DAY 44 - S88 56' 11.76", W80 31' 35.40"

Day 44

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The team return to the ice at last!

“Hi good evening everyone, it’s Lou reporting in on day 44 of the expedition.

We have some good news! We were in Union Glacier this morning, and we were just waiting for the pilots to look at the weather. And the weather was in and out all day, and we were getting updates in the morning, and at lunchtime. Then finally, at two o’clock this afternoon, they identified a possible gap in the weather, where they thought there’d be a good chance they could get us in. There was a slight risk, which we accepted, that we could have flown all the way up here, and we could have been unable to land in the area of the last degree, due to some mist and low cloud. If that had been the case, we’d have carried on to the Pole; they’d have dropped us at the South Pole, and we’d have probably ended up staying there for two or three days, and then trying to get us back out to the last degree. So we accepted that risk, and hopped on board and flew up. We stopped at Thiels on the way up, to refuel, and then carried on up. The pilots did a fantastic job, they were able to get us in. They couldn’t quite get us in on the last degree, we were just short. So we were dropped seven miles short of the last degree, at 88.54, so about six miles out. Which is fine, a few extra bonus miles for us! Free phys! But they got us out, which was brilliant, and dropped us on the high polar plateau. In great conditions; very low temperatures – it must be probably -25, -30, but hardly any wind at all, and a bit of sun breaking through as well. So actually really good conditions.

We said our farewells and watched the plane head off, and we set off. It was quite late by the time we got dropped off and got going. It was way past 8 o’clock in the evening. We stopped briefly and did our comms sched [daily call back to the logistics team] and got the tent up. And we’re now camped just five nautical miles from reaching 89 degrees South.

We’re really pleased to be back out now on expedition. It was quite a lengthy, but necessary stay in Union Glacier just to allow Martin’s Achilles a bit of recovery time. Great to be back out here now and have this opportunity over the next six or seven days, or just under that time, skiing across the high polar plateau and experiencing the whole process of skiing into the South Pole, which we’re both really excited about. Great to be back out here; we’re straight back into our routine. We’re planning tomorrow morning to get up at our usual time, and hopefully be skiing by 9 o’clock after the morning routine. And take it nice and steady, monitoring Martin’s Achilles. We’re planning to get a nice full day in; get some good mileage in the bank. Hopefully tomorrow morning, we should cross 89 degrees South, and be inside the final last degree.

That’s all from us, we’re going to grab some sleep and prepare for a big day tomorrow. We look forward to updating you on our progress tomorrow evening.

Onwards.
”

— Louis Rudd

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DAY 43 - S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

Day 43

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There's news of a plane to take the team to the start of the last degree.

“Hi everyone, it’s Martin on day 51 of the expedition [it’s 43...].

Today, Lou did another 10k loop to keep the legs ticking over. And I went out on a practice haul with the pulk again, just to see how the Achilles was doing. It’s still a little bit tender. It’s not normal, it’s not going to be back to normal for some time; but a lot better than what it was. So we’ve got the all-clear to go back out still. We’ve been told tonight that we might be going out tomorrow. It’s all weather-dependant. At the minute, the weather at the South Pole itself is good, which means there’s a plane going out to drop some people off who are going to the South Pole for an overnight experience that ALE offer. We’re going to be able to get dropped off on the way to the South Pole to do the last degree.

The weather at the minute in the last degree area is not the best; so we’re not quite sure whether we’re going to be able to go on that flight or not. We’re going to get an update in the morning, and it’ll be either tomorrow or if not, and if it’s not tomorrow it’ll be the day after hopefully. As soon as weather improves.

We’ll give you another update tomorrow, obviously if we’re out tomorrow we’ll be updating you from the field again, having done hopefully a bit of distance tomorrow. But whenever we’re flying out it looks like we’re going to do the last degree which is 60 nautical miles to get us into the Pole. That will give us a total distance of around 400 miles - if we manage to achieve that – in order to get back in time to climb Mount Vinson.

I just want to do a shout out, and wish my godson Charlie a happy birthday for tomorrow, or today by the time you listen to this. All the best mate, I hope you have a good day. Looking forward to seeing you when I get back and taking you climbing. And I promise to come in to school at some point and do a talk about the North Pole, Everest and Antarctica for you.

Take care everyone and we’ll give you an update tomorrow.”

— Martin Hewitt

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DAY 42 - S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

Day 42

S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

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The team remain in a holding pattern at UG

“Hi everyone, it’s Lou reporting in from – I think – it’s day 42 of the expedition.

Sadly, we still haven’t managed to go anywhere yet; we’re still waiting for one of the last degree teams that are currently out there to get to Pole, which will trigger a plane to launch from here to go and collect them, and that’s what we’re going to jump on.

It’s looking like - with the current progress of the teams out there, it’s going to be a couple more days yet before we go anywhere. So we’re just holding fire here. I’m keeping myself occupied actually; most days I head over after breakfast and go out and ski around the 10k loop that they’ve got here at Union Glacier, just to keep my legs turning over and keep the fitness going. That burns up a bit of time doing that. And I went out with some other people today and did that, so it was quite sociable. Back in for lunch. The afternoons, they’ve got a really extensive polar library here, and I’ve gone through about five books already, so learning a huge amount about polar history. Also, one of the ALE staff, a lady called Carol, who is a polar historian, she delivers daily lectures on topics such as Shackleton and Amundsen and the lesser-known expeditions that took place in the heroic age. They’re really fascinating, and again learning a huge amount. In the evenings, are mainly spent playing scrabble and chess and other board games with some of the mountaineers and other expeditioners who are passing through as well. So there’s plenty to keep up occupied here in this melting pot of Union Glacier, but yeah we’re both now chomping at the bit to get back out on expedition and go and do this last degree. And hopefully return in time by the 9th of January to head off to do the expedition to Mount Vinson. Unfortunately not much more to update than that. Hopefully in the next couple of days we’ll be able to let you know that we’re on our way, to get back out onto the high polar plateau, and ski the last 100k or so into the South Pole.

