Posted: Jan 01, 2009 11:45 am EST
(ThePoles.com) On 26 December 2008 Christian Eide (leader), Rune Midtgaard, Morten Andvig and Mads Agerup arrived unsupported, unassisted at the South Pole from the Messner Start after skiing an average distance of 36.87 km per day; the fastest ever average for a coastal start team and 10 days faster than the previous fastest team on this route.

The Hvitserk Happy Feet team first started their trek on 22 November 2008, but after 251.2 km (9 days) a member was evacuated because of medical reasons. They decided to start over again to keep their unsupported, unassisted status, and their second attempt then started on 2 December.

ExWeb’s Correne Coetzer caught up with the guys via Contact at Patriot Hills just before they left Antarctica. Christian answered the questions in cooperation with Rune, Mads and Morten.

ExplorersWeb: The Messner Route is not as well known as the Hercules Inlet Route. Tell us a bit more about this route please, the difficulties, etc.

Christian: Actually, there are no big difficulties - but the sastrugi have an awkward angle till you turn straight towards the Pole.

The crevasse areas were actually easier than expected. But that may stem from us coming from the world’s best outdoor academy: Norway. In a whiteout you have to be very careful, but in good view it was easy to find good places to cross. Though, we have to admit we were mighty impressed by the shear scale of some of them. 60 metres across is formidable, and letting yourself glide down into the middle of these tickle…

We accounted about 15 crevasses just before 85° South, and 5 crevasses at 87° South. All easy, - this year…

We did not pass close to any mountains, though we had some at the horizon on both sides 4-5 times.

We chose the route as it is much less used, and because it seemed more dramatic when we compared notes with earlier expeditions.

ExplorersWeb: In years, you were the oldest group on the ice; despite your age, you travelled the longest average distance per day ever. What do you attribute to your achievement?

Christian: A couple of things were very important:
First we put the team together more than 2 years ago. This gave us ample time to train correctly and prepare for this stunt. To re-groom (old) bodies take time and training is quite different from what we normally do.

Second: We wanted only very good skiers who had skied since childhood. All our info point to the fact that good skiers don’t break their equipment. And that saves both time and weight.

Thirdly: The Norwegian Polar community is very strong and very cooperative, so polling this knowledge we were very confident in out lightweight strategy.

ExplorersWeb: On 14 December you celebrated Amundsen's arrival at the South Pole. What role did he play in your expedition as a Norwegian team?

Christian: We believe that Amundsen's thorough preparations and focus on details was key to his success. He was also the first to show that if you set yourself a huge goal, you must peal away all extractions and side goals.

Over a two-year period we have prepared ourselves for the expedition, including physical training, teamwork, nutrition, equipment etc so for us the 14th December is like a National Birthday.

ExplorersWeb: What role did preparation play in your success?

Christian: EVERYTHING!

ExplorersWeb: How well did you as team members know each other before the expedition?

Christian: Everybody had been on various expedition with Sjur Mørdre who was our ‘mentor’. He brought the guys together and architected the team and goals together with us.
We did not all know each other, but that has changed…

ExplorersWeb: Could you explain why you have decided to start over again after the evacuation of one of your team members? What life lesson can people learn from this?

Christian: That Jørgen was taken out by a virus on his heart was a huge blow. We wanted so much to do this, unsupported, unassisted, as clean and well executed as possible. We were in no stress, so it just seemed like the correct thing to do. When you are given a chance of a lifetime to do something as fantastic as The South Pole, you don’t want to live the rest of your life with any ‘yes, - but’s.

It was more of a gift to ourselves than a lesson. But we think it may serve as a reminder to everybody that to reach for a big goal your mental preparation must be good enough to cater for the unexpected.

ExplorersWeb: What were outstanding incidents/highlights during your journey (excluding the evacuation)?

Christian: There were sooooooo many. Everything from landing in Patriot and right there get the shock feeling of how enormous, clean, high, fantastic Antarctica is, via 25 days were the snow changed every hour and no day was alike, to the wild sensation of reaching that out-of-space place, Amundsen-Scott Base, to the incredible dinner ALE threw at Patriot Hills. Those guys did really their very best all the time.

ExplorersWeb: How did it feel when you arrived at the South Pole?

Christian: It is the hardest question. It was so many feelings and thoughts, and none of them had time to process. But I hope the feeling will last a very long time.

