| Extreme South (Toby Williams and Rob Conway on the trek Hercules-SP and back, unsupported |
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October 27th 2006
Extreme South, the planned expedition to the South Pole in 2006 by two medical students has been postponed. The pair, comprising team leader Robert Conway and Toby Williams, have decided that rather than compromise their planned route, they will wait until 2009 when they will attempt a new and ground breaking journey to the South Pole and beyond.
Robert and Toby, both final year medical students studying at St George’s, University of London, planned to follow the route to the pole taken by Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Dr Edward Wilson, a St George’s Alumnus. This expedition took place between 1901 and 1904 and was a sort of a co-ordinated pan-European campaign to unveil the frigid enigmas of Antarctica (see here a webpage dedicated to that particular part of the Antarctic History).
However, without the funding in place to complete this route the team were being forced to consider easier and more well trodden routes to the South Pole. “Since the expedition’s conception, we have been adamant that we wanted to complete a unique route, rather than something that has been well trodden in recent years” said Rob Conway. “Although they are huge challenges in their own right, we do not feel that we as an expedition are satisfied in that compromise and we want to complete the route that we originally set out to achieve”.
The expedition is now planning to run in 2009, by which time Robert and Toby will be qualified doctors. In preparation for the expedition they plan to complete training over the next two years, including a crossing of the world’s second biggest ice cap in Greenland and to compete in the North Pole race.
