SCOTT'S HUT

If one ever thinks of Antarctica explorers, one name that invariably conjures up in memory is that of legendary explorer of Antarctica, Robert Falcon Scott. Scott was the person who fired up the imagination of European explorers in early 20th century to reach South Pole. He was a British Royal Naval officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13. During this second venture Scott led a party of five which reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912, to find that they had been beaten by Roald Amundsen's Norwegian party by a few days in an unsought "race for the Pole". The chosen group had reached the Pole on 17 January 1912, only to find that Amundsen had preceded them by five weeks. Scott's anguish is palpable from his diary: "The worst has happened; all the day dreams must go; Great God! This is an awful place". "I'm afraid the return journey is going to be dreadfully tiring and monotonous", wrote Scott on the next day. On their return journey Scott and his four comrades all perished because of a combination of exhaustion, hunger and extreme cold.



Scott's Hut is a building located on the north shore of Cape Evans on Ross Island in Antarctica. It was erected in 1911 by the British Antarctic Expedition of 1910-1913 (also known as the Terra Nova Expedition) led by Robert Falcon Scott. From here Scott and four companions set out on the ultimately fatal trek to the South Pole. Although abandoned in 1913, the hut and its contents are remarkably well preserved today due to the consistently sub-freezing conditions.
In selecting a base of operations for the 1910-1913 Expedition, Scott rejected the notion of re-occupying the hut he had built on Ross Island during the Discovery Expedition of 1901-1904. This first hut, known as the 'Discovery Hut' was located at Hut Point, 20km south of Cape Evans. Scott's ship, the Discovery, had been trapped by sea ice at Hut Point, a problem he hoped to avoid by establishing his new base further north. Discovery Hut was never fully occupied during the Discovery Expedition, as most expeditioners elected to live aboard the ice bound ship. Ten years later when members of the Terra Nova Expedition journeyed south from Scott's Hut at Cape Evans they found Discovery Hut intact (although full of snow and ice), along with supplies left over from 1903. Discovery Hut was cleaned out and used during 1911 and 1912 as a staging and rendezvous point for Terra Nova expeditioners heading south towards the Pole from Scott's Hut at Cape Evans.
Scott's Hut is rectangular, 50 feet long and 25 foot wide. Insulation was provided by seaweed sewn into a quilt, placed between double-planked inner and outer walls. Considerable effort was made to insulate the building, and to extract the maximum amount of heat from the flues from the stove and the heater. Terra Nova expeditioners described the hut as being warm to the point of being uncomfortable. During the winter of 1911 25 men lived in the hut.




New Zealand and the UK have undertaken responsibility at various times to preserve these nearly 100 years old structures, while they were built to last only five years. By a stroke of luck, these have survived all this long duration, but may not survive further until and unless regular efforts toward preservation are not put in place. Most people don't know about these huts, and those who know think these huts must be in perfect condition being frozen and in Antarctica. The decay comes in all forms: biological, chemical, environmental - and, despite low visitor numbers, human intervention. It happens from knocking things, scraping the floor, through to people putting stuff in their pockets!

SUMMER SEASON ENDS AT ANTARCTICA...

The Antarctic summer of 2008-09 is coming to an end now. The Antarctica, being in the southern hemisphere, the Antarctic summer lasts approximately from October till beginning of April. During this time, most of Antarctica experiences an extended and unending day lasting many months. At the South Pole, the Sun does not set for six months. At Maitri (Lat: 70 Deg 45' 01.65" South, Long: 11 Deg 43' 01.45" East), the continuous day continues for nearly four months. When I reached Antarctica on 15th November, 2007, it was already an unending day, and I never saw a star in the sky till the beginning of February, 2008. I would see moon sometimes during these months, but it would be completely lackluster without its ‘chandni’. It did not stir any romantic feelings, and one could not sing ‘dhire dhire chal chand gagan mein’.
The summer period in Antarctica are months of hectic activity. All the camps and bases of various countries come alive to receive new teams and guests and bid farewell to the wintering team members. The supplies are received, offloaded, and stocked. The scientific equipments are serviced, major repairs in the station are carried out. My old mates of 27th batch of the Indian Antarctic Scientific Expedition, who wintered there, have also returned now putting the winter team of 28th batch in place at Maitri.



Summer months are also a period of wild life come alive, as many birds and some species of penguins begin their nest building, laying and hatching of eggs, and rearing of chicks. The Emperor penguin does this work during the height of winter with temperatures plummeting to -50 C. It has to do things differently from the commoners, after all it is Emperor. With sea and air travel becoming operational during summer months (during winter months, entire Antarctic continent becomes out of bounds), ice-breaker ships start traversing the Southern sea, and cruises start ferrying tourists for packages for two to three weeks. Now you can fly into Antarctica all the way from wherever you are (as I did) via Cape Town or Chile.

