Day 14
S82 13' 32.16", W80 21' 42.48"
///spirit.bioregion.fantasyland
It’s #AntarcticaDay2021 and the team has crossed 82 degrees south. Martin is feeling better and explains how Adaptive Grand Slam came into being.
“Good evening everybody. It’s Martin, on day 14 of the expedition.
Weather. Weather. Weather.
What a difference the weather makes. We had no wind for the first part of the day today, and it built up to only around 10 knots later on in the afternoon. I always said I was going to tell things straight, to our small but loyal gathering around the Adaptive Grand Slam expeditions; to family and friends.
There’s been so many times in this last 13 days when I’ve questioned whether or not I can do this when I look at the sheer distance of over 700 miles in front of us. And my arm, and the paralysis, and loading the left hand side, genuinely thought about quitting once or twice. And genuinely thought it was too much to ask to do with one arm. But today, for the first time, I genuinely, actually enjoyed myself. It was brilliant. The weather makes such a difference. We got battered that first week; we really did. Forty knot headwind day after day, night after night; very little sleep in the tent because of it. And driving with full loads, the heaviest the pulk’s going to be at the beginning of the expedition of course, into that head wind, really took it out of me. And trying to balance over the sastrugi crossings was really hard. This last week, the weather’s been completely different. We’ve had a bit of a katabatic wind coming down, but nowhere near as challenging as that first week. And that has allowed me to recover, albeit while I was still moving, and slowly improve. We did 16.2 nautical miles today, a PB for us and our biggest distance to date.
So I just wanted to say a bit about Adaptive Grand Slam and how it started. I was very fortunate in 2011 to do an expedition to the North Pole, with a small but excellent team of people. Two inspirational people set up a new charity called Walking With The Wounded. Ed Parker and Simon Dalglish – both remarkable human beings – who gave me the opportunity to join this team, along with Jaco Van Gass, Stevie Young, Guy ‘Maximus’ Disney and His Royal Highness, Prince Harry. And alongside us were a fantastic team... an amazing documentary maker and two amazing Norwegian beasts, is the best way to describe them.
They carried all their kit, and all the camera team’s kit as well. And that expedition really set things in motion for me; not only to leave the Armed Forces and try and find a new purpose, but instil a real taste of adventure that I wanted to try and help others achieve.
And that’s why I set up Adaptive Grandslam, I wanted to start organising expeditions and challenge events. The team on that expedition were phenomenal like I said, and they’ve all gone on to do amazing things. Dags was at the time was working for ITV, and he was very well respected in his commercial world, and loved by all. And still is – he’s a very senior player there... Ed went on to scale the charity, and do really well with it and Jaco went on to get two gold medals this year in Toyko, and a bronze. Guy Disney went on to become the first person with a disability ever to get a racing licence for horses. Not only get one, but win multiple cups. And Steve went on to have a full career in the Armed Forces.
The power of an expedition to push people in extreme environments, during a phase of rehabilitation, works.
So more on the Adaptive Grand Slam as we progress, on more expeditions and other people.
But for now, goodnight.”
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