Breaking news: Christian Eide bags the South Pole solo speed ski world record

Posted: Jan 13, 2011 10:58 am EST

(By Correne Coetzer) Excitement and expectation ran high at the Norwegian camp today. Minutes after Christian Eide contacted his home team confirming his arrival at 90°S, an SMS from Lars Ebbesen arrived at ExplorersWeb: Christian arrived 10 minutes ago. Time 24 days, 1 hour, 13 minutes = 46.98 km/day you are the first to know. [sms received 11h55 GMT]

On December 20, 2010, 7.30 the morning, Christian Eide set off on a solo speed attempt along the classic Hercules Inlet route on Antarctica; unassisted, unsupported (no resupplies, no kite-support); 1130 km as the crow flies.

The two previous record holders, Hannah McKeand and Todd Carmichael's, times were very close to each other. Todd beat Hannah's record by 1 hour 44 minutes. Hannah, from the UK, set her record time on December 31, 2006, at 39 days, 9 hours and 33 minutes. Todd, from the USA, set his on December 21, 2008, at 39 days, 7 hours and 49 minutes.

Not the same as going solo, but for interest, on January 7, 2009, a Canadian team, Richard Weber (guide), Kevin Vallely and Ray Zahab completed the trek from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole in 33 days, 23 hours and 55 minutes. All unassisted, unsupported.

Christian's last distances: 53.2 km, (28.2 nm), 56.1 km (30.3 nm), 46.89 km (25,3 nm)

Click here for more news about Eide's arrival.

Gateway port Cape Town, South Africa:
To ALCI/TAC base camp Novolazarevskaya / Novo
(70ï½° 46?7ç², 011ï½° 49?6å¿).
Gateway port Punta Arenas, Chile, South America:
To ALE/ANI base camp, Union Glacier
(79ï½° 45'S, 083ï½° 14'W).
Gateway port Punta Christchurch, New Zealand:
To US base McMurdo
(77ï½°50'39"S, 166ï½°40'22"E)

1 nautical mile (nm) = 1.852 km
1 nm = 1.151 miles
1 knot = 1.852 km/h
1 degree of Latitude is 110 km
Sastrugi are hard snow bumps and can be as high as 10 feet

LINKS:

Hercules Inlet South Pole
Unassisted, unsupported

Chris Foot (UK) website
Chris Foot (UK) daily updates

Christian Eide (Norway) website
Christian Eide Contact 5 site (map)

Hercules Inlet start
Assisted, Unsupported

Willem ter Horst (The Netherlands) with ANI guide Hannah McKeand (UK)
Willem ter Horst website
Willem ter Horst dispatches
Willem ter Horst Tweets

Indian Army with ANI guides Devon McDiarmid (Canada) and Svante Strand (Norway)
Team members: Anand Swaroop (leader), Bala Karthik, Arjun Kumar Thapa, Ram Singh, Khilap Singh, Tsewang Morup, Parsuram Gurung, Showkat Ahmad Mir

Other links:

CONTACT 5 expedition technology
HumanEdgeTech

Polar rules of Adventure
What is solo?
Hercules Inlet start point

Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions (ALE/ANI)
The Antarctic Company (TAC/ALCI)

#World #Polar #Stats #topstory