| Southern Reach (Members of the The Royal Air Force on the trek Hercules - South Pole) |
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December 29th 2006
Expedition Southern Reach has decided to give up on December 23rd. Here is their official press communiqué : "It is with great sadness that Ex Southern Reach,the RAF's attempt at reaching the Geographical South Pole has had to be aborted. This is due to medical issues, which if we carried on the medical issues would be exacerbated potentially causing physical & safety issues. The team are 101 miles from the Pole, SAFE & awaiting collection by air from A.L.E. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been following our progress & the messages of support you have left have really been uplifting & a major source of morale. All that is left to say is that we're sorry we didn't succeed, but we are proud of what we have achieved.Seasons greetings to you all.Ho ho ho! ..."
On Christmas eve they have been picked up by ALE Twin Otter and after a short stop over at the Pole, they flew back to Patriot Hills where they spent Christmas day.
December 17th 2006
Still no positions except the datas listed on the map which are not quite clear - that's the least one can say! One knows however that, they too have crossed the degree 87 and have no more than 178 nautical miles to reach South Pole.
December 12th 2006
Following the fate of the All Female Expedition, this team is also experiencing major problems with their communication system - their handeld computer is not connecting to the satellites as easily as it should. That's why we cannot publish anymore their progression datas, that's why we have put an interrogation point above their supposed position on our map.
We know nevertheless, reading their updates every day, that they are progressing well and they're not too far behind from their compatriots of the Navy Expedition.
December 8th 2006
From their website :
Thiel Mountains
7 Dec, 06 - 19:14
We had to stop a lot earlier than expected today. This was due to technical problems with some of Kev's kit, his boot kept slipping out of his binding, it was good in a way because it enabled us to do some running repairs and get some decent rest. We only covered 5nm today. We are 12nm short of the 85 degrees line (halfway) & 312nm from the pole. We're all in good spirits and looking forward to the 'run in' to the pole.
4 Dec, 06 - 22:33
Sorry guys, but we are experiencing technical difficulties in sending new photos. We hope to have this rectified very soon. After yesterdays mammoth trek, the team were up for another 16 miler. The day set off well & we managed to get 5.6miles in the 1st 3 hrs. Things looked good. In the distance the clouds were forming & heading our direction. We tried to outrun it but the clouds eventuall caught us and make the visibility & contrast very poor.Needless to say it slowed us down considerably & made the sastrugi upturn our sleds once again. Big ted was definately launched a more than a few times. We still managed to complete a full day & clock up 12 miles. We're still 6.3 down but we have plenty of time to re-coup them. Overall we have completed 239 miles.We're halfway there in days.
16.1 miles
3 Dec, 06 - 00:07
After yesterdays shocker, today greeted us with glorious sunshine and wind-wonderful.As we were supposed to have increased our mileage to 15 miles yesterday,but due to weather conditions we fell short by 4.4 miles.So today we re-couped 1.1 of those & will continue to do so over the next 3 days-weather depending.Total mileage 228.6.
December 3rd 2006
Since Novembre 26th, expedition did not published anymore the datas of their progression. "
Unfortunately the software we have with us is not compatible to track us via the red line on the website", says its website. But on Decembre 1st, here are the datas again : they just crossed degree 83 : their position on Saturday was 83°34' S / 80°55' W. 202 nautical miles done so far.
Novembre 26th, 2006
Nothing special to report about this RAF trek besides some problems they had with their Iridium telephones.. They average about 10 to 12 nautical miles every day in a daily 9 hours route, totaling so far 115 NM.
Their position on 24 November : 82° 11' S / 81°13' W
November 16th 2006
18 miles covered the last two days.
"The team's spirits are high & we are enjoying the wind & the cold!", they said...
November 13th 2006
With the other teams, the team of four landed in Patriot Hills on November 11th at 5pm. They were not as prompt as the Naby yeam who left the base almost right away after landing ; after a night sleep, they set off the next day, November 12th and covered 8 miles. Temperatures are mild, -25°C.
November 10th 2006
As the other teams arrived at Punta Arenas, Southern Reach is waiting for the green light coming from Patriot Hills where the ALE team seems to be still clearing the ice blue runway for the Illiouchine to be able to land in the best safety conditions.
Here is their press communiqué dated November 9th : We're still playing the waiting game in Punta, hopefully a telephone call in the morning will bring good news. This afternoon we decided to go and see a local penguin colony. By the time we found where we thought they lived, there was not a penguin in sight - Phil suggested that they were away having a swim! All the team would like to pass on their congratulations to Kirky's sister on the birth of her baby Euan.
