Posted: Jan 09, 2009 07:40 am EST
(The Poles.com) On 8 January 2009 Chus Lago became the first Spanish woman to have skied from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole.

And on 8 January the Shackleton descendants were 11.5 miles away from Shackleton’s Farthest South position, 88° 23’S, 162°E, where they will be “closing unfinished family business” as Will said.

A hundred years ago, on 8 January 1909, Ernest Shackleton wrote in his diary, “We must do something more to the south, even though the food is going, and we weaken lying in the cold…”

Unsupported, unassisted

Chus Lago (solo, Spain)

Chus arrived at the South Pole on 8 January 2009. She started off solo, unsupported, but near the end she ran out of food and had to ask for a food drop. Chus became the first Spanish woman who skied to the South Pole.

Richard Weber, Ray Zahab, Kevin Vallely (Canada)

While getting ready to sleep in their tent at the South Pole, Ray reported about their last day to the Pole, “We wanted to pull the sat phone out and call you guys and give you live updates throughout the day today. But it was sooo cold we knew that the phone would freeze and we wouldn't be able to leave any messages. So the great news is we have arrived in world record time at the geographic South Pole, in 33 days 23 hours and 30 minutes.”

Their home team reported in the last report that they arrived back at Patriot Hills.

Shackleton Centenary Expedition (Henry Worsley, Will Gow and Henry Adams) – Ross Island start

7 January, Day 55: “Henry Adams comments on the effects of the altitude - they are now at about the highest point of the entire route, at 10,146 feet, but because of the lower barometric pressure at high latitudes, the effect of the altitude can be increased by an additional 23% meaning that the body feels that it is at something approaching 13,000 ft,” reported their home team.

8 Jan: Sunny skies and almost no wind gave the team a break and as their home team said, “Will Gow reflects on the whole raison d'etre of the expedition.” Listen to his report on their website.

Distances: 13.7 nm, 14.6 nm
Position: 88° 11’, 161° 45’

Shackleton’s Diary entry on 8 January 1909:

Again all day in our bags, suffering considerably physically from cold hands and feet, and from hunger, but more mentally, for we cannot get on south, and we simply lie here shivering. Every now and then one of our party's feet go, and the unfortunate beggar has to take his leg out of the sleeping bag and have his frozen foot nursed into life again by placing it inside the shirt, against the skin of his almost equally unfortunate neighbor.

We must do something more to the south, even though the food is going, and we weaken lying in the cold, for with 72° of frost the wind cuts through our thin tent, and even the drift is finding its way in and on to our bags, which are wet enough as it is.

Cramp is not uncommon every now and then, and the drift all round the tent has made it so small that there is hardly room for us at all.The wind has been blowing hard all day; some of the gusts must be over seventy or eighty miles an hour. This evening it seems as though it were going to ease down, and directly it does we shall be up and away south for a rush.

I feel that this march must be our limit. We are so short of food, and at this high altitude, 11,600 ft., it is hard to keep any warmth in our bodies between the scanty meals. We have nothing to read now, having depoted our little books to save weight, and it is dreary work lying in the tent with nothing to read, and too cold to write much in the diary.

From “The Heart of the Antarctic”

Christian Eide (leader), Rune Midgaard, Mads Agrup and Morten Andvig (Hvitserk Happy Feet, Norway)

The Norwegians gave a summary of how they realise how good life is and how and why things are as they are.

“It started with actually being able to stop at the very bottom of the earth. […] Then the huge satisfaction of being able to ask for and get exactly what you want when you want it. And finally, operating out of time schedules and being able to plan when to do what.”

Read more on their website.
See ExWeb interview with the Norwegians on The Ice in the links below the pictures.

Return unsupported and sail assisted

Mike Horn (solo, South Africa)

Mike reported on 7 January, “" I walked the whole day yesterday and stopped after having done 28 km - What a day!! The wind was very strong and of course blew at me, head-on, for the entire day. As well as that, I had to pull the sled through very soft deep snow. I think I only slept for four hours so I'm very tired today!”

“I'll see how I go today and if I do not advance, as I would like, I may think about putting down another cache.”

Crossing/return supported and sail assisted

ANI Hercules Inlet start – Sarah McNair-Landry (leader), Thomas Davenport

Sarah and Tom managed to kite-ski their first degree back to Hercules Inlet in 25 hours. Tom reported that they started at 11.30 pm from the South Pole, but “after only half a mile our progress was halted by an incoming Hercules, forcing us to wait for an hour while it landed, disgorged cargo and took off again. Onward then and after a couple hours I managed to have the kite in the air more than on the ground - and we headed off into the plateau (oh yes, there was the small matter of my crashing my kite into hers and severing a few lines.”

