Day 49
S89 59' 26.88", W7 43' 5.52"
///virologist.reattachment.temp
The team are within a mile of the geographic South Pole!
“Hi everyone, this is Martin, on day 49 of the expedition.
We got up this morning to much better weather; clear blue skies and no wind. Still very cold, still in the -20s, but the wind factor makes a huge difference on the plateau. So no wind was fantastic. So much so that when we stopped in our breaks today, we didn’t even put our warm down jackets on. We just kept the normal windproof jackets from Shackleton we’ve got on.
We’ve been really lucky with the wind conditions today. And the visibility. We started off tracking our normal routine. Lou normally starts for the first 90 minutes and then I take over, then we alternate who’s doing the shift up front. Towards the end of our first shift, Lou just stopped, and I came up alongside him. And we saw what appeared to be structures on the horizon. There was a bit of fog on the horizon at the same time, and once that had cleared, we saw that they were indeed building, and they were the buildings of the South Pole Scott-Amundsen American base. We could see some satellite buildings, and one appeared to be quite a large, brown-looking structure, and that’s the main base at the South Pole.
We got to see that from quit a distance away and that was then our target for the day. We kept on going. Today we just intended to keep on going until my Achilles started causing me a drama, and then we stop. But luckily, it hasn’t been too much of a problem today. We’ve made it to ALE’s base. We’re not quite at the South Pole. We’re just less than a mile short of the South Pole. So tomorrow morning, we’ll now be getting to the South Pole. I’m very excited. The other good thing about getting to ALE’s base, is that tonight we’re going to get to sleep in a tent – not our tent, their tent. And apparently their tents have got heaters in them. So that’s going to be quite surreal. Great day. We’ve had an interesting time on this expedition, and it feels a bit surreal to be honest with you that the first phase of it is going to come to an end tomorrow.
A range of different emotions hitting us if I’m honest; overwhelming emotion is gratitude, for the opportunity to come and do this, and how lucky I am to have this opportunity. I’m also grateful for the people who’ve been involved in it. I can’t emphasise enough how important it is to have good involved people in your life who can provide support and guidance and mentorship. I’m very fortunate to have that, in as much of our sponsors, but also in the people who are our friends who are out sponsors – Chris and Mark in particular. Thank you both for all your help and guidance on the journey to here, and on this trip itself. And also the team at Shackleton who’ve been helping us out, and the team at RHC Capital, without you guys we wouldn’t be able to do this, it’s as simple as that.
And most of all, on the trip itself, to Lou. One thing I’ve tried to do, ever since I was a kid, whatever it is I’ve been doing, is surround myself with people who are competent, who are experienced, who I respect. And often who are better than me at doing whatever it is I wanted to do. And when it came to looking for someone to be a mentor and to train me, and to advise and guide the expedition, I searched around a few different people. Lots of names came up when it came to polar guides, but as soon as I met Lou, I knew he was the one I wanted to partner with. Luckily he’s not in earshot at the moment, so I won’t embarrass him but the way in which he’s conducted himself has been second to none. Thank you all.
Hopefully we’ll be calling tomorrow from the South Pole.”
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