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Image of Amundsen's expedition courtesy of Discoveryclub.de (click to enlarge).
Image of Rita Glenne and expedition leader Ine-Lill Gabrielsen in Chamonix, after climbing Mt.blanc, Mt Maudit and Mt.Tacul in one day (click to enlarge).
Image of Ronny sailing by Martin Hartley. (Click to enlarge).
Adrian Hayes also made a full NP expedition from Canada last year; thus joining the still exclusive "3 Pole" crowd.
Image of Pat and Clare on the summit of Everest. This year, Clare, Sumiyo and Evelyne became only the 3rd, 4th and 5th woman to make Everest and one Pole.
Sibuso (left) - the first black person to climb Everest - also became the first black person to make it to South Pole, almost 100 years after Henson's ski trip to the North Pole in 1909.
Doug Stoup made a new route and went in with ALCI from South Africa. Hopefully we will see more explorers daring to choose not only new routes - but also alternative approaches.
The North Pole has a winter attempt ongoing just now - Antarctica still awaits its very first winter expedition.
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ExWeb's 2008 end of season Antarctica report: Kids of Amundsen
Posted: Feb 06, 2008 03:13 am EST
Out of 220 successful trips from the coastline to the South Pole, 37 (17%) have been made by Norwegians,
residents of a country with less than 5 million people.
Amundsen's kids in fact dominated this 2007/2008 South Pole season. 28 more people skied to the pole from the coast this year: 9 (30%) were Norwegian.
Skiers of all nations showed a remarkable step up in difficulty this year however. Most aimed for unsupported trips; and all started from the coast.
Style
"I may say that this is the greatest factor -- the way in which the expedition is equipped -- the way in which every difficulty is foreseen, and precautions taken for meeting or avoiding it. Victory awaits him who has everything in order -- luck, people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck."
--from The South Pole, by Roald Amundsen.
It's not only about getting there - it's also about HOW you do it. Amundsen had no choice but to go unsupplied. Out of the 28 SP skiers this year; 14 reached the pole unsupported/unsupplied. 9 of them (64%) were Norwegian.
Looking at the total statistics; out of 220 successful trips ever made from the coastline to the South Pole, only a third (71) were unsupported/unsupplied. 20 of them (28%) were done by the Norwegians.
Compare that number to the much larger countries: Matty McNair is still the only US citizen to have made it unsupported/unsupplied to the South Pole - and she is a Canadian resident.
Records
A century after Amundsen's victory; Norwegians still dominate the South Pole records. Out of 6 unassisted (wind-supported) Antarctic crossings; 4 are Norwegian in three different expeditions.
This year, the most significant expedition was done by two dark horses - Norwegian ladies Rita Glenne and expedition leader Ine-Lill Gabrielsen. After climbing Vinson, the two women skied a 1285 km new route - the longest this year - from the mountain to the Pole, unsupported and unsupplied.
Norwegian Ronny Finsaas kited from the pole to the coast in 5 days - logging 502,73km in less than 24 hours at one point.
The trends - coastal starting points
The debate about (inland) Patriot Hills as a valid starting point seems to be over. This year, all expeditions chose starting points at the coast line (except for Rita and Ine-Lill who did a different kind of expedition).
With Rune Gjeldnes in 2005 and Paul Landry last year showing that it is possible to start from the coastline even at Blue One, hopefully the 'modern' inland starting point issue is now dead.
The trends - go green - go unsupplied
Unsupported/Unsupplied expeditions are becoming more important. More than half of the skiers this season completed clean expeditions; several more tried but were forced to get emergency supplies.
Skiing without resupplies brings us closer to complete self-sufficiency; a central issue for all types of exploration these days. Not to mention that skipping resupplies is good for the environment...
The trends - forced to go guided?
Most expeditions were guided this year. Only the Norwegian girls and Harris/Vilane did unguided expeditions.
Some skiers told ExplorersWeb the reason being ALE's unfair pricing structure for unguided trips. The outfitter charges double for an unsupplied and unguided expedition; although guides and resupplies cost more. It's sad that ALE in effect punishes true and difficult exploration.
The trends - find alternative routes and infrastructure
This season, we also had three new and interesting routes, made by Doug Stoup, Eric Philips (Messner didn't start from the coast) and the Norwegian girls.
Stoup went in with ALCI from South Africa. Hopefully we will see more explorers daring to choose not only new routes - but also alternative approaches. A commercial monopoly such as ALE's is never good for customers and should be broken.
The trends - cross expeditions
Everest summiteers Adrian Hayes, Max Chaya, Pat Falvey, Clare O'Leary, Alex Harris, Vilane Sibuso, Evelyne Binsack and Sumiyo Tsuzuki (from the Everest IMAX movie) all made the trip to the SP this year.
Adrian Hayes also made a full NP expedition from Canada last year; thus joining the still exclusive "3 Pole" crowd. Clare and Sumiyo became only the 3rd and 4th woman to make Everest and one Pole.
Sibuso - the first black person to climb Everest - also became the first black person to make it to South Pole, almost 100 years after Henson's ski trip to the North Pole in 1909.
The future: Hercules/Vinson/SP - and winter...
The route from Hercules Inlet to Vinson was only recently pioneered by DCXP (Duncan Chessel). This season, Rita and Ine-Lill skied Vinson to SP. Will we see someone connect the dots next season?
Finally; Antarctica still awaits its very first winter expedition. The challenge is massive in terms of cold, logistics and rescue possibilities - but it's there...
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