| Antarctic Solo Expedition (Businessman John Wilton-Davies on the trek Hercules-SP solo and unsupported |
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The end of his expedition
January 17th 2007
Since several days, John Wilton-Davies has to face extremely difficullt conditions that have forced him to stay in the tent instead of continuing his trek. Nevertheless he has done two third of the route so far, with about 200 nautical miles still to go before reaching SP.
His position on January 14th : 87° 446 S / 84° 262 W
January 7th 2007
Lighter sled and less high sastrugis : John wilton-Davies is moving faster. He has calculated that comparing with the previous weeks, he progresses now at an average speed of over 1.6 nm/h vs 1.3nm/h before.
His position on December 6th :
86° 3069 S / 83° 2496 W
December 29th 2006
John has lost three days in a quite dangerous crevasses zone and was force to turn back in order to find a more easy surface to ski. He still hopes to reach SP in time and feels strong and has plenty of food left.
His position on December 28th : 84° 627 S / 83° 126 W.
December 21st 2006
Despite the fact that Wilton-Davies
is far to be a pro of the polar expeditions, he goes forward anyway - about 10 nautical miles daily ; one of his boots is broken on its upper part and, no way, he can not repair it, despite the aruldite glue he uses. Not only the boots give problems to the neophyte, but also the rope that he pulls the sled with : "
Today I have to replace the rope that I pull the sled with after the original has broken so many times that it has become too short due to all the knots", he writes on December 20th. "Luckily my spare rope is my proper one that I had kept in reserve so it will be stronger. ..."
His position on December 21st : 83.6822S / 081.9133W
December 16th 2006
Here is how John Wilton Davies considers the situation : "There is an important balance between the time I have to reach the Pole in, and the amount of energy (i.e. food) that I have with me, he wrote on December 15th. Stumbling along in a white-out, I am using about 2.5x the energy per mile than I am in good conditions. So, do I wait for better weather, and save food, and run the risk of running out of time, or do I get moving, and run the risk off running out of food?"
Having said that, he si still progressing quite slowly : on December 12th, it took him 10 hours to acheive 11.5 nautical mile and on December 16th, he made 13.5 NM (white the other teams make about 5 more NM during the same time).
December 12th 2006
John is moving slowly. That's because the mild temperatures he meets underway : -3°C on December 11th, -1°C the next day. Instead of having a hard surface to ski easy on, he has to move on smooth surface and, in addition, he could only make out the ground within 6 inches of his feet.
In three days (December 10th, 11th and 12th), he has progressed of only 29.2 nautical miles. "As a result", he writes, "I spent most of the day heaving the sled over obstacles that, ordinarily, would have been easy to avoid, and going back to the sled, taking off my skis, and turning it back over. At one point I even managed to snap the rope I pull it by..."
December 8th 2006
The one who has no experience at all of polar treks (and in addition who is travelling solo) is on its eighth day on the ice. On December 4th, he has decided to
take a half day to get some more rest, more food, and do some repairs. Indeed, he managed to melt its glove on the heat shield for the stove, and the insulated slip on soft boots he wears in the tent are falling apart. Otherwise everything is OK for him. He says that he prefers the bumby bits of the ice than the powder snow.
His position on December 4th :
81.1924S,079.9875W.
8 décembre 2006
Voilà maintenant 8 jours que le néophyte des expéditions polaires (et qui plus est voyage en solo) est sur la glace. Le 4 décembre, il a pris un demi jour de repos. C'est qu'il a quelques réparations à faire ; un de ses gants a fondu sur son réchaud, et la tirette d'une de ses chaussures se casse gentiment la figure. Sinon, tout va bien pour lui : dans son diary, il prétend préférer négocier le glace dure des sastrugis que de skier dans la poudreuse.
Sa position le 4 décembre : 81.1924S,079.9875W.
November 30st 2006
John Wilton-Davies has been dropped off at Hercules Inlet on November 26th at 11 am. 4 days later, he has covered 33 nautical miles (61 km) and he suffers from the heat : it's only -5°C outisde. "Whilst very cold in
the wind if you're not doing much, it's quite pleasant when you're pulling a sled uphill. And what hills! I've spent 7 hours today going uphill, and there's no sign of the end of it", he writes in his update. So far, he hasn't had absolutely no need for any of his specialist polar clothing, but thinks he may run out of suncream!!!
His position on November 29th : 80.5503 S / 79.9955 W
November 26th 2006
Together with the other remaining expeditions, John Wilton-Davies has arrived at Patriot Hills on November 24th. 4 1/2 hours easy flight. Weather was warm and sunny, -9°C outside and +15°C in the tent. Now all expeditioners need to check their equipment and food in order to be ready for a flight to the start line tomorrow or Sunday.
November 16th 2006
John is preparing his material. His sledge has finally arrived in Chile. He is scheduled to board the next ALE flight which is due to leave in 4 days.
November 13th 2006
John Wilton-Davies is still waiting in Punta.
October 29th 2006
From his website : Most of my gear has now turned up and what hasn't yet arrived should be here in time. My sled and most of my equipment is being air-freighted to Punta Arenas, Chile next Monday, so anything that needs doing to it, any checking, practice, repair, amendment, etc has to be done by then.
I'd better spend the next few days reading all the instruction manuals as I can't afford the weight to take them.
Sending the equipment on ahead saves on some pretty horrendous excess baggage charges. However, all the freight goes via the United States where they are a bit funny about imported foodstuffs, so all my expedition freeze-dried food has to come on the plane with me via Spain instead. When I get to Punta Arenas I have to raid the local supermarkets for probably their entire supplies of unsalted cashew and macadamia nuts, as well as loads of butter, cheese and salami, before I can repack my sled (which has hopefully arrived by then) ready for Antarctica.
Allowing for local time differences, the total travel time to Antarctica is around 35 hours
Michele, my wife, threw a dinner party at our house last night to celebrate my imminent departure. Thank you to everyone who came and showed support. This morning the clocks went back - normally a fairly depressing occasion as it's dark by the time you get out of work, but I've only got a couple more weeks and then I won't see much dark for a few months.
The web site is nearly complete. In the next few days the Map and Log pages should appear. I've now got the software and equipment to automatically update the site from the ice, so the map will show my progress most days and comments from me will appear regularly.