So that’s all for this evening, I’m back into my latest book, which is Antarctica, Both Heaven And Hell, written by the legendary mountaineer Reinhold Messner. So looking forward to getting stuck into that, and we’ll give you an update tomorrow evening.

Onwards.”

— Louis Rudd

Messner is arguably the greatest living mountaineer/explorer. In this book, he recounts the first crossing on foot, with Arved Fuchs, of Antarctica in 92 days ending in mid-February, 1990.

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DAY 41 - S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

Day 41

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Martin gives an update on the latest options for returning to the ice, and makes some adaptations to his harness, to prevent further injury,

“Hi everyone, it’s Martin on day 40 of the expedition.

We’re now in a holding pattern at Union Glacier. We’re basically waiting for a flight. There’s a number of different teams that are currently out on last degree trips towards the South Pole. So we’re waiting for one that’s due to get there, and that will trigger a flight from Union Glacier to go and pick them up. And we can jump on that flight. It’s likely that that flight is probably going to be somewhere between two and four days’ time. It means that the maximum distance we’re going to get chance to do now before we have to get back in order to be ready for Vinson, our Vinson climb, is going to be the last degree, which will be 60 nautical miles. Hopefully we’ll be flown out in the next few days.

Whilst we’re at Union Glacier today – we’re trying to keep ourselves busy, but obviously rest the leg at the same time. Lou went for a 10k ski today, round the 10k loop here, just to keep his legs turning over. I’ve been continuing the stretching, and my exercises on my tendon, on the calf. And we attended a number of lectures. The majority of the people that come in to Union Glacier with ALE are actually on experiences, not expeditions. So many of them just fly to the Pole, or do one of the local climbs, or a Mount Vinson climb, or a last degree trip. There’s actually relatively few big expeditions coming down here. Obviously because of the challenge of them, the cost etc. One of the services that ALE offer for people coming to Union Glacier on these experiences, is lectures from a really well-informed and educated historian, called Carol. We’ve had a fantastic lecture today on Shackleton. And another on Scott and Amundsen, and their history from the heroic age of Antarctic expeditions. Which was really interesting, and we learned a lot from them as well. That’s kept us busy today, and we’ll have some more lectures tomorrow. I’ve also been very fortunate to meet one of the ALE guides, who has adapted a harness for me. She’s a big kite-skier, and she had a harness which she can adjust with prussik loops on the back of the harness (which is a knot which enables you to move up and down a thin rope line). In doing so, it changes the position in which you are pulling the sledge. So when I go back out, if my Achilles starts to flare again, I’ll be able to increase the pressure and pulling, from different areas of my back. Rather than pulling from my waist, I can do it from my shoulders. And that might alleviate some of the pressure on the calf, and in turn the Achilles. We’re making good use of our time, we’re continuing to rest and wait for this weather window. I’m very fortunate to have some amazing people round here, to learn from.

That’s all for tonight. Keep following, and we’ll give you another update tomorrow.

Thank you.”

— Martin Hewitt

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DAY 40 - S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

Day 40

S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

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Louis gives a shout-out to fellow expeditioner Preet Chandi, who is currently almost at the South Pole.

“Hi good evening everyone, it’s Lou reporting in now from day 40 of the expedition.

So we’re still back here at Union Glacier, but the good news is pretty much all of the last degree teams that were ahead of us waiting to fly out have gone now. The final team, which was Nims’ team, with some of his Sherpa pals, they left first thing this morning, to get dropped off at 89 degrees South. And so it’s just really now, the only people left in Union Glacier, is myself and Martin, and then some guys from Arctic Trucks, and the Royal Enfield motorcycle company. They’ve been out here on an amazing project; they’ve been riding a Royal Enfield motorcycle the last two degrees to the South Pole. That’s all been done and they’re back in now and just waiting to fly back out to Punta Arenas.

So it’s just me and Martin really, waiting to get up to a last degree. And I think the plan is, once one of the teams that’s currently out there gets close to Pole, that’ll trigger an empty aircraft to depart here to head up to pick them up. So we’ll get loaded onto that and then they’ll drop us off 60 miles – 60 nautical miles – to the South Pole. Then we can begin the last degree expedition. They’ll then continue on and pick up the team that’s arrived at the Pole. We’re looking forward to getting back out on expedition. Martin’s recovery has gone really well. We’re confident his Achilles has recovered enough to be able to complete a six or seven day, 100km ski into the South Pole, which is great. That’ll then still give us sufficient time to get back here, re-role for mountaineering, a couple more days rest to recover, and then head off to attempt the summit of Mount Vinson, which I’m really looking forward to as well.

Just to finish off. I wanted to do a shout out to Preet Chandi. I’ve been training Preet, I’ve been her expedition manager for the last couple of years now; and I’ve been helping train and prepare her to come down and do a solo, unsupported, 720-mile ski to the South Pole. And she’s been out there now for well over 30 days, battling away from Hercules Inlet – on exactly the same route that me and Martin were doing. And she’s now through 88 degrees South, so she’s got well-under two degrees to go now to the South Pole. But I know she’s had a tough few days with sastrugi, weather, and she’s been a little bit unwell with diarrhoea and vomiting, so I wanted to do a shout out to you Preet and say hang in there. That South Pole is just over the horizon now; you’ve done absolutely amazing so far, so just hang in there for the final push, and the home run to finish what’s been an incredible expedition for you. Maybe we’ll catch you at the South Pole, but if not, certainly back here at Union Glacier. I look forward to hearing all about it.

That’s all for me this evening.

Onwards.”

— Louis Rudd

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DAY 39 - S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

Day 39

S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

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Merry Christmas from the Adaptive Antarctica team!

“Good evening everybody, it’s Martin on day 39 of the expedition.

Merry Christmas! First I wanted to wish everyone a merry Christmas and all the very best. We’re in Union Glacier still and we’ve had a fantastic Christmas dinner here. The chef’s done an amazing job, and the quality of food given where we are is unbelievable. A great day here.

