Posted on 11/21/2018 3:52:26 PM PST by bitt
PUNTA ARENAS, Chile — A weather window opened on Halloween morning, the typical stiff winds and polar fog relenting, and the flight to Antarctica was cleared for takeoff.
For nearly a week, Colin O’Brady, a 33-year-old American adventure athlete, and British Army Captain Louis Rudd, 49, had been waiting in Punta Arenas, Chile, on the Strait of Magellan, near the shattered end of the South American continent.
In separate buildings blocks away from one another, they had been immersed in similar tasks: weighing and re-bagging their freeze-dried provisions and sorting through polar-grade gear.
Their stashes included sleeping bags good for conditions up to minus 40 Fahrenheit, portable solar panels, cross-country skis, hand-held satellite phones and modems, and a GPS tracker programmed with way points to lead them step by frozen step across the highest, driest and by far the coldest continent on earth.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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It’s summer now in Antarctica. 24 hours of daylight. Its now or never.
Too bad to see these poor souls leaving before their time is up... But there are more gruesome ways of committing suicide and they’ve gotten their 15 minutes of fame before checking out.
The problem will be getting through the mountains in the interior, they have defeated everyone. The weather is viscous in those mountains EVEN FOR AN AIR SUPPORTED RUN.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Atlas_of_Antarctica#/media/File:Antarctica2.jpg
It’s spring. Summer starts in December.
Not such a big deal anymore because of global warming. It’s kind of nice down there now this time of year.
When these narcissistic idiots finally get into a life and death situation from which there is no escape, do not spend a single dollar to pull their sorry asses out.
I’m tired of this crap.
You couldn’t get me to do a stunt like this. Raising children and paying bills is scary enough.
They are going to fall off the edge of the Earth.
Maybe this will be the new Everest, with freeze-dried cadavers strewn about.....
I spent a day at the Pole one year.
It takes the sun two weeks to set and two weeks to rise.
In June, I wrote “Sunrise” on half of my sunset slides. I realized they all looked the same.
I hesitate to take any pictures of a setting sun - no matter how glorious it is.
Bookmark
No one will ever “cross” it.
Don Quixote comes to mind.
If it were me, I’d make sure I knew my limitations enough to quit when I knew I was beat well in advance of dire situation and have a contingency in place for a safe exit.
Two words:
Ernest. Shackleton.
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