Here you can find all the daily reports
Dec 1rst - Dec 31rst

Wednesday 31st : missing

Tuesady 30st : missing

Monday 29th : missing

Sunday 28th : missing

Saturday December 27th : missing

Friday December 26th : missing

Thursday December 25th
Crevasses in sight !
The timing of this morning argos is a littl bit confused : one message (from beacon B)has been received at 9.2 pm yesterday white the other beacon (beacon A) has net been changed since 8pm. Normally, they change the positions on the same time both on beacon A and beacon B. It means that we do not know with certainty if the meaning of the combination is quite correct. But if we count on this hypothetic combination, they had to negiociate a zone of huge crevasses yesterday. Furthennore, an other message send confirms the terrain was extremely difficult oe ski on. In any case, the distance covered yesterday (only 20 km) -if we compare it with the ones they have donc the days before - shows evidently that they have been delayed. Rather more by a quite difficult progression (and so maybe by being forced te negociate zones of crevasses or pass round them) than by the préparations of Christmas eve. An other fact drives the attention : according to some scientistewho have been in these remote regions of Antarctica and whom we interviewed it's perfectly normal that they meet crevasses at such latitudes.

Wednesday December24th
From Antarctica with love
Nothing much to say about the progression this morning. Argos messages concern only the fact that they could take their parafoil out of the sledges again and progress with the wind. No information either about their digestion problems. It is just like they wanted to b e quite discree during these particular days. And not ennoy people here with the little problems they have every day on the ice. One thing is certain ; although no argos message was catered for this occasion, they wish a Merry Chrismas to all the people involved in this adventure.
Updated Wednesday 10am

Tuesday December 23rd
For al one is Worth...
Yesterday, the daily report was putting forward the high sutrugis zone Jean-Louis Etienne had to negociate after the South Pole dufing his memorable crossing of 1989-90. Alain Hubert and Dansercoer having the same trouble ? les not certain yet. But for the first time since december 13th,they had to put the parafoils back in the sledge and progress without the help of the wind. Skiing slowly between the sastrugis, being carefull not to brake anything, skis, sledges or whatsoever. Result : only 3 km done yesterday. " Hardest work and upmost bad terrain ", argos said this morning. As far as the digestion problems of Dixie are concerned, not a word today. But another laconic message came through without any distinction about whom being involved "fed up with this greasy food". The generai impression though is that the two guys, being quite exhausted, are going at it tooth and nail. Perhaps, they are dreaming of a new year eve at the South Pole ... Updated Tuesday 1 am

Sunday December 21st
When Antarctica is beautiful

The weather on the antarctic icesheet is splendid, said the argos this morning. Blue sky, deep visibility, beautiful ice, probably no clouths except some very light ones high on the horizon, gentle temperatures and on the top of that... flat terrain ?
Of course not ! Still the sastrugis are present all over, decelerating their speed. One thought -without any good reason to put forward- that these icy waves would slowly disapear with approaching the pole.
But hadn't we forgotten that french adventurer Jean-Louis Etienne (who crossed the Antarctic continent from the Peninsula to Mirny station -6000km- on foot with sledges, dogs and 11 or 12 resupplies) had to negociate a huge zone of awfull sastrugis (more than 1 meter high) just after having left the south pole zone ? This morning again, the argos code about Dixie's difficulties to eat their greasy food.

Saturday December 20th
The Hard Way

"The Hard Way"... Remember this mythical adventure movie filmed by the BBC in 1975 ? It was about the climbing of the south-west face of Everest by english mountaineers under the lead of Christian J.S. Bonnington.
A thrilled ascent with terrible sufferings, rebounds and discords happening all the way through before putting finally only two people at the top (Scot and Haston). No wonder : Bonnington had choosen the most dangerous and abrupt face (2.500m of 90% in a row) of the giant.
This "Hard Way" drives thinking about the itinerary Hubert and Dansercoer have choosen to cross Antarctica and reach the Pole.
Because after being with them mornings after mornings, days after days, after been informed about their various misfortunes, one becomes persuaded that they also have choosen the hardest way to go to the Pole.
Today, for instance, sastrugis problems once more. High as small garden walls, as hard as beton, not developping their waves in the good direction of course and putting the two guys at hard work. "Like being in a washing machine", report said the other day. Maybe worth, according to the tone of this morning argos...
And this other message : Dixie does not feel like eating that much grease anymore... What does that really mean ?
No fixed answer yet. Because, from now on, since they are crossing the latitude 80¡, it's also the big silence ("silence radio", we say in French) with every morning - as you know - these only fixed and numerical codes (A11-B10 for instance means that the progression was technically very difficult, this was eventually the third message received today) to give us detailed news about the progression. No worry ! We'll ask them to talk...

