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
# Kelly Hudson, February 6th 2014
Just managed to get my 7 year old daughter (and big B+T fan) to bed with instructions to wake her when you guys cross the finish line! You have inspired a whole new generation!
# Chris, February 6th 2014
Ben and Tarka,
Someone mentioned previously that one of the great aspects of your expedition was the ability to motivate others to dream and conquer those goals…this has been true for me. Thank you for the inspiration and motivation.
As you near the finish, know that fans all over the glob salute you. Congratulations on such an impressive feat of dedication and endurance. Please know your conclusion is bittersweet. Checking this space has become part of my daily routine, a bright spot on the cold Georgia, US mornings. I congratulate you, but you and this space will be missed. Good luck in all future endeavors, and for God’s sake keep blogging!!!
# Offroading Home, February 6th 2014
(10:48 pm GMT) Their dramatic change in course caught me a bit off guard the last segment; but, I guess going through the storage field of containers is as good a place to go as anywhere. Andy say’s they’re heading for the end of the road which Google shows is a bit south of where they are - but there you go, nothings for certain in this world. (Didn’t answer about stowing their sledges - I guess we’ll have to just see). For sure the ice is probably stronger in the container field than elsewhere.
We notice that they are departing north of their former trail now for a good reason - thar be water covering their former trail around the peninsula now!
Their skiing took them 0.65 miles this segment.
# Heidi, February 6th 2014
I’ll be curious to hear how it goes pulling the sledges the final several yards on the road that looks more like dirt than ice or snow.
# Phil Satoor, February 6th 2014
Your updates greatly appreciated.
# Richard Pierce, February 6th 2014
I reckon they’ll have to park the sledges somewhere on hard ground, but they’ll need them close by so they can pitch their tent. R
# dj, February 6th 2014
Yea Richard… that’s what I thought. But not having ever been there I don’t have a clue where hard ground IS! I hope it’s soft enough to do a snow angel.
# Intrepid, February 6th 2014
Hahaha! Just because you have been so persistent, I hope Ben and Tarka really do make some snow angels!! Plus——the kids of the world will love it!!!
# Richard Pierce, February 6th 2014
DJ,
On GE, where the snow gets whiter, that’s where the hard ground is. You can see the pressure ridges in front of it.
Hope that helps.
R
# Heidi, February 6th 2014
It is finally “cold” and rainy here in Southern California, after nearly two months of heat and sunshine. It’s the perfect day to be indoors, glued to the computer. What a special privilege that it’s happening in real-time here in PST.
# Heidi, February 6th 2014
Yes, it is a privilege for me to see it in real-time…but I am sorry that those in the UK have to stay up so late to see the completion of this 100-year-old quest.
# Phil Satoor, February 6th 2014
I reminds me of the moon landing in 69. It was about 4am here I think!
# Offroading Home, February 6th 2014
(11:03pm GMT) Wow, that one caught me off-guard too. Unless the earth image is registered wrong on Google Earth, Ben and Tarka must have had a fun time navigating around all those mounds of containers we see that their track went through the middle of. Willy Field road is (once was) graded so equipment can get to the container/tower field and one of three runways used for various reasons at various times of the year.
Perhaps we’ll see their pace pick up a little now - or not. Who knows what they’re actually seeing now; but, it’s fun to pretend isn’t it?
They traveled 0.38 miles this last segment and are not where Google Earth says the Willy Road begins (ends). I must say it’s much more interesting following them this way (more real-time) than the past 3 months - perhaps we’re channeling their toughts a bit more?
# Richard Pierce, February 6th 2014
YOu’re right; it is much more exciting, and I can’t drag myself away from my machine. Suprised they haven’t turned right yet. R
# dj, February 6th 2014
Maybe whey want to go take a look at the water. I’m not going to begrudge them any sightseeing they want to do. In fact I’d be nice if they wandered around all over the place. That’d be fun to see (but I’ll be that old stick in the mud Andy told them not to.)