The Achilles is holding up ok after the pulk haul yesterday, which is great news. But the weather hasn’t been great unfortunately, so we’re just waiting now for a weather window to enable us to get a flight out of here towards the last degree, before we can carry on towards the South Pole. It might be in around 48 hours’ time. It could be a bit longer. So like is so often the case on expeditions, we’re in the laps of the weather gods. We’re just waiting for that window of opportunity now.

I hope everybody’s having a fantastic Christmas, for once I’m able to say that we’ve had a white Christmas, which is been very different, and fantastic. But also missing family and friends. So tonight I just have to say the biggest of all thank yous, to my family. To my dad, and my brothers and my sister for all their support over the years. Unfortunately my mum has passed away, and she’s sorely missed. But also to my wife – who not only puts up with me, but has also supported me in some of these crazy endeavours. I think if you ever want to do anything that takes you away from home in your professional life, or for your ambitions, you need the support of family. It makes a lot of difference, so I’m very fortunate to have that. So I just wanted to say thank you very much to them. Missing you all a lot and hoping everybody has a fantastic day today.

Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be able to give you an update on some timelines for flights out.

All the best. Merry Christmas. ”

— Martin Hewitt

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DAY 38 - S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

Day 38

S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

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Martin does a test-haul in Union Glacier, and the team prepare to return to the ice.

“Hi good evening everyone, it’s Lou reporting in on day 38 of the expedition now, and Christmas Eve here in Union Glacier.

This morning we went out, myself and Martin, we skied the 10km loop that they’ve got here at Union Glacier; just for Martin really to see how his healing of his Achilles is going. And that went well. He took his pulk with him, which was about half a load in there. We just took it nice and steady. We took a couple of hours skiing round this marked loop around the perimeter of Union Glacier camp. He had a little bit of a small, dull ache in his Achilles tendon, but nothing compared to how it was before. So definitely it seems to be healing quite well, which is good.

We reported back to the medics, and they’re content. Now we’ve been scheduled and approved to deploy out on the last degree, which is great news. It’s probably still not going to be for another three to four days before we’ll be able to go. There’s a backlog because of the poor weather we’ve been experiencing recently. There’s been a backlog of several teams here, waiting to go and do the last degree. They’ve managed to get some of them out today, and so for myself and Martin, we’ll definitely be here tomorrow, for Christmas Day, and hopefully within a couple of days of that, we’ll be looking to get on a lift, go out, and ski the last 60 nautical miles to the South Pole. Which will be amazing, so we’re really looking forward to that.

We’ll take that steady, again so we don’t cause any further issues to his Achilles. And then it looks like we’ll be able to get back in sufficient time for a couple of days’ rest and recovery after that. Re-role into mountaineering mode, and then head over to Mount Vinson base camp, which is a short flight from here, and hopefully then tackle Mount Vinson. So everything’s looking good. The weather’s improved dramatically here today at Union Glacier, we’ve had a lot of wind and snow over the last three days, but that’s settled now as well. Things are looking good, and we’re looking forward to Christmas Day tomorrow, and doing a blog for you all on Christmas Day from Antarctica. We’re definitely going to get a white Christmas out here. I’m not sure how the weather is back with you guys!

All progressing well, and looking forward to getting back out on expedition in the coming days. That’s all from us, on Christmas Eve, and we look forward to speaking to you all on Christmas Day.

Onwards.”

— Louis Rudd

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DAY 37 - S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

Day 37

S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

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While they await news on the flight back to the last degree, the team are planning new adventures.

“Hello everyone, it’s Martin, on day 37 of the expedition.

Good news today, I saw the doctors this morning, and they’re pleased with the progress that the Achilles tendon is making. So tomorrow, I’m going to go out – there’s a 10km route around Union Glacier – I’m going to go out with the pulk and do a ski. And if that goes well, we’re going to get the all-clear to redeploy.

The weather’s pretty poor back here at the minute, so there’s quite a few teams that have come back from Mount Vinson here at Union Glacier, and there a couple of teams here to do the last degree. It’s a real logistical challenge going on for ALE at the minute, trying to get people out when the weather improves and it’s safe to travel. That’ll have an impact on when we can get out, and that in turn will have an impact on what distance we can realistically do, before we need to get back in time to get ready for our Mount Vinson summit attempt on the 9th of January. So hopefully it’ll be around Boxing Day, if all goes well. We’ll redeploy and do the last degree. And if we manage to achieve that and it all goes okay, that’ll take us to around the 400-mile mark on the expedition. So good news.

I thought I’d say a little bit about Adaptive Grand Slam in terms of what we do really. The big expeditions are really about trying to demonstrate what can be achieved with disability. And provide examples to people who’ve perhaps recently had a disability, or who are struggling with disability, to push themselves and stretch themselves to achieve their goals. The crux of what we’re trying to do and what we’re trying to scale up in the future, is to provide opportunities for people with disabilities to take part in outdoor challenges and events, in a supportive environment, with experienced people that can help them achieve the goals. So if you know of anybody who’s registered disabled, then please do spread the word about our project. We’ve got a number of different challenge events available, if you go onto the website adaptivegrandslam.com there’s a mission section and down there we have a number of different challenges which we do annually, including the hillwalking weekend in Cumbria, one in Herefordshire and one in Yorkshire. We also have a week in the Alps, which is an introduction to glacial mountaineering, and of course we run selection processes and training processes, and take people on bigger expeditions overseas. On this expedition it’s just myself and Lou, and the reason for that is – partly because of covid – we weren’t in a position to be able to run a selection process and training process because we couldn’t travel, and therefore we couldn’t get people to the cold-weather environments to get that necessary training in. ALE, who have been providing all our logistics and safety, and rightly so, wouldn’t allow that to happen. I could come, because of the experience I’ve got. But normally we take a disabled team. And when I get back from this, we’ve already started planning other expeditions and more challenge events. And we’re looking to scale the project. Please do spread the word if you know of anybody that is disabled and would like, or who would benefit from a challenge. Tell them to get in touch with us. We are very fortunate in that we’ve got some fantastic sponsors, and they have clients that come on most of our events as well. All of that generates cash to enable us to take disabled team members at no cost to them. It’s good opportunity for people, so please do start spreading the word if you can, and if a take a little bit of time to respond, because obviously we’ve got no comms down here in Antarctica, apart from the sat phone, but we intend to start scaling the project up this year.