Friday December 19th
Half way to the Pole

With 1147 km already done and 1072 km still to cover for reaching the Amundsen Scott station, Alain and Dixie find themselves today more than half way to the south pole.
If they carry on gobbling good daily distances as they do since few days, they will probably arrive at the SP before new year's eve.
As their communication system (via Inmarsat satellites) do not allow to send emails after the latitude of 80¡, it's quite impossible to know what they have in mind for the second part of the trip, South Pole-McMurdo.
Last year, norvegian explorer Borge Ousland covered the same distance (about 1400 km) in a bit less than one month. According to this schedule, it would thus be possible for the two to think seriously about not giving up the crossing at the pole and continuing their route northwards.
Besides small hand-stiching work they have to do every evening for repairing the sails, the rest of the material (sleeping bags, shoes, skis, tent and so on) is perfectly OK. And the food is giving the best results. As they could manage to save some rations during the heavy blizzards they had before crossing the Sor Rondane, they could go on progressing until february 15th.
It means that the best conditions to reach McMurdo are now on their side. But let's not forget they are living in Antarctica. Even if the decision stands of course in their hands, the final permission to go ahead will only be given by the white continent.

Thursday December 18th
Damned sastrugis...

Should the antarctic icesheet not be covered with huge zones of sastrugis, the team would progress even quicker.
In fact the argos code "sastrugis" comes back almost every day in the daily satellite reports. One day, they are about 30 cm high and the two guys can more or less manage to ski accross. The morning after, beacon says that they have entered a huge zone of sastrugis, about 50 cm high.
Since a day or two, the directions of the sastrugis vary quite a lot and blend ; their combs must be superposed ones above the others.
In any case, skiing on such a surface is without any doubt quite an exhausting exercice. "Feel like beeing in a washing machine" said the argos this morning.
Besides this, Dixie seems to have some problems with his kite lines. Yeserday, they used the number 1 parafoil and have progressed at an altitude of 3600m.

Wednesday December 17th
Thanks to the parafoils

Even if they had problems with two of their parafoils at the very beginning of the journey, it is a fact that these astonishing distances (105 km on Monday, 201 km on Tuesday and 87 km yesterday -this latest mileage is due to bad sastrugis zone and scientific work to do) accomplished these last few days on the antarctic icesheet would not take place without the help of the parafoils.
Although they had taken three sails with them, it seems that it's the biggest parafoil (21 square meters) which help them the most : and as far as these distances are concerned, they have been done with using the big sail. "This big sail is THE sail of the expedition", said the argos this morning.
The day they have covered 201 km, they skiied during 9.30 hours and, out of this moving time, they have done 98 km in only three hours.
Yesterday, they have again parafoiled all day ; doing so, they could have gobbled more kilometers but due to scientific work and huge zone of bad sastrugis, they couldn't ski more than 87 km.
For the present time, the two guys are extremely tired. They do not go to bed (sleeping bags) before midnight (this is because they have a lot a small reparation work to do every evening) and they get up at 6am.
All this means that they are probably going to slow down a little bit their speed.
What about reaching McMurdo ? So far, impossible to forecast such a target : all depends upon terrain conditions and winds. In the latest argos it was mentionned that, in such progression conditions, they have to live not day after day but almost minute after minute...

Tuesday December 16th
201,3 km in one day : Antarctic distance record ?