# Helen Haile, February 6th 2014
So very proud of you Ben and Tarka - I have followed you every step of the way reading all your blogs avidly. What an amazing 10 years - you finally did it!
# Mal Owen, February 6th 2014
sooooo exciting… got to go get the celebratory liquid ready but can’t move away..how are you lot managing to keep typing so much ???
# dj, February 6th 2014
It’s not easy! Believe me! Having done this before, I just wanted to show any skeptics how much interest there is in “real-time” vicarious activities like this. (Wish we’d had this when they ‘touched the pole’ but we’ve glad for what we’ve got.)
# Offroading Home, February 6th 2014
(11:03pm GMT) I know that whenever I’m out offroading, and reach the pavement at the end of the day, there is a great relief that at least some of the danger is over and we can almost use memory to find our way home. This offroading trip has now officially left the “road less traveled” - albeit not by more than a hairs breath. They’ve got to have Scott Base in sight by now and can probably even hear its sounds - sound does carry this far at this temperature.
0.04 miles clocked this segment - clearly taking a breather!
# Richard Pierce, February 6th 2014
The soundscape out there is amazing - and strange. At Cape Evans you could hear whispered conversations a quarter of a mile away.
I just hope they pose in front of the Scott Base webcams at some point.
R
# dj, February 6th 2014
OR, perhaps they’re stopping to ask for directions. BEN, GO NORTH! (Do you think he heard me?)
# dj, February 6th 2014
OOOOHHHHH, That would be great!!!!!! (Why didn’t I think of that?)
[Andy, I know you’re there. And, I know Ben’s gonna call you when they’re there. So how about telling him to go find a camera to wave into, if he hasn’t already?]
# Heidi, February 6th 2014
I think he heard you!
# Intrepid, February 6th 2014
So they are depoting everything right now, switching to backpacks… and catching the road to the right… right?
# dj, February 6th 2014
@Intrepid ... Actually, they still haven’t told us anything about the specifics of what they are doing - perhaps they think that we don’t want to know? (doubtful)
It would be logical to park the sleds somewhere and walk in but they’re still a fair way out.
# CaninesCashews, February 6th 2014
My home office looks like a deck of the Enterprise right now - Scott Base Webcams, Weather Maps, Facebook, Tweetdeck, this Blog, and Google Earth all spread gloriously across my multi- displays. I love this tech.
You can’t get much more real time than this community of well wishers right now.
Gav
# dj, February 6th 2014
I clearly don’t have the screen real estate that you’ve got; I’ve got so many screens refreshing every 20 seconds I’ve crashed Google Earth three times!
# Marina Kleinwort, February 6th 2014
SOMEONE HELP! How do I download the resource file for Google Earth? I can open the google earth site and see the map of where they are and the red point etc and zoom in but no idea whether I will be able to see more if I download the other file?
# marina kleinwort, February 6th 2014
should clarify: can download it but then nothing happens and a blank page opens? am doing something wrong perhaps?
# dj, February 6th 2014
@marina ... The resource file is a Google Earth Map resource file - you MUST have Google Earth loaded on your machine in order to use it. Once you do, then whenever you download a Google Earth file it will automatically open Google Eartha and open the map inside it for you. Finding the legend on the left side of the screen and turning on and off the various trails is something you’ll just need to spend time learning.
# Marina, February 6th 2014
@dj Thanks very much! Got it!
# Offroading Home, February 6th 2014
(11:33 pm GMT) Clearly they heard me shout and are heading northward now, straight as an arrow parallel to the line the Google Earth shows as Willy Field Road! They clocked 0.56 miles after their last break and we probably should consider them on the graded road.
# Rebecca, February 6th 2014
Thank you so much for these great updates. Between these comments, GE, and twitter, we’re really getting excited as if we’re there. I do hope they get in front of that Scott Base webcam!