Tom reported that they were waiting in their tent for winds yesterday. He also said they met the Canadian record-breaking team, Richard, Ray and Kevin, on their final stretch to the Pole.

ANI Messner start to Patriot Hills – Norwegian leader and Jeremy Rogers

Jeremy, who was part of Eric Larsen’s team will be kiting back to Patriot Hills.

A report from the South Pole: “So many thoughts and emotions go through ones head at the end. Certainly there is a feeling of relief at having reached our goal,” wrote Jeremy and Doug on their website. “At the same time it is hard not to think of the people in whose footsteps we have followed – Amundsen, Shackleton and Scott. They did not have the advantages, knowledge, equipment and nutrition that we have and for them reaching the pole was only their halfway point.”

Other Antarctic expeditions

Dome Argus (Dome A)

On 18 December 2008 a Chinese Antarctic Expedition left the Chinese station, Zhongshan, for Dome A with a team of 28 members, 11 vehicles, 43 sleds and 625 tonnes of supplies, a 1300 km journey, reported rednet.cn. Their mission is to build the third Chinese Station, after Changcheng Station and Zhongshan Station, on Antarctica. This station, Kunlun, will be situated on the continents highest ice cap, 4,093 meter above sea level.

On 7 January 2009 xinhuanet.com reported that the expedition has arrived at Dome A after they have travelled for 20 days.

Polar explorer, Eric Philips told ExplorersWeb in an email that he met with the Chinese traverse to Dome A on 31 December. Eric is Field Leader for Australia’s AGAP North project, in Antarctica's Gamburtsev Province.

In his blog he wrote more about the Chinese visit, “Bundling outside [from the tent] as one, we saw our eastern skyline altered, as over 500 tonnes of machinery and cargo came to a grinding halt. Within minutes their traverse leader, Mr Lee, and three of his colleagues had unhitched the lead vehicle and drove the 300 metres from their traverse line to AGAP North. A cup of tea broke the ice and we were soon discussing the intricacies of our respective projects.”

The Chinese made their first journey to Dome A in January 2005.

Links to Antarctic 2008-09 expeditions

Antarctic crossing/return unsupported
Peter Valusiak (Slovakia, Novo-SP-McMurdo) Aborted

Crossing/return supported and sail assisted
Dieter Staudinger, Austria/Canada, and Armin Wirth, Germany (Neumayer start) Aborted

Unsupported, unassisted
Mark Langridge (UK, solo)
Todd Carmichael (USA, solo)
Chus Lago/ Caixanova Expedition (Spain, solo)
Gavin Booth and Adam Wilton/ British South Pole Expedition 2008 (UK)
Richard Weber, Ray Zahab, Kevin Vallely/ South Pole Quest Expedition (Canada)
Kari Poppis Suomela and Pasi Ikonen (Finland)
Henry Worsley, Will Gow and Henry Adams/ Shackleton Centenary Expedition (UK)
Christian Eide, Rune Midgaard, Mads Agrup and Morten Andvig/ Hvitserk Happy Feet (Norway) English dispatches
Christian Eide, Rune Midgaard, Mads Agrup and Morten Andvig/ Hvitserk Happy Feet (Norway) map site
Christian Eide, Rune Midgaard, Mads Agrup and Morten Andvig/ Hvitserk Happy Feet, Norwegian dispatches

Return unsupported and sail-assisted
Mike Horn (South Africa/Switzerland)

Supported or assisted
Eric Larsen (USA)
Doug Oppenheim and Jeremy Rogers (UK)
Daragh Horgan (UK)
Luc Reynders
Ross Maxwell (New Zealand)
Sarah McNair-Landry (Canada)
Thomas Davenport (USA)
Kari Gundeso (Norway)
Julio Fiadi (Brazil)

Partial routes
Teemu Lakkasuo (Finland, solo)
Doug Stoup (leader), Peter Turkstra, Steve Stipsits and Fred Losani (South Pole for Kids)
Jesús Noriega, Xavier Valbuena and Eric Villalón (Pol Sud Sense Límits, Spain)
Børge Ousland and team
Hannah McKeand and team
PolarExplorers Last Degree and Vinson

Other Antarctic expeditions
ANSMET Meteorite Hunters
Remote Medical representative at Critical Skill, Tom Milne’s, Vinson Expedition
Duncan Chessell, Jamie McGuiness and team’s 80 km Ellsworth Mountain traverse and Vinson climb
Tommy Eriksson’s Icebreaker (Aborted)
Cristian Donoso and team’s Antarctic Peninsula Kayak Expedition

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