They’re (almost) all at the South Pole!
Published on 06.01.2009 - Base to the South Pole
The various expeditions are all arriving at the South Pole, one after the other. Once there, they are able to pass the time telling each other about their impressions and talking about their experiences while waiting for the ALE Twin Otter to come and pick them up.
The Base expedition, led by the young Sarah McNair Landry, reached the Pole slightly ahead of the ANI group headed by Eric Larsen. That was on Friday 2nd January at 11.15 am (Chilean time), after 53 days of adventure. "It is difficult to describe each person's feelings when, after so many weeks of effort and suffering, we finally touched the sphere that symbolises the South Pole, surrounded by the flags of the countries that have signed the Antarctic Treaty," wrote one of them. "What probably affected us most was the moment we saw the base for the first time, when we were about 8 nautical miles from what for us is a mythical place..."
One interesting detail: the group noted that the object placed in the ice that indicates the scientifically exact position of the South Pole has moved 33 feet (9 metres) from where it was last year, clearly showing that even at the South Pole, the ice keeps moving from one year to the next.
We also learn that one of the members of this commercial expedition, Thomas Davenport, will not be returning to Patriot Hills with the others, but will make the trip using traction kites accompanied by Sarah McNair Landry. They will probably form a group with Jeremy Rogers from Eric Larsen's team, along with the Norwegian.
