FAQ

Q: Where did you start?
A: I started at Hercules Inlet which is on the coast next to the Ronne Ice Shelf. I biked to the South Pole.

Q: How many miles is it?
A: It is about 750 miles. I started at about 80 degrees latitude which means that I biked about 10 degrees. The planned route was 642 nautical miles to the pole. The actual route has to navigate around deadly crevasses and was not always exactly on the planned route. The actual distance was more than 750 miles (statutory).

Q: How long did it take?
A: Before I left I did not know how long it would take. Nobody had ever done this before so it was a bit of an unknown. The fastest trip to the Pole on cross country skis is about 24 days. The normal time by ski is 50-60 days. Many days I traveled about 1/4 of a degree per day.  My best guess before I left was that it would take 50-60 days to the pole. The actual trip ended up being 51 days 4 of those days were rest days.

Q: What were the biggest dangers?
  1. Crevasses. Falling into a large crevasse could be deadly. There are crevasse areas along my route. I ended up falling in one crevasse and rode over thousands of small crevasses.
  2. Extreme cold. Temperatures got down to about -35ºF.

Q: What about animals? Are you afraid of polar bears?
A: There are no polar bears in Antarctica. Chances are I will not see any animals on my route as the only wild animals in Antarctica are near the open water, and there is a large ice shelf between my starting spot and open water.

Q: Did you have a support team?
A: Yes. I will carry two satellite phones with two batteries per phone and solar rechargers for the batteries. I also had a tracking beacon. This will allowed me to keep in contact with Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions (ALE) and they can be contacted for emergencies.

Q: What about food and equipment?
A: I used a combination of pulk (sled) and panniers (bags on the bike) to carry my food and equipment. Ready Store is provided me with the food. They have a great selection of freeze dried food and other items. I had 3 resupply stops. The resupply stops are flown in to predetermined locations. I was given the GPS locations of the resupply stops and GPS data for hazards such as crevasses along the route. So it was, in a sense, a big geocaching game.

Q: When was this expedition?
A: I flew to Punta Arenas Chile on Nov 16, 2013, flew to Antarctica on Nov 23, flew to Hercules Inlet on Dec 2 and started biking Dec 2, 2013. I arrived at the South Pole on Jan 21, 2014.

Q: What plans did you have in place for safety/rescue in case something goes wrong?
A: I had two Iridium satellite phones provided by http://www.satphonestore.com with extra batteries and solar chargers, and kept ALE updated on my position. I purchased emergency extraction insurance that would cover the costs of search and rescue if needed. ALE provides the search and rescue as required by international treaty. I called in to ALE every 24 hours to update them on my condition and get navigational help. ALE is was for me to call 24 hours a day. If I had gone 48 hours without calling in they would have sent out search and rescue.

Feel free to add a comment with your questions.

7 comments:

  1. What date do you begin your journey? Sounds awesome. Dan

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  2. The expedition will be during the 2013/2014 Antarctic summer, which is December/January 2013/2014.

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  3. I'm sure you've thought of this but I'll mention it anyway - take apart your bottom bracket and put some low-temp grease in it to replace the normal grease. That could really suck your power down at -40F.

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    1. The cool thing about -40 is that it's the only temperature where no C or F annotation is needed :)

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  4. I have some Lubriplate Mag-1 grease that I will be using for this purpose.

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  5. Are you following the Scott Expedition?
    http://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/uk/en/yourworld/ben-saunders.html
    A guy is hiking there pulling a sled.

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    1. I know about it, but haven't been following it very closely. I have so much to do before I leave and so little time left.

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