Week 5 – Crossing Antarctica, A 1000 miles alone
Team Army is proud to be sponsoring Lou on this record breaking quest. This is the fifth week of the expedition in his own words:
Nov 30th & Dec 1st – Day 28/29 in Antarctica.
28 – That’s four weeks on the ice for Lou Rudd. Brutal going with another whiteout day and more sastrugi. Lou begins to feel some mental fatigue, frustrated by the rough ground. In the end he invokes a little Dylan Thomas to keep himself moving. By half seven in the evening he’s reached 87 degrees South and covered 13.6 nautical miles.
29 – Lou steps into the final full month of the expedition. It’s a day of better visibility. The sun is out and the sastrugi appears clearly underfoot. Lou can now weave through the undulations and cut a safer path over the ice. He chips through a two-hour slog up to an altitude of 7,420ft and finally stops, having covered 14 nautical miles in 11 hours … >>READ MORE>>
Dec 2nd – Day 30 in Antarctica. It’s a clean sock day as Lou pushes on up towards the Polar plateau. He meets patches of sastrugi but also finds himself zipping along for two hours on flat icy ground. A strange visit from a feathered friend stokes Lou’s fire and by the day’s end he has made 14.3 nautical miles…
Dec 3rd – Day 31 in Antarctica. Lou wakes to great weather. The sun is out, encircled by the frozen halo of a parhelion. A light wind is sweeping across the ice as Lou pushes on, wearing only his thermal top for the first half of the day. The temperature hovers around -20C while he’s out on the ice, working hard, hauling and heating up. Lou is now up at 8,200ft and has just 1,000ft left of climbing before he reaches the Pole … >>READ MORE>>
Dec 4th – Day 32 in Antarctica. Lou wakes up to relatively good weather with a strong and steady wind and wind chill dropping to around -30C by the day’s end. The low temperatures allow Lou to do his best walrus impression by sprouting two long ice tusks. And he also makes another 14 nautical miles …
Dec 5th – Day 33 in Antarctica. Great progress today, Lou crosses 88 degrees South and is now two degrees from the South Pole. He’s feeling leaner now and his thermal underwear has become quite baggy. He’s now made 14.8 nautical miles and can feel the surface changing, which means he’s up on the Polar plateau. Lou hopes to reach 89 degrees South in the next four days. That would put him 60 nautical miles from the Pole … >>READ MORE>>
Dec 6th – Day 34 in Antarctica. That’s 34 days without rest and still Lou is pushing on. Today was a routine day. Clear weather, less sastrugi and good visibility for most of the day. Lou makes 14 nautical miles in 11 hours. He also explains why he chose to call his expedition the Spirit of Endurance and gives a shout-out to a certain British-made clothing company… >>READ MORE>>
Expedition Facts
Capt Lou Rudd MBE is attempting to become the first person in history to complete a solo crossing of Antarctica, unsupported and unassisted. He will travel for 70 days over a distance of 1,500km, from Messner to the Ross Ice Shelf via the South Pole.
When: 1 Nov 18 to late Jan 19
Total Distance: 1,500km
Duration: 75 days
Hauling 140kg of food and equipment
No Resupplies/wind/ vehicle assistance/ outside help
Avg Temp: -30c
Calories: 6,000 per day
https://shackletonlondon.com/pages/expedition
PRE-EXPEDITION LOGS – https://shackletonlondon.com/blogs/pre-expedition