Day 48
S89 45' 48.96", W80 23' 42.36"
///carotid.undeservedly.accelerators
Louis gives his most important shout-out of the expedition.
“Hi good evening everyone, it’s Lou updating you on day 48 of the expedition.
Woke up this morning, and the wind had actually come around 180 degrees, which is really unusual for this location, high up on the polar plateau. It’s normally head wind, as you’re skiing into Pole. But today, we had the luxury of the wind behind us. Really cold temperatures; it must be well into the late -20s, and with the wind on top of that, touching -30 was what it felt like. But to have it behind us; this is the fourth time skiing to the South Pole, and I’ve never had the wind behind me on the way into Pole. So that was a novelty.
We made pretty good progress; we kept going really until Martin’s Achilles started to give him a bit of trouble, which was round about 5 o’clock this evening we stopped. We achieved over 12 nautical miles. So we were pleased with that. We’re now camped only 14 nautical miles from the South Pole. Tomorrow, at some point, later in the day, we should start to see some signs of the buildings and infrastructure at the Pole, which we’re really excited about.
The plan is, we probably won’t manage the whole 14 nautical miles tomorrow. We need to manage Martin’s Achilles, and just take It steady. Then the plan is to hopefully ski in on the 5th of January, which is also the centenary of the death of Sir Ernest Shackleton. A real milestone day. It’d be great to ski in on that momentous day as well. That’s the plan.
I’d just like to finish off with a shout out. And it’s one I’ve deliberately been saving right towards to the end of the expedition. It’s to my expedition partner, my tent mate, and dear friend, Martin Hewitt. Otherwise known as the Dog. I just want to say, what this guy has done has been absolutely outstanding. By the time we get into Pole, he’ll have skied over 400 miles with one arm. I’ll just let that sink in. Over 400 miles in the most inhospitable environment on the planet, across some really challenging terrain, in sub-zero temperatures, with one arm. To have done that, and covered over six degrees, is absolutely outstanding. The challenges he’s had throughout this journey, I could write a book about it, I really could. Not just his Achilles tendons, but he’s had bouts of diarrhoea, and vomiting, he’s had lots of issues with his paralysed arm. Because that’s just a dead weight, it’s been pulling on his shoulder joint. The amount of pain he must have been in with that. Then the amount of pain he’s in with his good arm, because all the effort is going through that, and the shoulder. And yet he’s kept going, and kept going, and faced every challenge with absolute determination. For me it’s been a privilege and an honour to do this expedition with him. Something Henry Worsley said to me, when I finished my very first journey with him – that he couldn’t have asked for a better travelling companion. I’d like to also use that line and apply that to Martin. I certainly couldn’t have asked for a better expedition partner. It’s been an absolute pleasure.
That’s all for this evening. Lots more to talk about in the next couple of days.
Onwards.”
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