More updates tomorrow and we’ll let you know how the practise run goes.”

— Martin Hewitt

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DAY 36 - S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

Day 36

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More time at Union Glacier and the team are enjoying themselves

“Hi everyone, it’s Lou reporting in on, I think, it’s day 36 of the expedition. Starting to lose track slightly! To be honest that’s one of the things I really like about these expeditions – certainly days of the week become completely irrelevant; I’ve actually no idea what day of the week it currently is, because it doesn’t matter. I don’t really know what date it is, in December, I’m not too sure. I know we’re coming up to Christmas, but I’m not sure, unless I check my phone. And I think we’re around day 36, but again, it doesn’t really matter too much.

That’s one of the things I really like about these expeditions – they really become quite timeless events. You’re just focusing on day to day. Time’s going really well for us here in Union Glacier, and it’s just a fascinating place. It really is a melting pot of so many different people. To give you an insight – my day today: This morning, at breakfast, I was having breakfast with the youngest-ever guy to summit Everest without oxygen. A young Nepalese lad, and he was 19 years old when he first summitted Everest without oxygen. And we’re just sat there in bewilderment of him over breakfast, listening to his story, and finding it fascinating that he’s equally bewildered chatting to me and learning about what I’ve done. Then, after a bit of admin, lunch. I was sat with a group of Russians, and the lead guide with the Russians was called Vlad (of course he was) – and that was equally fascinating. He’s summitted Vinson several times. Elbrus over 100 times, and he’s here guiding a group that have just come back from Vinson. They’re just about to go out and do the last degree. They spoke fantastic English, and it’s fascinating listening to them. This afternoon, ALE laid on a movie afternoon, and we’re sat there watching a movie, and then was a 57-year-old Nepalese guide, who’d been guiding out here on Vinson. He’s summitted Vinson more than 13 times, and this is going to be his retirement year. Fascinating listening to him, from his early days being out here, and at Patriot Hills, which is the base ALE were using before Union Glacier.

And then this evening, I went to dinner, and ended up being put into a quiz team with Nims Dai, whose name I’m sure is familiar to lots of you, and luckily the first 12 questions were on Antarctica, we did really well in that section! Then on to mountaineering and various other things. We did exceptionally well, and all of sudden, we were drinking red wine until the early hours, and I staggered out of the tent at half two this morning, into broad daylight. So bright I had to put my sunglasses on. But then wrap up in a down jacket, because it was about -20 degrees with the blizzard that is blowing through the camp. And stumble around trying to find my tent.

This place is incredible, with the people that you meet, and the things that they’ve achieved. It’s been an awesome day meeting all these incredible people, and I look forward to meeting lots of other interesting people tomorrow.

That’s one of the great things about these expeditions, is being in amongst this melting pot of all these like-minded people, all doing incredible things.

After drinking far too much red wine, that’s the update on the expedition. We’ll update you again tomorrow.

Onwards.”

— Louis Rudd

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DAY 35 - S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

Day 35

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Good news from the Doctors and a great day spent stretching their legs on fat bikes

“Hi good evening everybody, it’s Martin.

Today we had some good news; I saw the doctors and they’re quite confident that we’ll get back out on the ground. Not for a few days yet, they want it to have a bit more time to heal still. There’s still a bit of inflammation there, and it’s still a bit tender inside. But we went out today – we’ve got fat bikes at Union Glacier – it’s a bit like a mountain bike but with enormous tyres, and that has given them the ability to move on snow. You’ve got to work quite hard on them, especially in deeper snow. But we went out just to spin the legs out and to see how it was without putting the same kind of pressure through the tendon as you do when you ski, so we did a 10k circuit around here, and it was ok on that. It flared up a little bit on the deeper snow, but overall it was fine.

So now the plan is to go out and do a ski around that 10k circuit with the pulk, at some point in two or three days’ time. If that goes well, we’re going to redeploy. We’ll look at what time we’ve got – and that will dictate how far we can do in order to get to the South Pole; because we need to get back here ready to leave here again – here being Union Glacier – to then leave here on the 9th of January to go and do our Mount Vinson summit attempt. So, from a time perspective, we’ll see what date they’re happy for us to go; weather dictates a lot as well. At the minute there’s no flying at Union Glacier because the weather here’s quite bad, and the pilots can’t land safely. All of these factors will dictate how far we get to do. It’s likely that we’ll probably just do one degree when we go back out, which is 60 nautical miles. And that’ll take us up to around the 400-mile mark in total. So good news, we are going to get back out on the ground, all being well – we will get to the South Pole, all being well. Just not quite the distance we were hoping for. It’s continued to heal well. It feels a lot better now. The anti-inflammatories are doing their work and the stretching’s being going well.

A good day and all going well! We’ll give you another update tomorrow.

Thank you”

— Martin Hewitt

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DAY 34 - S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

Day 34

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Kit prep day for the team at UG, and they make a plan to test Martin's Achilles tomorrow.

“Hi good evening everyone, it’s Lou reporting in on day 34 of the expedition.

We’re using the time well, while we’re here back in Union Glacier with Martin getting his treatment and his recovery, which is all going really well. I’ve used the time to service all of our expedition equipment; I’ve been servicing our two MSR expedition stoves – taking those apart, and just checking all those, getting all that ready. We’ve spent the time repackaging our food, so we packed eight days of expedition food now, ready for when we redeploy, which will be more than sufficient for the last degree we’re going to do. That’s 60 nautical miles to the Pole. We’ve dried out the tent, done some repairs on that. I’ve been doing quite a lot of sewing – sewing up holes in some of our expedition gear, and getting all that patched up. There are quite a few holes in the canvas covers of the pulks for example. I’ve just been working away on that. A bit of a sewing circle going on!

And sorted out the fuel that we need, again just for eight days when we go out. It’s making good use to get that done. A bit of laundry as well, and other bits and pieces, and making sure that everything is in as good condition as it can be. Hopefully redeploying in three or four days’ time.