Due to the fact that the argos positions are not always very sharp, it's impossible to say wether Dixe and Alain have beaten yesterday the distance covered by man (moving non motorised) on the antarctic icesheet or not.
But having skied 201,3 km in one day (according to argos message they should have parafoiled with the big sails between 8.30 am and 9pm, during 13 hours), one can't help thinking about Borge Ousland's arrival at McMurdo january early this year.
When the norvegian explorer has covered 202,398 km in one day about a week before reaching the american station. It happened on january 9th and this distance has been covered between the latitudes 83¡583' and 81¡769'.
Record beaten or not, from now on and if they do not stop flying with the wind, the possibilities of reaching McMurdo will surely come back quite often in these daily reports.

Monday December 15th
Hellish fast (part two) ...

There is asbolutely no other title to put forward today. Because the series of good distances covered continues with 105 km gobbled yesterday.
No news about the the quality of the snow. But with such a record, the sliding conditions must have improved quite a lot (as we supposed in our previous daily report).
"Used biggest parafoil (21 square meters) today with a gentle wind of 5-10km/h", said the argos message this morning.
Besides these few information (and the bad smell in the tent during evenings), Hubert and Dansercoer seem to have nothing else to communicate to the exterior world.
They must be slowly entering into their own expedition universe : not beeing troubled anymore with material problems, growing familiar with the white continent and beeing able to concentrate mainly on the progression and the final target of the adventure.
What about if the McMurdo forecast would suddenly fly back over their thoughts ?

Sunday December 14th
Hellish fast ...

With 73 km covered yesterday (although skiing in soft snow), there is nothing to stop them making progress at top speed. The route to the Pole is opening up more invitingly in front of them.
Two analyses show that there is the greatest possible optimism for the weeks which lie ahead.
One : on Saturday, they reached the astonishing altitude of 3,980 metres, or some 1,000 metres higher than the Amundsen Scott station (a figure that is to be found nowhere on maps of Antarctica). This means that from yesterday until they reach the Pole, they will be going gently downhill, or at least they will no longer need to climb and put on their crampons to make any progress.
Two : the record for the daily distance covered achieved yesterday, Sunday, only partially reflects the reality of the terrain; for three days now, they have been travelling across soft snow which significantly slows down the sliding ability of the sledge with its human tractor harnessed in front of it. We had not expected coded messages regarding this detail, but it is virtually certain that without this soft snow, they would have gone further and faster still.
A third point which augurs well can be added to the first two: the fact that the further they go into the interior of the continent, the less snowfall there is, and so this soft snow that has been holding them back from a number of days should soon disappear and be replaced by terrain which is much more conducive to sliding.

Saturday December 13th
When reaching the summits...

Yesterday, Saturday dec 13th, will probably remain one of the most memorable souvenir for the expedition.
First, Dansercoer and Hubert have reached an altitude of 3980m, about a thousand meters above South Pole (data not even recorded on the maps of Antarctica).
Second, despite a very bad and non slippery snow, they have gobbled 58 km, skiing with parafoils number 2 (12 square meters) during 7 hours in a permanent white out that hurted badly their eyes. That record gives a total of 114 km done in two days !
The long and the short of it is that the moral of the two is quite high. Also because so far they could dig two borings and more that ten corings in the ice for their scientific mission.
Besides that, Dixie is feeling much better and his accident (see day 29) really belongs now to the past. The new sledges are perfect, the food scientifically prepared gives the best results, the material do not break up so often anymore, they have taken oustanding shots (although one of the two NikonFM2 is dead) and filmed (camera is still OK) quite extraordinary lanscapes as well as spectacular blizzards.

Note : as we stand in the middle of this adventure, we would like to call on polar explorers Borge Ousland and Marek Kaminski (if ever they follow this adventure on the Net) to give us eventually a word on this belgian attempt to cross the entire white continent.

Friday December 12th
Destination : South Pole ?

