New Route via Reedy Glacier to South Pole
Dispatches
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2017-01-10
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2017-01-09
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2017-01-08
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2017-01-07
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2017-01-06
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2017-01-05
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2017-01-04
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2017-01-03
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2017-01-02
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2016-12-31
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2016-12-31
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2016-12-30
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2016-12-29
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2016-12-28
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2016-12-27
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2016-12-26
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2016-12-25
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2016-12-24
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2016-12-24
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2016-12-23
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2016-12-22
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2016-12-21
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2016-12-21
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2016-12-20
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2016-12-19
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2016-12-18
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2016-12-17
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2016-12-16
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2016-12-15
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2016-12-14
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2016-12-13
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2016-12-12
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2016-12-12
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2016-12-11
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2016-12-10
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2016-12-09
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2016-12-08
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2016-12-07
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2016-12-06
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2016-12-05
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2016-12-04
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2016-11-30
Dec 19
#18: All but done
Published at 07:35

Our crux day was one of our best. It could have gone either way but everything panned out better than expected.
In the morning we climbed steadily on a perfect white ice surface with just enough grip for ski skins and rubber tyres. A wind in the face kept us honest and we watched the glacier morph through our goggles. Heavy crevassing seen around the bluff foretold of what lay ahead, the ice buckling and heaving as it makes first contact with the mountains.
Despite our distance from the bluff we reached our first big crevasses at lunch, 40m wide, and roped up, Keith on skis with his bike strapped to the sled. The widest we crossed was 60m and had our strung-out trio on the crevasse at the same time. But a solid bridge covered in small sastrugi gave me assurance. Later we found collapsed bridges, always in highly slumped areas.
We covered our mandatory 20km but didn't clamber into our tent til 8pm. Reedy is all but done. At days end tomorrow, above 2000m elevation, we will have considered ourselves pioneers of the Reedy Glacier.
Eric
In the morning we climbed steadily on a perfect white ice surface with just enough grip for ski skins and rubber tyres. A wind in the face kept us honest and we watched the glacier morph through our goggles. Heavy crevassing seen around the bluff foretold of what lay ahead, the ice buckling and heaving as it makes first contact with the mountains.
Despite our distance from the bluff we reached our first big crevasses at lunch, 40m wide, and roped up, Keith on skis with his bike strapped to the sled. The widest we crossed was 60m and had our strung-out trio on the crevasse at the same time. But a solid bridge covered in small sastrugi gave me assurance. Later we found collapsed bridges, always in highly slumped areas.
We covered our mandatory 20km but didn't clamber into our tent til 8pm. Reedy is all but done. At days end tomorrow, above 2000m elevation, we will have considered ourselves pioneers of the Reedy Glacier.
Eric
- Name: Camp 12
- Elevation: 1941 m
- Latitude: 86° 22’ 35” South
- Longitude: 127° 54’ 32” West
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