January 7th 2007
Kevin Biggar and Jamie Fitzgerald have arrived at SP on January 2nd after a 52 days trek. They had planned just like the Polar Quest team to go back to Patriot Hills on foot. But due to an injury Jamie suffered on the way to the Pole, they have decided to abandon. A second abandon after the guys of the Royal Air Force. In the expedition diary Kevin writes :
" We did get a chance to weigh ourselves; I found that I have lost 23 kilograms or 50 pounds in just seven weeks. As Jamie said it is not the South Beach diet it is the South Pole diet!
And given the amount of food we were eating I think it is quite an impressive achievement. So it will be a bit of work putting a bit of fat back on our bones. ..."

December 29th 2006
Both Kiwis think they are going to get to the Pole around New year's Eve. Everything is OK.
Their position on December 27th (day 46) : 88° 54' S / 85° 20' W

December 17th 2006
Nothing has been published on their website since our last update.

December 13th 2006
As these two guys are trying the return trip unsupported, they have to think about making depots on the way during the first leg of the trek in order to be able to use them on their way back ; that's what they managed to do on their 28th day. This helps them quite a lot too because, doing so, their sledge becomes lighter and lighter. Less heavier sled, faster move... So being already at their halfway point, they hope to reach the pole by January 4th. That's the first time estimation of the arrival at the pole (the goal for certain and half way for others) we receive this season so far.
Here is an abstract of their diary explaining how they try to get inside each day to plug away at this enormous goal : "Kevin and I have a number of ways that we try and get inside each day to plug away at this enormous goal- but I would just like to cap about three points: the first of which is inside our MSR tent we have a little map drawn on the roof with every degree, and we just love drawing our little line getting closer to the south pole - so that is nice to see some progress. Also a good way to motivate ourselves is to appreciate the progress that we have made so far rather than look in front of us at how far there is to go. We have travelled almost 550 kilometres and to put that into perspective that is the same as from your house to somewhere 550km away!! So we are pretty happy about that.
Another way is that we just love breaking it down into chunks- we are not focusing on the South Pole, we are focusing on the next degree. If you are hoping to complete a 10km run and that seems like a tough ask, so you should just focus on running 6 km, and if you can only run that far, that is great. Perhaps only a month ago you could only run for 4 km so you have made great progress as well. ..."

Their position on day 30st : 85°25' S / 85°08' W.

December 8th 2006
There is a word which they like to use very often these last days in their diaries : "frustrating". "It's frustrating..." Why so ? Because of the persistent white out and because of the too numerous sastrugis fields. The first without the second, ok, that's not so serious problem ; but when you have the two - white out and sastrugis - combined, of course we are able to understand why they can be sometimes "frustrated". Imagine falling down every three steps and not being able to see where is the next sastrugi and what surprise this minihill of ice is preparing...
But, besides, they are doing great job : like most of the other teams, about 15 nautical miles (27 km) each day.
Their position on day 22 (we do not know why these two Kiwis do not publish dates in their diaries - day 22 being probably December 5th) : 83°34' S / 83° 19' W.

Decembre 3rd 2006
Day 18 : 82°40' S / 82°01' W, 12.4 nautical miles, 9,5 hours trek, crevasses en route, not listed on the map, thay are two days behing thieir best shcedule
Day 17 : 82°27' S / 81°52' W, 13.5 nautical miles, 9,5 hours walk, have climbed 200m, temperature, -10°C
Day 16 : 82°14' S / 81°51' W, 13,5 nautical miles, 9 hours trek, their best day so far, altitude, 1219m
Day 15 : 32°01' S / 81°49' W, 11,1 nautical miles, 9 hours trek, they keep updated about the progression of the other teams, good for the moral
Day 14 : 81°50' S / 81°43' W, 11 nautical miles, n9 hours trek, one of the coldest day since the start, -16°C
Day 13 : 81°39' S / 81°34' W, 13 nautical miles (25 km), warm weather on the way(-5°C), good snow, easy to ski
Day 12 : 81°26' S / 81°35' W, 13,1 nautical miles, 9 hours walk, the hills of Patriot Hills are slowly disappearing dehind horizon

November 26th 2006
On the 10th day of their return-trek, kiwi pair Biggar-Fitzgerald just crossed the degree 81. They progress quite steadily, doing about 10 nautical miles every day since their start. Very light wind, beautiful weather and a tempartaure of minus 10°C.
They have reached an altitude of 1500 m and made already some depots on their way so that they can pick it up on the way back and not have to carry it all the way for round trip.

November 16th 2006
Yesterday, Kiwis were on day 3 of their trip. Their current position : 80°02' S / 80°27' W. Temperature - 21°C outside and quite sunny except its blowing 30 knots.They have climbe 600 metres and have another 400 to go. Their distance travelled yesteday :
4.3 nautical miles, that's about 8.6 kms, which is their highest yet but about half of what they would like to achieve at this time.

November 13th 2006
Although we know that this expedition has arrived in Punta short before the departure of the Punta flight, we have not yet received any news from them from the ice.