Summer is also the time when the ceremonial South Pole starts receiving its adventurous guests and expeditioners. Various expeditions are planned to reach the pole in a way that has not been used earlier. This year was no different; in fact, a number of new record achievements took place, like South Pole Race and a blind man reaching the South Pole for the first time in history. See the posts below.
If you ever thought that indulging in adventure sports or going to the South Pole is meant only for people who are full time into such sports, then you are mistaken. Gavin Booth and Adam Wilton, two young men in their early 30’s have just completed a 1130km trek to the South Pole to raise funds to Save Scott’s Hut. Inspired by news stories of the plight of the fragile hut, Gavin and Adam decided to support the cause and achieve a lifetime ambition, to trek unaided to the Pole.




Gavin works for GE Real Estate in London, and runs marathon, road cycling and climbs mountains as hobby. Adam works for Investment bank in London and has similar hobbies. But going to the South Pole is not just an ordinary hobby. For them it was an expedition of lifetime and the effort over the past 5 years – sacrificing holidays for training, negotiating time off work, getting up in the early morning to drag tyres, and negotiating time off work. In November 2008 they left for a 2-man expedition to the Geographic South Pole, starting at the edge of the Antarctic continent. The expedition was unique in the sense that it was not to have any resupplies and would be self sufficient, dragging 120kg pulks over the ice and sastrugi, in one of the harshest environments on the planet. The team successfully reached South pole on 27th December, 2008 after a grueling work of 45 days. More on Scott’s Hut in next post.

BLIND MAN RACES TO THE SOUTH POLE

Having gone blind in the space of two weeks in 1998 Mark rapidly learned how to adapt to changing circumstances. Now, he motivates employees all over the world, pursues research into resilience, creativity and innovation as well as testing the theory by competing in diverse events. Mark’s story is incredible and reaffirms our faith that there is a power that resides within us all to take control of our lives.
One major highlight of the Amundsen Omega 3 South Pole Race 2008 was Mark Pollock completing the race skiing all the way to the South Pole like other competitors. Mark’s story is truly inspiring, he is blind in his both the eyes. He went blind in 1998 due to retinal detachment. He was then already an international rower and a business student. “The shock of going blind was almost unbearable. One moment I was on the crest of a wave with everything going my way, the next I went blind and my life changed forever. I thought my life was over.”



However, loss of vision failed to dim his spirits. He had to dig deep to redefine his life and ambition. Choice was to give up and lead a retired or semi-retired life, or to move on. He decided to take an even more arduous and hard journey for himself. He chose to become an adventure sportsperson. He quickly learnt how to adapt to the changing circumstances. Since going blind, Mark has won medals rowing for Northern Ireland at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, completed six marathons in one week in China’s Gobi Desert, raced in the world’s coldest marathon at the North Pole, kayaked across the Irish Sea, completed Ironman Switzerland (3.8 km swim, 180 bike followed by a marathon) and was the first blind person to complete the lowest and highest marathons in the world – The Dead Sea Ultra in Jordan followed by the Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon from Everest Base Camp in Nepal.
For the summer season of Antarctica beginning October, 2008, Mark teamed up, South Pole Flag Team, with Inge Solheim and Simon O’Donnell to participate and compete in the South Pole Race 2008 which has just concluded last month. See the earlier post on this blog. He was to race to the South Pole over 800 km in the world’s harshest environment.

“We will man-haul 90 kg sledges (pulks) up to 16 hours each day for 45 days. We will be sleep deprived, hungry, cold and tired. We will risk Polar shock and wonder why we are there at all”. That’s what Mark said before his departure for Antarctica.
What on earth possesses such people? It is this - the common purpose - that is the reason for the adventure. The team and the bonds that develop between them are the answer to: “What on earth possesses you?” This is what inspires adventurers to take on the challenge in the wildest extremes of the most formidable and coldest white desert of Antarctica bearing biting cold, extremes of sun-burns, sleep deprivation, dehydration and exhaustion.
The South Pole Race 2008 started on the 4th January with six teams. Mark along with his team-mates in the South Pole Flag had carried with them a flag with photographs of well-wishers, friends, and family members to hoist on the South Pole.



In spite of harsh terrain and sever climatic conditions, South Pole Flag team performed brilliantly, skiing, trudging or clambering 12 hours or more each day. On many occasions, they faced deteriorating weather conditions, poor visibility, contrast, winds, spindrift and extreme cold, temperature dropping to -46C with windchill. After nearly 1000 km and over 21 days of hard work, suffering and pain, Mark, Inge, and Simon arrived at the South Pole finishing 5th.
For more details and audio and video: www.southpoleflag.com and www.markpollock.com

SOUTH POLE RACE 2008

Nearly a hundred years ago in 1911, two legendary South Pole explorers, English man, Robert Scott and his Norwegian rival, Roald Amundsen raced against each other and against all odds to be the first to conquer the South Pole that had eluded mankind for quite some time. We now know the history how Amundsen emerged victorious, and what Scott said on finally reaching the pole only after a few days, and then his ultimate tragic fate.