Part of Martin’s recovery; we’re going to go out tomorrow – they’ve got some mountain bikes here with fat tyres on, for riding in the snow, and there’s a 10km loop (which is what we used for the marathon). We’re going to go out tomorrow, just to keep our legs turning over, and go for a 10k mountain bike ride through the snow. And that should put minimal pressure on his Achilles tendon but should help keep it moving and exercised, so that’s good.

There’s a lot of interesting people passing through Union Glacier at the moment. There’s groups coming in to climb Mount Vinson and other mountains around Antarctica. We’ve spent a lot of time chatting with them. We’ve also been chatting to an ex-US Marine, who had to come back in off an expedition – he was out in a guided group going up the Axel Heiberg Glacier to Pole. He unfortunately got frostbite in both of his hands. So he had to be medically evacuated, and he’s back in getting his injuries treated, before returning to Chile. It’s been interesting having a chat to him about his experiences over on that route. It’s a route I first did in 2011 with Henry Worsley and I know it well. We’ve been comparing notes, so that’s been quite fascinating as well.

Making the most of our time here. The weather’s pretty awesome here in Union Glacier at the moment – apparently it’s not great out in other areas of Antarcitca. There’s some big storms coming in with 70-knot winds in different parts of the continent, so we’re going to be tracking those, just to make sure it doesn’t affect any of the various expeditions that are out and about.

Fingers crossed, if Martin’s recovery continues to progress well, which it is, we’ll get the medical sign off that they think it’s suitable to head back out, and hopefully crack this last degree and get the opportunity for Martin to ski into the South Pole, which I’m sure will be an absolutely incredible feeling for him.

Really looking forward to that. That’s all from us from Union Glacier, and we’ll provide you with an update on how the mountain biking goes, tomorrow evening.

Onwards.”

— Louis Rudd

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DAY 33 - S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

Day 33

S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

///mushed.hyperlinks.devolve

Martin gives an update on his injury, and an insight into life in one of the most remote logistics bases in the world.

“Good evening everybody, it’s Martin on day 33 of the expedition.

I had another meeting with the doctors this morning, which went well. It’s definitely Achilles tendonitis. I’ve got implants for my trainers in camp, and I’m still on anti-inflammatories. That seems to be working. Although I’m not doing a great deal of walking, obviously I’m trying to rest it as much as possible. Our tents are situated only 200 metres or so – if that – from the main cookhouse/ kitchen area, and relaxing area, so I’ve not got far to go. As such, I don’t know obviously how healed it is, because I’m not putting any distance through it. Either way, it looks like we won’t be leaving here for at least another four or five days, potentially a bit longer. That would still give us time to get out and get our distance done, and get to the South Pole if we did deploy then. And get back in time to attempt a Vinson summit.

The doctors were positive and more positive, and looking encourage about me getting back out on the ground at some point, provided it continues to heal, so that’s all looking good.

I’m going to talk a little bit about where we are. Union Glacier is ALE’s main logistics infrastructure; so Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions is a commercial organisation, and they run flights and expeditions and logistical support and safety support, for big expeditions and for experiences in Antarctica. And that’s who we’ve been using for all our safety and support, and they’ve been fantastic. This logistics hub is really impressive. You’ve got a number of different buildings here, all tent structures, but quite robust. So there’s a main cooking tent and dining area, it’s about 200m away from where we’re staying in our tents as I said. And there’s a little building next to that called the Terra Nova this is after a whaling ship – it was British – back in the 19th and early 20th century. It was made famous by Captain Scott’s expedition to the South Pole, his fatal expedition. That’s an amazing resource for polar research in this little relaxation room; there’s a few tables and chairs in there and a charge point. And there’s loads of books in there about polar history, and expeditions. So I’m going to be spending a bit of time in there over the coming days, reading.

Today we’ve spent most of our time in another little room, where it’s basically like a bit of a drying area. We’ve been getting our pulks, and getting all the kit out, and preparing to redeploy so that everything’s good to go for if and when we do get the word. So we’ve now taken out all the rubbish that we had in the pulks. We’ve downsized the amount of food and fuel, because when we go back out we won’t be doing as much distance obviously, as we originally planned, and we want to get that weight down to just what we need to do whatever distance we’re going to be able to do. So that’s all been done, everything is dried out. We’ve washed some kit, which was very pleasant, because we weren’t smelling great after the first 30 consecutive days of skiing; and that’s all drying. So really the plan is to try and get as much administration done, so that we are good to go as soon as possible, and then continue to rest.

That’s an update of where we’re at. That’s what we’re doing at the minute; and we’ll give you another updated tomorrow.

Thanks very much everybody. See you soon.”

— Martin Hewitt

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DAY 32 - S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

Day 32

S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

///mushed.hyperlinks.devolve

Union Glacier logistics base is busy with climbers and runners.

“Hi good evening everyone, it’s Lou reporting in now from day 32 of the expedition.

As you’ll all be aware, we’re back at Union Glacier now, and today, Martin spent some time with the medical team here. He’s been diagnosed, he’s got Achilles tendonitis. But the good news is, there’s no serious damage in there. They don’t believe it’s been torn or anything. He’s got a treatment plan; he’s got a series of medications he’s on, and some stretching and exercises to do.

Plan is to stay here at least for the next few days, and just track his progress and recovery, and fingers crossed that all goes well. And then we can redeploy out, and hopefully to the last degree, and hopefully ski the final 60 nautical miles to the South Pole. And the medical team’s current assessment at the moment is that is definitely a possibility. We’re excited for that.

It’s very busy here at Union Glacier, there’s lots of teams coming in to climb Mount Vinson. And when we arrived back yesterday, pure coincidence, that same day – yesterday evening – the Antarctic Ice Marathon was taking place. A field of just over 60 runners had just flown in from Punta Arenas, to run the marathon, which goes in a loop around Union Glacier. I happen to know the organiser – Richard – from a previous expedition – and he offered me a place in the marathon if I wanted to do it. Bearing in mind I’d just got off the plane, literally an hour before, and just skied over 350 miles over 30 days with Martin, and I had no running kit at all.. I was completely unprepared. I decided it was a very unique opportunity to give it a go. I went and begged, borrowed and stole some running kit from some of the other competitors that helped me out, and got myself onto the start line. And spent all evening running a marathon, through pretty soft snow, around Union Glacier. I finished at midnight last night. It was pretty tough to go and cuff a marathon, but I was really glad I did it, it was a fantastic event, and actually managed to come in the top half of the field as well. So I quite surprised myself. But my legs felt pretty heavy. I can barely walk today, I think I probably need more recovery time than Martin now while we’re here in Union Glacier after that. But it was great fun, and a real privilege to be part of such an iconic event.

