find it hard to believe that the Britsh media would not want to cover this story, after all Ben is British and will go down in history for what has/will be achieved.
I shall keep watching the Beeb in anticipation that they wake up.
James
# Richard Pierce, February 6th 2014
James,
I agree with you entirely. The Beeb naturally covered Prince Harry’s short trip, but there’s been no heavyweight coverage of B&T.
One main issue is that Scott was hijacked by the right-wing media and their jingoistic audience such a long time ago, that left-wing papers won’t touch him or anything related to him, which is a massive shame. And it annoys the hell out of me, I must say.
No-one will be able to ignore it once the mission is accomplished, because it will be a record beyond boundaries of politics and countries.
R
# Andrea, February 6th 2014
Indeed, beyond boundaries.
In the webcam, there is now some visibility, possible instable.
# Offroading Home, February 6th 2014
They’re off! First Forward Motion (FFM) of 0.09 miles was noticed in their GPS tracker at 1:18 pm MST (8:18 pm GMT).
It should be noted that they seemed to transmit a couple extra trackpoints right before they got underway seemingly in order to make sure their “dot” got noticed as actually moving.
Their second trackpoint has just come through at 1:33 pm - so probably means that they’ve increased the frequency of their GPS “pings” as we requested.
# Andy, February 6th 2014
UPDATE FROM THE ICE
Ben and Tarka have started skiing. We have set the tracker to update every 15 minutes.
# Dave, February 6th 2014
WOO HOO!
Now let’s see if I can get home in time to watch events unfold.
Safely, safely, guys.
# Offroading Home, February 6th 2014
(8:44 GMT) They are about 5 miles from all the storage containers and towers at the end of “Willy Field Road.”
Those watching on Google Earth and using the Resource File can watch as the dots are updated while I’m sitting here. You can turn UP the frequency in Google Earth by RIGHT-clicking on the “Current Trail” link in the sidebar, clicking on “properties,” clicking on “refresh,” and changing the “time based refresh” to “1 minutes” instead of the “10” that it currently is, then click “Ok.” That will make your screen refresh every minute so you can see the updates quicker.
# Richard Pierce, February 6th 2014
Gotcha. Thanks a million, Dave. R
# Richard Pierce, February 6th 2014
I meant DJ, or OH. I’m getting too excited. R
# Jim Mclean, February 6th 2014
Wow guys,finish line is now in sight for you, what an amazing feat you undertook and completed, hats off to you both, looking forward to photos of you arriving at Scott’s hut. In a shrinking world just reading your comments , sent from the bottom of the world every day was inspirational .
# JamesM, February 6th 2014
This is getting very tense now, the anticipation is killing me.
Good luck Ben and Tarka, stay safe.
James
# Robin Isherwood, February 6th 2014
Ben and Tarka, I have followed every part of your trek from the word go and what you are about to accomplish in a few hours time is without doubt one of man’s great feats of human endeavor in Antarctica
I am sure you are two of the very few people on earth who can really appreciate and understand just how heroic Scott, Shackleton and all the other chaps in Antarctica back in those times really were
Even though you have had modern technology, food, clothing and goodness knows what else from the 21st century to assist you on your way the fact remains you have gone to the South Pole on back on your own two feet. You have shown incredible willpower and fortitude not least when things were at their most difficult and on difficult surfaces, light, wind, snow and everything else that conspired against you at times
When you get to the end of the expedition and finally come to a halt I hope you will be able to realise in that split second the enormity of what you have achieved over the last 100+ days
I salute you both on such a herculean effort and wish you every success in whatever you do in your future lives
# Offroading Home, February 6th 2014
(9:03 pm GMT) Every fifteen minute trackpoints working fine. Now 3.5 miles from end of Willy Field Road. Making about 0.65 miles per 15 minutes - 2.6 miles per hour - a bit faster than they’ve done the mile on previous days! A little rest can do a body good.
# David, February 6th 2014
thanks for this
# Nigel W, February 6th 2014
Ben and Tarka,
Congratulations on this fantastic achievement. As one of the guardians of Scott’s Antarctic huts it has been an absolute pleasure to follow your journey from day one. To my mind it is apt that the start of today’s final ski to complete the journey was delayed by storm with 11 miles left. A nod from Scott?
Ben - your written skills commented on by so many could also not be more fitting given Scott’s written prowess. You guys are uniquely qualified to judge just how tough Scott and his colleagues were to ski on to the end of March. For a Brit. to complete his journey is so fitting. Congratulations on bringing so many people along with you. A brfilliant effort!
Nigel
# Richard Pierce, February 6th 2014
Good to see you on here on the final day, Nige. This has been a nailbiting day for us so far away.
And for those of you who don’t know what Nige does, have a look at this - http://www.nzaht.org/
R
# CaninesCashews, February 6th 2014
Very nicely put Nigel.
G.