After more than a month of trekking through some of the most inhospitable regions of the Antarctic, we have to come to terms with the truth: Hubert and Dansercoer have had too many things go wrong to still have any reasonable thoughts about reaching McMurdo on the other side of the continent.
Having said that, something that may seem obvious to the far-off observers that we are, can bear little resemblance to what goes on under the skin of two extreme lovers. That is why we should not totally exclude the possibility that with exceptional skiing conditions enabling them to reach Amundsen-Scott in record time and if our two adventurers feel fit enough, that they should nonetheless decide that an attempt to reach McMurdo may be on the cards.
Whatever happens, the two men appear to be pretty confident. They have now reached what can be called their cruising speed: 56,5 km gobbled up on Friday, 24 on Wednesday, 18 on Tuesday, but there were breakage problems (more of that in a moment) and 38 on Monday. If they intend to reach the Amundsen-Scott station before 30th January, they will have to reach an average speed enabling them to cover around 29 km a day.
It is to be hoped that the sastrugi fields become fewer and further between and that the winds blow in their favour which, according to the katabatic winds model produced by Hubert GallŽe (Louvain-la-Neuve university), is entirely possible. We should remember that during his fantastic solo crossing, the Norwegian Borge Ousland reached peaks of 100 km or more a day.

Thursday December 11th
Daily routine

Nothing much to say today about the progression. Snow is not that perfect for skiing, Alain's barrow sledge has been broken one more and they have used the medium parafoils (12 square meters) all day long, performing a distance of nearly 30 km, said the argos this morning.
Tomorrow, their chances to reach McMurdo on time will be analysed.

Wednesday December 10th
Cruising speed

Although the terrain is quite hilly and sastrugis more present than ever, they seem to have reached now their cruising speed. For the first time, they could use their biggest parafoil (21square meters) and cover 29 km. Thanks to a gentle wind (N/NE, 6 knots) which give them courage and strenght.
About the repairings they had to do tuesday morning before leaving the camp, argos tells us today that it was one of Alain's ski bindings which was broken as well as one of his barrow sledge.
During expedition leader was busy fixing his material, Dixie tried to repare one of his teeth which was "broken" as well. The latest sitll suffers a bit from his sternal ribs but every day brings improvement of health. They are progressing now at an altitude of 3.500 m, higher than Amundsen-Scott base itself !

Tuesday December 9th
What Happened ?

Nothing serious, we hope. But as the information HQ receives every day becomes more and more laconic, one begins from now on to be reduced to supposing, guessing and imagining what could have happened...
This is due to the fact that, beeing obliged to save their batteries, they do not use the mail so often anymore. And sometimes they forget to turn the beacon on.
That's probably what happened yesterday ; because this morning argos was talking about a successfull repair without describing or talking about what had been broken again.
But according to the message concerning yesterday schedule, they did not start moving before 11am : which means that were probably obliged to concentrate on something important in order to be able to move forward.
The fact that hey have slowed down the speed again (18 km instead of 38 for monday) is perhaps also a sign of new broken material.

Monday December 8th
The longest day
The high sastrugis-fields they carry on negotiating since last saturday - sometimes relatively small zones, sometimes huge surfaces of icewaves like the ones they had to cross yesterday, miles and miles of sastrugis... - do not prevent them from quickening one's pace and eating up kilometers : 38 km yesterday, the longest day since they left the former king Baudouin station a month ago !
One must say that a gentle wind was blowing in the good direction. So that they could finally announce in this morning argos :"with skis and parafoils during the whole day !!!".
Besides this information about the good mileage covered, no other news from them today and, of course, not a single word about the pain Dixie has to endure in the chest since he was lifted in the air by his parafoil (see "Daily Reports Archives", Thursday December 4th)

Sunday December 7th
Back to cracking form

According to the argos messages HQ has received yesterday, Dixie's accident seems to belong already to the past.
Alain has put an bandage around Dixie's chest and after having spent some time reparing few material (stove, gloves, tent and so on), they are on the move again.
Because of high sastrugis zones, they can not use their parafoils ; but for the first time in expedition diary, they have covered two consecutive days of solid progression. In addition to that the first scientific observations were successfull. And the 73rd degree is now far behind.
Therefore they find themselves in high moral conditions ; they have decided to quicken the step and ski at least 12 hours every day -weather and terrain's nature permitting, of course. (updated Monday, 10am)

