Patriot Hills > SP in 39 hours and 54 minutes.
Published on 25.12.2011 - Thompson Reuters Eikon South Pole Expedition
Despite some breakdowns before the departure, Jason De Carteret and Kieron Bradley have succeeded to join up Patriot Hills and SP in 39 hours and 54 minutes.
The beginnig of that story was rather hard : several breakdowns happened on the ice before the departure. The team even had to order a spare part in Punta Arenas -which fortunately was flown in time.
But finally they have started the journey on Sunday 18 December at night (with two people, the third one -Jason 'JT' Thomas- having been obliged to go back home).
The first 24 hours drive, they had 900 km on their counter.
Excerpts : " ... Two big challenges still stand between us and the world record... First off we are coming up on the daunting sastrugi fields (unimpeded wind-blown snow dunes). If we can navigate this ‘small’ obstacle we are then faced with a large section of the terrain covered in deep soft snow. Mother nature will really push Polar and us to the limits as we cross this hazardous section of the expedition. ..."
On Tuesday 20 December, they arrived at South Pole at 12.36 UT.
From their press communiqué : "That smashes the old record (2 days, 21 hours, 21 minutes) by over 29 hours and we may even have a second record (still to be confirmed) for average speed. Kieron and I are just so elated, this has been an amazing journey - Keiron has poured his heart and soul into creating an amazing vehicle in ‘Polar’, we’ve proven that green technology can perform in the harshest of environments. At the same time we’re both shattered having been awake for nearly two days!..."
A simple question (many of our visitors have asked) : how and who delimits the starting and the finishing line in such an ice and snow immensity ?
