The three basque climbers are on the ice
Published on 17.11.2011 - TransAntartika 2011
They started their ascent to the plateau
© Expedition website
The three basque climbers who are attempting an original crossing of the Antarctic (Novolazarevskaia > Hercules Inlet) just left the russian base.
Alberto Iñurrategui, Juan Vallego and Mikel Zabalza have arrived at Novolazarevskaia russian base at 03 am on 16 November -yesterday morning, coming from Cape Town.
After a few hours sleep, the team got ready and started their big adventure - a totally new itinerary no expeditioners has ever tried before (Novolazarevskaia to Hercules Inlet passing through the South Pole). They were so impatient to get going !
According to the first news received by their headquarters few hours after the start, the progression conditions were quite difficult ; first, because it has snowed a lot lately on this zone of the Antarctic, second because of the presence on their way up to the plateau of numerous sastrugis fields which are always quite difficult and dangerous to negociate.
That said, it's not too cold over there (-10°C) and the three men have an excellent morale.