That’s all from us. We’ll keep you updated on Martin’s progress and recovery here in Union Glacier, and fingers crossed we can get out and continue with the expedition.

That’s all for this evening.

Onwards.”

— Louis Rudd

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DAY 31 - S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

Day 31

S79 45' 39.60", W82 51' 24.84"

///mushed.hyperlinks.devolve

Rest and recovery for Martin, but a marathon effort from Louis

“Evening everyone, it’s Martin, on Day 31 of the expedition.

Calling from Union Glacier, which is ALE’s main logistics hub, which where we landed into when we first got here. We got the plane in this morning back from Thiels, and we’re now back here.

First day of no skiing today, and resting. Trying to get this Achilles tendon sorted out. I’m in with the doctors in the morning, so I’ll see what they say. We got back here, got our kit sorted out, had a shower – which was very pleasant – and then started resting.

Lou on the other hand, is not resting. He’s currently doing a marathon. As we got back here, there’s an Antarctic Ice Marathon on today of all days. We got back, and Lou had a chat with the guy that runs it. When he was here on the SPEAR17 expedition, which he led a few years ago, they got back here and a lot of the SPEAR lads did it. Lou has decided to do it this time round, which is good. So he’s currently about 25 kilometres through, and he’s doing ok. He’s fine, he’s chugging along. I obviously am not doing it. So hopefully he’ll get it completed in an hour and a half to two hours’ time.

That’s us now, we’re just going to be staying here and resting until hopefully we get the all-clear at some point in the next week or so, to get back out and try and get to the South Pole. Obviously we’ll have to do a shorter distance to what we originally planned; if we can get out and do the last degree, we’ll end up doing around the 400-mile mark, rather than the 720-mile mark, and then get back in time to go and do the summit bid for Vinson.

At the minute, it’s all down to what the doctors say about the Achilles tendon. So I have to rest, and hopefully we’ll have more news soon.

All the best. Thanks very much everyone.”

— Martin Hewitt

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DAY 30 - S85 5' 13.56", W80 46' 34.68"

Day 30

S85 5' 13.56", W80 46' 34.68"

///ameliorated.uneconomic.burgeoned

The team return to Thiels to await pick-up by ski-plane.

“Hi good evening everyone, it’s Lou reporting in from day 30 of the expedition.

Today, the plan was, we’re going to finish off the final five nautical miles we need to do to get back to Thiels airfield. And we achieved that today. We took it nice and steady – the priority was that we didn’t inflict any further damage on Martin’s Achilles tendon. We just took our time throughout the day, and worked our way steadily back to Thiels airfield, and we arrived here early afternoon, set up the tent and camped. We’re awaiting pick-up.

At the moment it looks like there’s an aircraft going to be coming into here sometime tomorrow, which is coming back from the South Pole. It’s a Basler, which is the larger of the ski planes they’ve got out here. I think it’s returning with a team that have just done a last degree. It’s going to drop into Thiels and scoop us up, and we should recover back to Union Glacier at some time tomorrow.

The plan from there is to hopefully spend at least a week in Union Glacier, where the doctor, Paddy, can properly assess Martin’s injuries. And really focus on kind of treatment we can do, and rest and recovery. If all that goes well, our aspiration is that, we’re hoping that we can get back out on the ground in seven to ten days’ time, get dropped 60 nuatical miles from the South Pole – so the last degree – 89 degrees South. And just take it real steady, and spend 6 or 7 days covering that distance to the South Pole, to complete the last degree. We’ll do that, and then hopefully back into Union Glacier another period of a bit of recovery time from that, before we then attempt the 10-day expedition to climb the highest mountain in Antarctica, Mount Vinson.

That’s what we’d like to do. Obviously, all that is subject to Martin’s recovery, and hopefully that recovery process has started now, we’re going to be resting from this point onwards. Fingers crossed that all goes well, and we can still achieve quite a lot out here in Antarctica. So really looking forward to that.

The plan now for this evening is that we’re going to chill, watch a movie in the tent, and catch up on some much-needed sleep. And then recover back to Union Glacier.

Just to finish off, I want to do a quick shout-out and a thank you to Rhodri, from Nordic Life; he’s probably the UK’s only supplier of specialist polar expedition equipment. Massive thanks to you Rhodri for sorting us out with a lot of gear – skis and various other bits of equipment; sleeping bags etc, at quite short notice before we deployed on this expedition.

If anyone in the UK is looking for any specialist polar gear, then Nordic Life is definitely the place to go.

That’s all from us, camped here securely at Thiels airfield in the middle of Antarctica. Hopefully we’ll be updating you from Union Glacier tomorrow evening.

That’s all for now.

Onwards.”

— Louis Rudd

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DAY 29 - S85 10' 54.48", W80 47' 44.16"

Day 29

S85 10' 54.48", W80 47' 44.16"

///replenish. shelling. fabulous

The team start heading steadily back to Thiels to await pick up.

“Hi everyone, it’s Martin on day 29 of the expedition.

As you’re all aware now, the Achilles has got to the point where it’s not really playing ball unfortunately. So we got to do a bit a of a review of where we’re at, what distance we’ve got, and, ultimately, what the objectives of the expedition are.

In terms of the Achilles itself, it’s been going on for about 14 days now, and it’s still a dull ache, to a throbbing. It’s a bit like nerve pain, similar to what I get in my right arm, that shoots up and down, either side of the Achilles. And then it gets to a point where it starts to spasm, and then I can’t weight bear on it. And we were getting to the 14-15 mile point for about five days, before it got to that point. That then started coming down to the 12-13 mile point. And then that’s been rapidly reducing. It comes on much faster each day. Hence we decided to rest it.

