Ice Maidens
Sandra Floate, Michelle Blommcamp & Noelene Weightman

November 28th : Australians ladies give up
On November 27th, the ladies wrote : The Ice Maidens have unfortunately been unable to reach the South Pole as planned. After almost a week of strong hauling we had passed the end of the Independence Mountain Range to reach approx 80deg 35 S 81deg 15W. Our clothing and equipment all performed well, as expected, our diet, navigation and camping routines were on track.

Unfortunately our bodies did not cope with the cold as well as we had hoped and at a point where we felt the situation could become dangerous we were pulled out. ALE medical staff have assured us that this was the correct decision.
We are now all well, and while very disappointed, feel richer for the experience and satisfied that we did everything we could towards our goal.
We would still like to encourage other people to pursue their own dreams.

November 21  / First days on the ice /  GPS-pos: S80°' | W81°' | Alt: 1200 M
The Maidens are on their way but are having a few battery recharging problems. This should be rectified once the solar panel has had a chance to fully replenish the depleted batteries in their phones. Till then messages and positions will be posted manually by Eric Philips using Argos data and brief conversations with them on the ice. Due to the timing of Argos data sent to Eric, distances may seem a little odd until they get themselves sorted out.

The Maidens spent little time in Patriot Hills and hit the ice almost immediately, pulling over 10km in 5 hours, then another 9km the following day. Sastrugi (wind-formed ice ridges) are quite bad this season but the kayaks they use as sleds are gliding well and finding their natural way through the roughness. Their bodies are a little sore but they feel confident that they will adapt overt the next week or so. Food is also a little difficult to stomach until they acclimatise to the increased fat intake. A good start, well done Maidens!

November 20 / On our way    
Finally arrived in Patriot Hills in Antarctica after a long delay in Chile . What an amazing place! Hope to be starting our long walk soon so visit often. Thanks to all involved for getting us this far, the rest is up to us.

The windiest place on earth     
We always knew this was how Antarctica has been described. We knew the wind would make our trek difficult, but at the moment Antarctica is living up to its reputation so much that we can´t even get there!

We´ve just heard that after dropping to an encouraging 30 kph yesterday the wind at Patriot Hills is back up to 50 kph today. That means no flight at least until tomorrow. So we continue to wait. And eat (found what looks like a fantastic restaurant for tonight), and talk about how wonderful it will be to get into the harness and pull those kayaks. While we have some time I thought it might be worth completely clarifying the reasons for our decision not to go to Hercules Inlet. We have been asked some more questions and heard some speculation about our thinking.

The decision was purely about time. We were to have started on 1/11. It is now 16/11 and we still may not go for days. The wind shows no sign of dropping at Patriot. We always thought we would be at the pole in mid Jan. Our contract says we must be there on 18 Jan. On the day we decided we had already lost 14 days. Starting at Patriot will save us 4 days.

Despite our disappointment at not starting from Hercules Inlet we took the view that to not get to the pole in time would be a whole lot more disappointing.
Conservative I know, but we feel that putting the expedition together and doing the trip unsupported will be our real acheivements. An extra few days from Hercules will not diminish that for us or our supporters.
We are very lucky to now be fully funded and not to have had to base our decision on funding. Only last week the Ice Angels were joined by Victoria´s Transport Accident Commission. If you have not done so lately you might like to look at the Ice Angels on our website to see who has helped the expedition.
We are not the only expedition to have been held up. In Punta Arenas there are a group who are going specifically to see the Emperor Penguins. The penguins leave later in November to fish before returning to breed. This group are understandably concerned about the delay.

In Antarctica there are two other groups who have waitied for 2 weeks at Patriot Hills to be flown out to their start points. Thankfully they are all out and on their way now. So the weather is not only affecting us. Lert´s hope the Summer starts soon.