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.
Old Tracks (Day 96)
Day 96: S80° 33' 18", E168° 47' 36"
Duration: 9 Hr 30 Min
Daily distance: 24.8 Mi
Distance to go: 222.7 Mi
Temperature: -14 °C
Wind chill: -17 °C
Altitude: 200 Ft
The weather this morning, to our surprise, was corking, with blue skies, hardly any wind and only a few streaks of cloud loitering around. It was colder too, and the the combination of sun and chill seemed to make the surface quite sandy and gritty, which slowed us down a bit. Captain Scott seemed obsessed by surface and glide, and with their wooden and metal sledge runners that apparently needed constant attention and de-icing, I can understand why. Even our carbon and kevlar composite sledges (with runners made of some sort of low-friction plastic) seemed a great deal heavier today, like some gremlin had been filling them with rocks while we slept.
The weather started clouding over towards the end of our today, though we never lost the surface contrast completely and we were amazed to stumble across our two-month-old outbound tracks in the early evening, following them for the last two sessions and camping next to them tonight. They're raised clear of the surface, like railway lines, and while they've been blasted away by the wind or hidden by drift or low patches of sastrugi in places, they're easy to follow and make navigating a piece of cake.
Mentally, today wasn't quite so grim, and I had a few sparks of excitement as I followed Tarka this afternoon, finally allowing myself to start to appreciate that we're actually getting close to completing the journey that Captain Scott perished trying to achieve. While I'm not normally superstitious in any sense, I almost daren't think about finishing this vast trip for fear of jinxing things at the eleventh hour, but something about seeing our old tracks again snapped me out of our goldfish-style routine of only thinking as far ahead as what we're going to eat at the next break.
Speaking of which, I mentioned double rations a while ago. We're still limited to our normal day's rations at the moment, but there's a depot that we're on track pick up on Saturday 1st that's loaded with food so we can push the boat out then for the last few days, which in our current states is a very exciting prospect indeed...
Comments
# Intrepid, January 29th 2014
222 miles of skiing to go, 222 miles to go,
You ski some more, make tracks in the snow, (or, following old tracks in the snow)
221 miles of skiing to go.
221 miles of skiing to go, 221 miles to go,
You ski some more, make tracks in the snow,
220 miles of skiing to go….
Dear Ben and Tarka,
Checked into Google Earth a few times today and heard myself exclaim out loud, “Hey! They’re skiing in a straight line! Weather must be better. ” Although seems the impaired visual traded with the impaired snow, so you still had it tough. Seems odd how the ski tracks stayed while everything around it blew away. And just how do the tracks stay when the sleds follow… wouldn’t the weight of the sleds cover up the tracks (especially on the shelf, when the sleds were much much heavier). Do the sleds happen to drag at an angle?
It’s good to hear the lift in your spirit. And just because I haven’t said this in a while - everything you need to know is right there. Listen/stay alert to the end.. .
Godspeed!!!!
# Richard Pierce, January 29th 2014
Cracking effort on the difficult surface. I’m really chuffed you had a day of clearness around you.
Looking at where you are, you’re in a good position to still be on full rations (not that this makes you feel any less hungry). I’ll be cheering with you when you get to your depot on Saturday. I’m with you, though, about not wanting to tempt fate, so take care today.
Take especially great care tomorrow, when, by my reckoning, you’ll pass the place at which the search party discovered Scott’s final camp on 12th November 1912.
God Speed, boys. Hoping for good weather and a better surface today.
R
# Intrepid, January 29th 2014
Ah, was it the snow around the tracks melted? Forgot about that! Haven’t been in snow in a while…
# Karen White, January 29th 2014
Three days to a stash of food
This surely will lighten the mood
After rations galore
The crew will implore
‘Our calorie planning is screwed.’
Fab to hear of a better day - you guys are amazing. K
# Dave, January 29th 2014
I think maybe the snow Ben and Tarka compressed with their skis remained, while the looser snow around it was blown away.
Ben, you are both an inspiring expeditioner and a top-notch communicator (I’m guessing Tarka is too, even if he’s the more reticent of the pair). I think that’s a common trait of the great explorers, and probably not a coincidental combination. I must remember “push the boat out” for the right occasion.