ExplorersWeb: Do you, as a group, have plans for any future expeditions?

Christian: As our wives, girlfriend and families may read this it is not an appropriate question…

ExplorersWeb: Anything else you would like to add?

Christian: A huge and very humble thanks to everybody who helped along the way to make this possible for us, with a special one for Sjur. Without him, this trip would never have happened.

Again to ALE both in Punta and Patriot. Ronny, we’ll miss your food forever, and too bad most of us are married so we can’t have you treat our friend. And talking about family; we are in a huge depth for letting us take on such an enormous and utterly selfish task.

And… we hear you guys at thePoles.com have thrilled the world as usual with your updates about us all. Keep it up and thanks from all of us wanting to inspire others to do something where nature rules.

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The Norwegian Hvitserk Happy Feet team, Christian Eide (leader), Rune Midgaard, Mads Agrup and Morten Andvig, arrived at the South Pole on 26 December from the Messner Start in a record time. They travelled the 890 km route in 24 days 8 hours and 50 min, averaging 36.87 km per day, reported their home team to ExplorersWeb. Their record pace was 10 days faster than the previous fastest team on this route; and compared to the 1130 km Hercules Inlet Route speed record; Todd Carmichael averaged 29 km per day.

The men first started their trek on 22 November 2008, but after 251.2 km (9 days) a member was evacuated because of medical reasons. They decided to start over again to keep their unsupported, unassisted status.

The previous fastest team on the Messner Route was a 2005 Hvitserk team; Rolf Bae, Cecilie Skog, Per-Henry Knudsen, Roland Krueger and Wolfgang Melchior who arrived at the South Pole in 34 days. In 2006 Rolf Bae, Cecilie Skog and Per Henry Borsh bagged the unsupported record for North Pole in 49 days. Until 26 December 2008 Rolf and Cecilie held the fastest times for both polar areas. Rolf also kited 3800 km in 2000-2001, crossing the Antarctic continent from the Troll base in Queen Maud Land to the McMurdo base on the Ross Sea.

Unfortunately Norwegians Rolf and Cecilie were hit by the tragedy on K2 in August 2008 where Rolf lost his life. Read more in the links sections.

The Messner Route, also a coastal start, is shorter (by app. 2 degrees) than the conventional route from Hercules Inlet; 890 km vs. 1130 km.

Biographies of the Hvitserk Happy Feet team courtesy of their website:
Christian Eide (33) is single, “happy go lucky” and loving every minute of his life, especially outdoor. He lives in Oslo where he split his time between working as an engineer and guiding extreme trips to high altitude mountains or skiing expeditions like crossing Greenland. He has traveled and explored the World for many years, and he has been to Antarctica to climb Mt Vinson, but has yet to set foot on the South Pole. He has thus been looking forward to this trip for a long time.

Mads Agerup is 47 years old; married, two boys. He is working within the real estate business as an investment manager. Mads developed his passion for long, cold walks through his experience as a boy scout, his military service and later in crossing Baffin Island and Greenland. He has always been a huge fan of the Norwegian Polar Explorers, and has seriously been thinking of doing the South Pole “walk” since 2004. He is looking forward to be out of reach from cell phones, knowing that he can enjoy the simple life, bringing all he needs for the trip on his sledge.

Morten Andvig is 57 years old, married with 3 children. He is working as a Shipbroker in Oslo. Morten has always been a very keen outdoor man with passion for long cross-country skiing trips and participating in a number of races over the years. Spending most winter holidays in the Norwegian Mountains from his early days and later doing his military service in the Paratrooper Regiment, he is set for the journey to the South Pole. During the Greenland Expedition in 2005, the idea was conceived and together with a great group of guys, he is looking forward to reach one of his ultimate goals in life - one which few have the privilege to experience, namely to prepare and train for the endurance test to the South Pole. Reaching this goal will be fulfilling a long-lived dream.

Rune Midtgaard is 45 years old, married with two children. He is working as chief financial officer for a European industrial group headquartered in Norway. Rune developed his basic experience and interest for outdoor activities through 4 years of service with the Norwegian Special Forces in the early 80ties. In recent years his outdoor activities have included crossing the icecap of Greenland on skis, crossing the Alps on skis, and climbing a number of European peaks. Rune is looking forward to breaking this Antarctic duck - and to get rid of the extra fat reserves required for this expedition.

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