Now we’re in a position where, had we continued, we could have stayed in situ, and let it rest for four or five days, which – realistically – is probably the minimal amount of time it’s going to need before I can start doing distance on it again; saying that I’m not a doctor, I’m guessing. Or it could be a lot longer. That would put us in a position where we’d then be under quite a lot of time pressure to get to the Pole before our Mount Vinson summit attempt rotation. It would also put us in a position where we wouldn’t potentially be able to get the distances covered. And it could get worse. And it could get worse at around 87 degrees; and we know from the ALE travel safety team that the sastrugi around there gets bigger. That’s what’s been causing the problem in the first place. Basically, putting all my load through that left side in order to negotiate the sastrugi. It’s been what’s causing the issue in the first place I think.

The challenge we’d have by going to that area, is that we’d then be in a position where, if we needed evacuation from there, if we got to the point where it snapped, or it got really bad, It’s more dangerous for them to come in because of the sastrugi, and that’s something that we’re not prepared to allow to happen. After consultation with the doctor at ALE, Paddy, who’s been fantastic, with Lou, who’s I think probably got more miles on unsupported expeditions than any other human being in history in Antarctica, and with Mark and Chris, two of our fantastic sponsors, and taken all of their advice; we’re going to go back to Thiels airfield, which we started this morning. And we decided to just walk until it gets to the point where it starts to throb, and stop before the shocks start to kick in, so we’re not causing more damage to it.

We’ve done five miles back towards Thiels today, we’re going to stop now, and we’re going to keep on heading back at whatever pace we can until we get there. And ALE are going to come and pick us up at some point. They’re doing everything they can; Tim the operations manager in particular, and all the team back there, they’re doing what they can to look at contingency plans for us.

Hopefully, if it improves in time, we may be able to redeploy. It will obviously mean not doing the full 720-mile distance we started doing; maybe something around the 400-mile mark that we end up doing. But if it does heal in time, we can still go out, and we can still get to the South Pole potentially. And the other big thing is that we can then potentially go on and do our summit attempt of Vinson, which we’re scheduled to do on the 9th of January.

So, in the words of one Mr Smith, who always gives me good advice as a mentor, more of a mentor anyway, ‘strategic withdrawal. Re-plan.’ That’s what we’re going to do.

Keep following guys.

More updates tomorrow.”

— Martin Hewitt

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Press Statement: Expedition Suspended

“Martin Hewitt, from the Adaptive Antarctica team has developed a medical issue and the team has taken the difficult decision to stop their journey. Pain in Martin's Achilles tendon has made it impossible to continue safely. The team will be picked up and will return to the logistics base in Antarctica in the next few days, for rest and medical attention. After resting, the team will look at options for completing the South Pole journey. All the sponsors and supporters wish both Louis and Martin the very best, and for a speedy recovery for Martin. We continue to fully support the Adaptive Antarctica expedition, and all they're aiming to achieve.”

WENDY SEARLE

EXPEDITION MANAGER

---

DAY 28 -S85 17' 15.00", W80 43' 40.08"

Day 28

S85 17' 15.00", W80 43' 40.08"

///backyard.rueful.sorbet

Mission aborted. The team make the difficult decision to stop.

“Hi good evening everyone, it’s Lou, providing the update now on day 28 of the expedition.

As you’re all already aware, obviously Martin’s been having some major issues with Achilles tendonitis on his left tendon. Where he’s putting so much load through it, and he’s skiing with one arm, the situation’s been getting progressively worse over the last few days, to the point where – you’re aware – we had to stop and take pretty much a full rest day. We spent a lot of time chatting to the doctor, and taking some very good medical consultation. We got Martin onto a regime of painkillers and anti-inflammatories. We also placed some quite significant heel blocks – we had him almost up on high heels today – raised his heel and trying to take the load of it. We’d exhausted every option possible.

We were very sensible this morning. After a full rest day, we kept the tent up, and Martin went out and just had a go just on his skis, without the pulk, for about 15 minutes, just to see how it felt. Initially it felt quite good. He then attached his pulk, and skied around with that. The pain was minimal. He just had a dull ache. So we decided to try and make some more progress today. At that point, we packed up the camp, and we set off again. And all was going well for several hours. He just had a bit of a dull ache in there, but none of the aggressive pain or spasming from the previous days. Then around two o’clock this afternoon, it just went again. It started to spasm, and he was unable to place his heel down, the pain was so intense. And that’s despite being on some pretty significant painkillers as well. We had to stop. We’d actually travelled nine nautical miles; we were doing quite well. But it just went, and we had no option other than to stop, put the tent back up. Again, we were back chatting to the doctors and the ALE support team, and just looking at our options. With just under 300 miles still to go, and some very difficult terrain ahead of us; there’s some areas of very intense sastrugi, actually options for us being able to get picked up are very limited as well. The aircraft being able to land in those kind of areas.

We’ve taken the sensible decision, at this point, to stop the expedition, to avoid any further damage to his Achilles tendon, and causing any permanent issues.

So, we’re going to turn around. We’re only about 14 nautical miles from Thiels airfield. So, over the next two or three days, we’re going to steadily pick our way back to Thiels airfield and hopefully we’ll get picked up by the ski plane and recover back to UG [Union Glacier, the logistics base]. Then Martin can be properly medically assessed, have a look at it, take a period of rest, and then look at our options from there. There’s a possibility we can come back out, fully rested, and do the last degree to the South Pole, and still then climb Mount Vinson as well. So that’s what we’re looking at potentially as our options.

So, the plan is, tomorrow morning, turn around and slowly make our way the 13 nautical miles to Thiel airfield for recovery back the UG and proper medical assessment.

I’m about to run out of time, that’s my four minutes on the blog up [four minutes is maximum time the message allows].

We’ll obviously continue with the blogs.”

— Louis Rudd

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DAY 27 -S85 8' 12.84", W80 54' 48.24"

Day 27

S85 8' 12.84", W80 54' 48.24"

///imagery.rust.spirituality

Martin's Achilles problems cause the team to stop for the day.