So who do you and Tarka like in this Sunday’s Super Bowl?
Continued safety and progress
# Christian, January 29th 2014
Ben, Tarka,
Good to read about a good day for both of you.
“Navigating is like a piece of cake” ...excellent..hope you can follow your tracks the remaining days, too (piece of cake by piece of cake). This would mean a whole cake in the end.
Stay strong, focused.
regards from Berlin -8°C
# Pavol Timko, January 29th 2014
Dear Ben and Tarka,
I will be missing your blogs soon as your great voyage will be over. Reading your entries became part of my morning routines. Let’s see what’s the news and then anything can start for a day. Thank you guys you are true heroes!
# Justin Philips, January 29th 2014
Also your sleds were very heavy then carrying greater loads, so must have left a deep mark. Anyways, good luck and good speed!
# Heidi, January 29th 2014
Dear Ben and Tarka, we are happy to hear you had some blue sky and that you were able to follow a pre-navigated path today. And we’re always happy to hear that you are safe and well. We read and relish your post, and I can now drift off to sleep peacefully, having heard from “the boys”. One ski in front of the other. By the way, you must finish, for my husband may be growing weary of my obsession with Antarctica and the people who conquer it. (Truth: he is as gripped as I am.). Warm hugs from our family.
# Rich/Ione, January 29th 2014
Time for your daily limerick:
Both Tarka and Ben took a selfie
showing each of them gingerly elfie.
They continue their blog and
their mind-boggling slog and
they soon will return hale and heal(f)ie
# Ariane, January 29th 2014
nice :)
# Janet Stanley, January 29th 2014
Glad you had a clearer day to relieve the monotony & it was easy to navigate because of your previous tracks, hope the day goes well for you both, please stay safe :)
# CaninesCashews, January 29th 2014
Hi guys,
Awesome mileage on that surface, must be good to be able to see where you are going for a change.
You must be nearing the end – mentally allowing yourself tiny glimpses of the finish line – daring to dream.
Oh and just in case you never find yourself that way again – savour these last few days, I remember a quote from Goodrich, “Just because a person successfully steers a voyage through hell doesn’t mean he ever wants to sail that route again.”
Here’s to happy ‘sailing’ on this final stretch.
Stay safe.
Gav
# Phil Satoor, January 29th 2014
I dreamt last night you had asked me to come with you to the Pole but I declined (because it’s too hard) but when I heard you got there I regretted my decision and realised I had let the opportunity of a lifetime slip through my fingers. Have you got any dreams to share with us?
# Heidi, January 29th 2014
Phil, I know your question on dreams is for the expeditioners, but I had an Antarctic dream last night, also. I dreamed there were emperor penguins on the beach in Southern California (where I live).
# Simon Griffee, January 29th 2014
Go, go, go!
# Jo, January 29th 2014
Speaking of superstition, you´ve almost reached the position where Scott, Wilson and Bowers died (79°50´S, says Wikipedia). I guess this would be a spooky moment for me, to reach and go beyond this position. Good luck for the remaining miles!
# Tamara and Alex, January 29th 2014
Nearly there guys! keep going. t and x
# Ione & Rich, January 29th 2014
Reading of Boogie having a wild time in the snow made us recall our conversation with Tarka’s dog last summer (he was training his ‘master’ to run up hills). Boogie reminded us that DOGS got to the South Pole first but he wasn’t damn well volunteering as only 11 out of 52 made it back from Amundsen’s trip to the S.Pole & frostbitten paws, hard slog and the possibility of being lunch were uninviting! He told Tarka it was more fun in the Alps and when he didn’t listen, quoted Admunsen, ‘Can it be that the dog has not understood its master, or is it the master that has not understood the dog?“The only person who raised a cheer for the dogs was Curzon (who was being snide). We haven’t spoken to Boogie since but have no doubt he still loves Tarka and makes allowances for human failings given that four legs and a superior brain and nose give a distinct advantage over the human species.
# Jarda, January 29th 2014
Ione & Rich:
And what about the ponies which Scott took to Antarctic and which were all killed still on the Barrier, were they volunteering for a half-way journey to the South Pole? Their only certainty was being lunch or dinner (after great labour under conditions for that they were not accustomed).