Saturday December 6th
Every cloud has a silver lining

As far as the ones who follow this adventure are concerned, one feels like using a large - the largest -, speaking pipe in order to be able to reach the Antarctic icesheet and shout to them : "come on, guys, do not let it down, be brave and strong, move ! ! !"
No sooner said than done : yesterday (saturday), after Dixie's accident and a full day rest, they are progressing again. Not using the parafoils (not enough wind and too many high sastrugis), but skying smoothly and pulling gently the new sledges.
Argos interpretation said : we'd rather played it cool for a while. Understandable after what happened friday noon. Nevertheless, they have marched 16 km today !
For the first time, Hubert digged a 1 square meter hole in the ice (and 1 meter deep) in order to start the first scientific observations (ice stratification). The digging took about one hour (which means that the ice was not too hard) and the total work (with photographying carefully the icewall) one hour and a half.
They have now reached the altitude of 3000 meters and the Sor Rondane that have a moment (these last three days) appeared on the horizon like a precious stone on a ring are not anymore in sight.
From these days on, one can say that they are slowly entering into a huge, white and chilled to the bone solitude...

Friday December 5th
Taking a day off...

The only information we have this morning (saturday) consist of few argos messages saying that they have stopped progressing for a day -like they decided yesterday after Dixie's accident and that Alain had to repair his gloves.
One can also presume that after being chased by a very very bad luck indeed (sledges, heavy blizzards, being obliged to resupply, Alain's intoxication, Dixie's accident), they find themselves in quite low moral conditions.
Specially when to look forward taking into consideration that they have already spent the third of their time (30 days out of 100) on the ice and that they have progressed of only 250 kilometers with another 3000 kilometers to go ! ! !
Note : The headquarters in Brussels recently discovered that Internet surfers in California, Washington and Ohio still must enter passwords in order to access the expedition website. Here are the two words needed : on the topline, south, and the one below, pole. We should have that problem solved at the beginning of December.

ATTENTION : THE DAILY PROGRESS TABLE PAGE IS UNDER RECONSTRUCTION. IT WON'T BE AVAILABLE UNTIL DECEMBER 6TH. Sorry...

Thursday December 4th
Lifted in the air...

There is no doubt about it : the expedition is dogged by ill luck . Yesterday, eventhough everything seemed to be under control when they left the camp and started finally skying - thanks to the new sledges -, an accident occurred on the ice.
After having choosen at about noon to use the parafoils - the wind had turned catabatic again since a couple of days and was thus perfect for sailing -, Dixie has been suddenly lifted in the air falling down several times hardly on the ice - with the sledge behind him.
He could have choosen to let the sail go - and loose it for good. But, apparently, more than conscious that these sails are the only way they have to reach their target, he prefered to hold the parafoils tight and to be lifted with it.
As a result, he has been quite chocked and suffers from a pain in the sternal ribs. The two decided of course to stop for the rest of the day and rest.
According to the morning argos, they are not ready yet to progress today ; although Dxie seems to be recovering extremely fast from the shock, he prefers to lay down gently in the tent.
Note : The headquarters in Brussels recently discovered that Internet surfers in California, Washington and Ohio still must enter passwords in order to access the expedition website. Here are the two words needed : on the topline, south, and the one below, pole. We should have that problem solved at the beginning of December.

ATTENTION : THE DAILY PROGRESS TABLE PAGE IS UNDER RECONSTRUCTION. IT WON'T BE AVAILABLE UNTIL DECEMBER 6TH. Sorry...

Wednesday December 3rd
Turning point...
Today, we call on Didier Goetghebuer to speak. Didier has not only a long-standing friendship with Alain Hubert but he has been chasing the adventure with him since more than 15 years : extreme skying in the Alpes, climbing Himalaya, reaching together the North Pole...
A belgian journalist wrote one day : these two guys are so bounded together that when they progress on the pack, we find three people suffering : Didier, Alain and the couple they form.
Here is what he has to say about this turning point of the expedition and about being resupplied whereas the original target was to cross the entire continent... unsupported !
He wrotes : Now, is the time that Alain and Dixie will have to live through a critical moment.This is no longer the longest unsupported crossing. So there's no more record to look forward to. Nonetheless, they still have more than 3.000 km to cover.
How do you operate in these immense open spaces (you could say infinity, because that is certainly how they see it), step after step, sastrugi after sastrugi, your parafoil swirling round overhead... without making a false move in the middle of nowhere?
As far as I'm concerned, said Didier, that will remain the only victory, so to speak, of the North Pole : the idea of having completed an expedition which set out to be a first, and yet simply turned into a long trek... inside... It is by making mistakes, by failing, that we (the adventurers) finally become (according to some)... human.
According to the argos messages received this morning, both of them are ok, although Alain's left leg has been slightly wounded while crossing a juge zone of high sastrugis.

