Richard begins solo coast to pole expedition
Yesterday marked day one of Richard’s expedition to ski solo, unsupported and unassisted from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole, as fast as humanly possible.
It’s been one month since Richard left the UK and after a host of weather related delays in both Chile and at Union Glacier base camp in Antarctica, Richard finally got some kilometres under his belt, notching up 33.6km on the opening day.
The recent exceptionally warm weather and heavy snowfall has caused not only delays to expeditions starting at the bottom of the world this season, but has actually completely derailed some. Richard confirmed the soft snow conditions under foot; “Everything is as wet as the snow. It was a tough day, deep snow and poor visibility”, he stated.
Richard added; “It was a horrible climb out of Hercules Inlet with high winds blowing snow constantly making visibility poor. What took me 3 hours on Friday as a test run took me 8 hours today! Not the first day I had hoped for but onwards and upwards!”
Before setting off, Richard was all too aware that starting at the wrong time, could have a huge effect on his ability to not only set world record pace, but even match his own British record. Timing and weather can be crucial at this level of polar performance and he had been waiting patiently for the weather to improve.
A small break in the weather appeared and Richard decided to take advantage of it, setting off a day earlier than his revised scheduled start date.
“I’m going for it”, stated Richard. “I can’t wait any longer and there’s a small weather window appearing that I want to make the most of, despite the ongoing forecast not being great”.
Photos by @HamishFrost
Richard is the final person to attempt to ski solo from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole this season, and with a deadline of having to reach the Pole by 17th January before the expedition season in Antarctica closes, it was time to get moving!
So, prepare yourself for a savage 1,150km journey with traditional Antarctic whiteouts, Katabatic winds and some epic Sastrugi thrown in for good measure - and if you’re not sure what those are, tune in to Richard’s Podcast, the behind the scenes series on Richard’s expedition.
