Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the temperature fall to -40. It is so bloody cold. Despite the state-of-
the-art polar clothing I'm wearing, every piece of me is freezing.
Eric has been wonderful. In the Arctic we were at loggerheads,
because he had my safety at heart while I was preoccupied with
travelling as far and as quickly as I could each day. He thought I was
foolhardy and headstrong, and I admit that I was. Back then, I had so
far to go I wanted to get off to the best possible start. Eric was sceptical
when I told him I would run 70 kilometres a day here in the Antarctic
and be at the South Pole by January 19. He told me I was foolish to
think I could cover such a distance so quickly. Now I am doing it every
day he believes in me. He respects me. Every 10 kilometres, when I
pull off the icy track for a 'pit stop', Eric is waiting to feed me and give
me water, take off my boots for a few blissful minutes, adjust my zip-
pers and flaps to make sure the cold stays out, and then send me on
my way. I could not have a better man in my corner than Eric Philips,
polar guide extraordinaire. Ming is doing brilliantly, too. He is taking
great footage and lots of photographs.
Around us is a vast white ocean of ice whipped with sastrugi—
wind-formed confections of ice left after the softer snow has been
blown away. I've seen a formation that resembles the Batmobile,
one like a Sydney Harbour hydrofoil and another like a whale. The
sky is blue with streaks of vivid orange sunlit clouds. Ahead of us, to
the south, the bright white ground slopes upwards. The South Pole is
around 2800 metres above sea level, and since I left the Union Glacier
five days ago it has been a steady climb.
January 4
This might be my last 70-kilometre day as long as the weather doesn't
get too bad and I find myself having to play catch-up. From now on I
can do 50 kilometres a day and still make the South Pole by January 17
or 18. It's getting colder as we climb towards the pole. The altitude is
starting to be noticeable.
January 5
Those terrifying black clouds that were coming in from the west
arrived today and brought with them a monster blizzard. Yesterday I