Note : The headquarters in Brussels recently discovered that Internet surfers in California, Washington and Ohio still must enter a password and codeword in order to access the expedition website. Here are the two words in question : on the line ont the top, south, and the line below, pole. We should have that problem solved at the beginning of December.

Tuesday 2nd December
Resupplied, at last !

Finally, the expedition has been resupplied today wednesday at 0,05am, GMT. Greg Stein and Al Gilbert, the crew of the Twin Otter based at Blue One during the touristic season (november and december), took off yesterday at 3pm and arrived at the expedition camp at about 7pm. Due to communications problems, Alain and Dixie did not know however that the plane was in the air on its way to bring the resupply. Therefore, they left the daily camp tuesday morning without being able to advice anyone.
What a surprise for the crew to find it empty with tracks on the ice heading southwards. What happened to them ?
During an hour or two, quite a tension arose because, after having contacted the Cnes (Centre national d'Etudes spatiales) in Toulouse-France here the argos positions come in every moment of the day, the people of the all-night service said they had received no argos messages from the belgian expedition. They said also that, during afternoon, it had been a complete breakdown of electrical power of the argos services !
But after an hour or two, everyone was more frightened than hurt. Dixie and Alain had left the morning camp to continue their progression to the south without being able to inform the HQ due to satellite communications problems.
Finally, argos positions came in ; as they had walked 11 kilometers, the pilots Stein and Gilbert took off again and had no difficulties to follow the cape 173¡ and to land near the camp they had set for the night. At 0h05am, the Twin landed at the position : 72¡44'S and 23¡234 E. The resupply itself lasted about one hour ; Alain and Dixie took advantage of the situation to eat some fresh bread, milk and vegetables the pilots had brought from Blue One. At 2am, the operation was over and the Twin back in the air.
This morning, Alain and Dixie got up a little later than usual. At 10am, they were ready to leave. After being meteorological for more that five days, the wind turned catabatic (East/Sout East) again : one can presume that the parafoils will been helpfull for the coming days.

Note : The headquarters in Brussels recently discovered that Internet surfers in California, Washington and Ohio still must enter a password and codeword in order to access the expedition website.
Here are the two words in question : on the line ont the top, south, and the line below, pole. We should have that problem solved at the beginning of December.

Monday 1st December
Bad weather still goes on

Although the barometer is pointing to set fair continually, bad winds and heavy clouds still prevent the two adventurers to go on with their progression.
They leave early in the morning (8am), have to stop two or three hours later because of the poor visibility or naughty blizzards, start again after the storm and maybe have to pause an other time before setting the camp for the night.
Actually they notice that the weather is a bizarre cocktail of meteorological storms (coming from E/NE) and catabatic winds.
One must add to these rather difficult conditions that it's quite hard also to organize the supply. The satellite liaisons with Blue One are unpredictable ; once the weather conditions are good on one side, they turn to deteriorate rapidly on the other. Bad luck again... Therefore, the moral of the two guys is not very high.
Yesterday, they have walked 3,1 km and set camp on blue ice, perfect place for landing, said the email.
Latest news : Blue One just anounced (at 11am) they will take off at 2pm for the expedition zone and that they might be obliged to camp before reaching Alain and Dixie.

Note : The headquarters in Brussels recently discovered that Internet surfers in California, Washington and Ohio still must enter a password and codeword
in order to access the expedition website.
Here are the two words in question : on the line ont the top,
south, and the line below, pole. We should have that problem solved
at the beginning of December.

next daily reports archives