On the other side Scott stated his safe return it not dependent on dogs but on March 1912 he wrote “the dogs had evidently failed”.
# torsten richter, January 29th 2014
Hold on Tomorrow’s day held when you get past the point where the largest polar heroes, alongside Evans, Oates, Crean and Lashly, their final resting place. R.I.P.
# Fiona Boyd, January 29th 2014
Hey Tarkie and Ben,
I’ve been following your progress and it’s so nice to hear there’s light at the end of the tunnel, you’ve both done so well. It’s not something I’d ever want to do but it must be amazing to be somewhere so few people have been.
Looking forward to seeing you, Tarka, in France in March xx
# H, January 29th 2014
Keep on trucking guys, you are making fantastic progress day in,day out its truly amazing.
Those extra rations on Saturday will be more than well deserved. As your thoughts start to turn to that finish line, the reunion with loved ones, normal food, oh and the joy of a shower or bath, keep remembering what you have conquered and achieved over the past two months. Awe inspiring !!!!
# Martin Hartley, January 29th 2014
Hi guys,
For the first time in history Polar Exploration can now sit comfortably in the ‘spectator sport’ category…no bad thing. Ignore any critics as they are all without exception sat in a comfy chair or sitting on a loo with a warm seat or at home tossing sorry toasting muffins and probably wearing pink fluffly slippers and not in the arena you have been immersed in. One suggestion ..two in fact..(1) Please please take some time to take some decent portraits of each other before you come off the ice…it is the last chance for a while I imagine that you will work yourselves up into such a splendid state of disrepair ( not in the tent ) Keep the sun on the back of the person being photographed and slightly over the shoulder. Make sure the sun does not go into the lens, cast a shadow over the lens if you need to with your spare hand. Crop the top of the head slightly, have the shoulders pointing away from the camera on a few shots and some square on. Smile a little on a few and keep a straight face on others. Take lots but stay close with the camera. If your camera has a zoom lens set it at about 50 or 75. Dont get too close if its just got a wide angle lens attached. Take lots before the last day..as your faces will have some tension lost on that day..
Been amazing to watch you ‘struggle’ whilst remaining super competent at what you are good at.
I am not going to have a beer on your behalf as I have stopped drinking.
Martin x
# CaninesCashews, January 29th 2014
What brilliant advice Martin, I love the last bit about loss of tension in the faces on the last day. So true.
Hopefully they will have time to get some corking portraits that will take a nice black and white conversion.
Gav.
# Rebecca, January 29th 2014
Excellent advice, Martin. There will never be another opportunity for them to take those sorts of portraits. They’ll be capturing history. Thank you for suggesting it.
# Christy, Indiana, U.S., January 29th 2014
Gav, I just want to say how incredibly moving I find the picture you mentioned a week ago at http://goo.gl/oF2Z4a . As I continue to read these blogs, I have continued to see that picture in my mind’s eye ever since I first laid eyes on it. If Ben & Tarka do write a book at some point, I surely hope they use that picture for the cover, it so succinctly sums up their journey on so many levels!
# CaninesCashews, January 29th 2014
Thanks Christy - Very kind of you to say so.
G.
# Simon, January 29th 2014
I’ve come across Martin the Snapper:
His pics of Ben’s Arctic trips flatter.
So heed his advice,
look mean not just nice
and before your next depot - when fatter.
# Heidi, January 29th 2014
I can’t wait to see those photos!
# Pete Vassilakos , January 29th 2014
How exciting! The finish mark is so close! Keep your eyes on the prize! Really proud of you guys! I’m still feeling gitty over receiving a tweet from Ben! Not every day you get a tweet from someone in a tent in Antarctica on his way back from the pole! Haha! Love it! Only a few days away from becoming part of the history books! Wow!
Vassdesign.com
# Gill Blackmore, January 29th 2014
You are truly amazing intrepid explorers guys I salute you.
Have enjoyed reading your blogs your trials and tribulations on the way,
will really miss them, but it will be nice to know you are safely home and tucking in to some home cooked food. Well done
# Rebecca, January 29th 2014
More so than usual (if this is possible), am glued to this site and the Google Earth map, watching you approach Scott’s party’s final location, and the elusive One Ton depot. My heart is in my mouth… Safe travels, my dears.
