Antarctica Speed Record blog - Waiting to start
Hi guys. Hope you are all well. I am currently in Union Glacier Base Camp in Antarctica waiting for a weather window to start my Antarctica Speed Record expedition.I’ve moved in to a tent with Rob the cameraman, it turns out we’re like brothers from another mother over here! I put the union jack flag up in the middle of the tent and the welsh flag on my side – Rob has put up a Wakefield flag with a Yorkshire tea sign on his side!
Have finally got round to writing a blog on the last week or so, here goes…
It was cool to be back in Punta Arenas in Chile, it’s pretty familiar now (my 3rd visit) It’s good to know which are the best restaurants and best places to get good, cheap food. It’s always great to catch up with the staff from ALE, who once again have been really supportive throughout this expedition. This time my freight was actually waiting for me, which was really cool!
When I got to Punta I sorted through my gear and re-packed to fly on the Ilyushin on to the Antarctic continent. I also did some work on my pulk (sled) in the ALE warehouse. I had some new runners sent through from the guys at Sportsnett and Acapulka so I took my old runners off my pulk and fitted new ones, which are a little bit more efficient. I did a lot of filming and training. It was quite a cool transition period for me. As always things were epically busy with me before leaving the UK, so having that time in Punta as a transition zone where I can just recalibrate my thoughts, focus the mind is really useful.
Cognitive testing gear
A lot of people talk about cutting their toothbrush in half to save on weight but I have decided not to take it. Instead I am taking my firefly™ recovery devices, recovery is more important than clean teeth.
So now is the real waiting time for me in my mind – I am ready to go, it’s just about waiting for the weather to become more favourable…then it’s game time.
I’ve been pretty focused the last few months on this exped and I have only just learned today from my sat phone call back home to my team that my old mate smiler Matthew Rees has been diagnosed with testicular cancer. Having had cancer affect my family I know how tough it is, I also know how tough smiler is and I just wanted to wish him all the best.
Speak soon guys. Rich.