“Hi everyone. It’s Martin, on day 27 of the expedition.

We got up this morning at Thiels, and started off. And we had some great conditions, some of the best terrain we’ve had on the entire expedition, if not the best terrain. Not much sastrugi, and we had a good rest last night.

Unfortunately, within about 75 minutes of our first shift (Lou’s always up front on our first 90-minute shift and I tuck in behind him). After about 75 minutes, I couldn’t walk. My Achilles was on fire, and I couldn’t put any load through my left leg.

The right hand side was a little bit sore, but that’s probably just aches and pains from walking to be honest with you. The left one’s the issue. We cut a bit more Thermarest up, the foam Thermarest, to create a bit more of a heel plate tonight, and put that in this morning. And that helped for the first half hour, but after 75 minutes, the pain came a lot faster than what it had been for the previous seven to ten days.

I’ve been managing this issue with a mild dosage of anti-inflammatories, icing it of a night, and stretching. So after 90 minutes, we had to stop basically. It took me about… we covered three nautical miles in the first session, and then the last 400 metres distance took me about 15 minutes. I could hardly walk. When I got to Lou – Lou was a bit further ahead, he’d stopped; and when I got to him we disconnected my harness from my pulk; to see if weight was the issue, with a view to Lou potentially taking some of the kit off me. But I couldn’t even ski or bear weight on the left leg with no pulk attached at all. Basically, when you ski forwards, you raise your heel and your toe is kept in place. You try and keep your skin on the ground and drive momentum forward. But I wasn’t able to lift my left heel at all, so my left leg was flat the whole time, for about five or six hundred metres. I ended up stopping. We took the decision to pitch the tent, which we did. We’ve now been in the tent all day, resting it. I’ve been doing some mild stretching; I spoke to the doctor at ALE, Paddy, who’s been fantastic. I took a stronger painkiller earlier on, just to help with rest, and an increased dose of the anti-inflammatories. I’ve been stretching it this afternoon. The plan now is to hopefully get a decent night’s sleep tonight, wait and see. The pain’s calmed down now, I was getting quite a lot of shooting pains up it, and that’s all stopped now thankfully. So we’ll see what happens in the morning, and then we’ll make a strategy as to what to do next.

The plan at the minute is to get out, not put a pulk on at first, just to get ready, normal routine. And to go out and try and ski and see if I can load any weight through the foot itself. And if I can, we’ll then collapse the tent, pack up and crack on. If I can’t we’ll have to see what we’ll do next.

Not the best of news today unfortunately; it is what it is. We’re going to try and manage it as best we can.

Thank you to everyone for following. I’d just like to give a shout out to all the kids in Abu Dhabi, Miss (Emily) Louise’s class, who I know have been following the expedition. Thank you for your support.”

— Martin Hewitt

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DAY 26 - S85 5' 17.16", W80 46' 40.80"

Day 26

S85 5' 17.16", W80 46' 40.80"

///accounts.multifaceted.undergo

The halfway point! Thiels at last.

“Good evening everybody. It’s Martin, on day 26 of the expedition.

It gives me great pleasure to say that I’m calling tonight from Thiel airfield. Now this is significant, because it’s just over the half-way mark. So, we’ve done over 300 nautical miles now, and we’ve got just under 300 nautical miles to go.

Conditions today significantly better than the previous three days. There’s nowhere near as much sastrugi around here, so we can get a bit of a glide going. However, that said, there’s been some fresh snow, and that means that I’m slipping and sliding a bit more. I can’t get quite the same grip. That’s a bit of an issue as it keeps getting my Achilles tendon, my left Achilles tendons a bit painful, and it’s getting gradually worse. But I’m managing it at the minute, and I’m stretching it of an evening. And it’s getting through to the end of the day just about.

I had some great pleasure today, not just because we’ve reached the halfway point but because for the first time on the expedition, I didn’t actually fall over today. Normally on the expedition, I’m averaging between five and 20 falls a day. But I didn’t have a single fall today. Lots of slipping and sliding but no falls as such.

Lou on the other hand, did fall today. And that gave me some pleasure. I can’t tell you how much. A warped, sick sense of humour in me smiled and laughed as he was on the floor. Bearing in mind he’s probably fallen six times in the entire expedition, which is a daily account for myself normally. So that was a bit of morale for me today.

Thiel airfield is probably one of the most remote, if not the most remote airfield in the world. It’s literally just a little landing strip of snow and ice, like everything else I’ve been seeing for the past 200 miles. But there’s a little portacabin in here, with a guest book, which we’ve signed. And there’s some amazing comments from people who’ve been through here over the years gone by, including our very own expedition manager Wendy Searle, when she was here. Legend.

So that was good to look through there and put our signatures in that unique guest book.

Psychologically, my mind’s saying yes, fantastic, we’ve done half way, whereas my body is saying ‘are you having a laugh? We’ve got another 300 to do?’ It’s a constant daily battle between mind and body continues. And so far, the mind is winning. I’m just hoping that this Achilles holds out.

That’s us for today. We’re in a good place and we’re looking forward to carrying on and hopefully increasing the distances slightly between here and 87. We know we’re going to get hit hard with the sastrugi at 87, ALE on our safety brief from our route safety team, a cracking guy called Simon Abrahams, has shown us some of the crevassing around there, and some of the sastrugi, and it’s significantly bigger than what we’ve been dealing with so far. So we’re going to have to deal with that.

Finally, I want to make a shout out to my godson Alfie, who turned 16 today. Sorry I can’t be there mate. I know that I owe you a go-karting session, and COVID stopped it initially. And now Antarctica has stopped it, but I promise you, as soon as your dad gets his act together and gives me some dates, and I’m in a country for more than two minutes, we will get go-karting. I would say so that I can kick your bum, but I know for a fact that you will beat both your father and I hands down; you’re a far better racer than us. But we’ll give it our best shot.

Happy birthday, I hope you’ve had a great day, and I’ll see you when I get back mate.

Thank you everybody. And goodnight.”

— Martin Hewitt

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