# Sooner State USA, January 29th 2014
Finish Strong! Thoughts and prayers to you both! Woo Hoo!!
# Gary Fogel, January 29th 2014
Keep up the great daily progress!
# Ariane, January 29th 2014
You are not the same men who made those tracks, now are you.
HRH ;)
# Andrea, January 29th 2014
A more individuated you, a more performed yourselves; a more performed individual capacities for: your joy of doing this expedition.Like, the same Antarctica has produced the today’s pictorial landscape.
# Suri, January 29th 2014
I thought they are Santa’s tracks from last X-mas. You can follow them to reach north pole. ;)
God Speed!!!
# Mal Owen, January 29th 2014
The days now are much less than ten
For these strong and courageous men
They take pics of oneself
as they cross the Ross shelf
In 3 days will feast once again
Perhaps we could have a poetry page on site to gather all lyrical offerings as it would be good to encourage our younger followers with their writing skills.
Let’s hope the Gremlins keep away from the sledges for the next few days and that tomorrow’s blog reports you’re now in the one hundreds!
# Richard Pierce, January 29th 2014
I second that. And all poems & limericks to be included in the book :-) R
# Intrepid, January 29th 2014
This is not about Antarctica or what it is like to zip out of a sleeping bag every morning, pick up camp, and slog for 9 hours in extreme conditions of a frozen barren land, sometimes being ridiculously cold, sometimes desperately blue. This poem has feeling; it touches the place called life we are all sojourners of.
To Ben and Tarka,
May your feelings
always stay true.
I WILL HAVE BECOME
by David Whyte
I will have become like
the madman running
to see the moon
in the window,
the hawk
I saw tracing the cliff edge
above the river.
I will be the man
I have pursued all along
and finally caught.
I will be
all my intuitions
and all my desires
and then I will walk
slowly down the steps
as if dressed in white
and wade into
the water for
a second baptism.
I will be like
someone who cannot
hide their love
but
my joy will become ordinary
and everyday
and like a lover
I will find out
exactly what it is like
to be the happiest,
the only one
in creation
to really
understand how much,
I’m just
a hair’s breadth
from dying.
Excerpted from MORTALITY MY MISTRESS, in RIVER FLOW: new and Selected Poems
Copyright David Whyte and Many Rivers Press
# Richard Pierce, January 29th 2014
Taking Ben’s “monochrome rainbow” as a start.
MODERN ANTARCTICA
monochrome
colours gone
dimensions dissipated
no up no down no forwards no backwards
no black no white no shades no shadows no reference
no horizon
this is not a veil
it’s a wall
this is not beauty
it’s cruelty
this is no adventure
it’s more than that
we learned to walk as children
with our eyes open
there were cushions for every fall
parents friends grass rocks
we learned to talk and listen
in this cage of no dimensions
we are alone
no cushions
no grass
nothing
the horizon shrinks and disappears
we cannot measure distance
the fog freezes to us
the snow turns to sand
we are beached
two hundred miles up
a satellite watches us
blog watchers watch us
they cannot touch us
the desert is transparent
we are transparent
we are ghosts in the ether
R
# Andrea, January 30th 2014
Visible in the Day 93 picture, if may I.
And the ghosts perceive the ether and the presence of the ether as they are human spirit.
# Sheila England, January 30th 2014
You two are wonderful! Nearing the home stretch!!!
Our hearts continue with you!
-Sheila
# Sheila England, January 30th 2014
You two are doing such an incredible job, & nearing the home stretch!!!
Our hearts continue with you!
-Sheila
# Austin Duryea, January 30th 2014
GO BABY. Y’all almost are there. 221 miles to go. Man I am singing right know. Great job guys.
# Steve, January 30th 2014
I’ve seen raised tracks from dog sleds and snowmobiles treads and skis in the Canadian Arctic. The treads look like ladders.
# Anton Uhl, February 3rd 2014
OMG you guys! you are down to two digits in miles!!!
Can you hear us yelling at the finish line?!
You are awesome!!
Almost there!