Since then, modern day adventurers are attempting to reach South Pole in different style and creating all sorts of records, skiing all the way, or using ski and kites etc. However, there is a big difference now in the efforts and logistics one has to put in to complete the race. First of all, it is much easier to reach Antarctic shores now – the ships are better and there are regular flights to Antarctica from Cape Town and Chile. So the race actually begins when one has already been dropped at the dome of the continent from where the South Pole is only 800 km. Equipment is far superior and lighter in weight. Navigation and communication facilities are available throughout the journey, so that rescue can be summoned if need arises. The entire route is well surveyed by means of satellite. Weather forecast is available before hand. However, this is not to make light of what the present day expeditioners have to endure even now when they are attempting to reach the South Pole. Besides all their motivation, determination, and physical fitness and training, they have to undergo almost year long training in skiing in rough terrain, crevasse crossing, rescue etc. And of course, they have to find sponsors who believe in their ‘madness or misadventure’ and provide funds.
This season, for the first time in almost a hundred years, the historic duel of first to reach South Pole has been recreated in the Amundsen Omega 3 South Pole Race 2008 which witnessed both Norwegians and British competitors following in the footsteps of Scott and Amundsen. Leaving in December 2008 and set to travel 483 nautical miles across some of the most inhospitable terrain on earth, six teams survived in temperatures as low as - 50C degrees, navigated, skied and pulled 70kg pulks (sleds) and faced tough climbs of up to 9300 ft in the race to get to the South Pole first and surviving for 30-45 days. The teams of both men and women came from all over the world to undertake this major challenge that pushed these people to their limits of physical and mental endurance to have a crack at something that did not involve sitting down. AND, for the first time in the history of Antarctic exploration, one blind man would compete and attempt to reach the Geographic South Pole!
The support team would, for the first time in the history of Antarctica, would travel in Toyota Hiluxs modified by Arctic Trucks completing a trip of over 5000km from Novo, a Russian Scientific Station in Antarctica to the Geographic South Pole and back again, making them the first 4x4s to reach the South Pole.
The Amundsen Omega 3 South Pole Race is sponsored by Amundsen Omega 3 AS, a Norwegian based company that develops, produces and sells high quality omega-3 products from Norwegian fish oil. Additional sponsors are extreme clothing wear company, Missing Link, extreme equipment suppliers, Nanok, and equally appropriately, Tesco’s Captain Scott’s Strong Blend Tea. This mammoth undertaking was filmed by TwoFour productions and would be broadcast on BBC TWO in Spring/Summer 2009.
The race finally started on the 4th January with temperature of -25C and blizzard continuing. In fact the blizzard had already delayed the start of race by a few days. The participants had woken up to a glorious sunshine and the race began at 10 am to cover a distance of 750 km to reach Geographic South Pole. The air was full of excitement as competitors crossed the start line. You know there are four different South Poles!


All the teams progressed with excellent spirits and competitiveness ably supported with support team in two modified Toyota vehicles. The competitors said the race was hard, “but they are glad it is hard, they came to Antarctica for the Challenge” - that's fighting talk!

The support team had an unusual experience on 3rd day - running into the Norwegian Antarctic Research Expedition conducting a science survey in Antarctica. The odds of the two expeditions running into each other are very remote - in a desolate place bigger than India and China put together, and the two meet! The Norwegians were extremely surprised to see ski tracks, and then a support team as last year the only thing they saw was one lone ski pole! The research team had incredible vehicles and excellent research equipment.
The competitors were frequently confronted with blizzard, very low wind chill temperatures and poor visibility. And of course, there were sastrugi and crevasses to negotiate. Having blisters on top of aching and sore feet was a common occurrence. But all this was part of the game and challenge. No body complaining.
Special mention has to be made for Mark Pollock from team South Pole Flag. All were astounded by his drive, motivation and determination skiing to the South Pole, with all of the difficulties of this extreme endurance race. Mark was skiing the race blind. He skied every meter to the check point, over all of the difficult terrain and sastrugi, with no sight, where several other competitors have given up and walked. Inge Solheim, his team mate was guiding the team, he commented "During 13 hour every day it’s not easy to motivate yourself to do it. Mark is my purpose to wake in the morning and ski for 13 hours. What he is doing is so important for everyone as an example."
On 21/01/2009, the 18th day of the race, Team Missing Link won the Amundsen Omega 3 South Pole Race. The Norwegians crossed the line and arrived at the Geographic South Pole at 7pm completing the race 770km in 17 days and 11 hours. Watching the team cross was a historic and momentous occasion, they linked arms held high in the air as they walked to the Pole and planted a Norwegian flag. They stopped at the Pole and talked about their tremendous journey, the difficulties they have faced and their joy and pride at arriving at the Pole. The Norwegians have once won the race to the South Pole, the first since Scott and Amundsen.





Missing Link wanted to commend other teams for making it a fantastic race. After all their hard work Missing Link got to spend some time at the Pole, resting, relaxing, eating and enjoying being at the Top of the Bottom of the World. The British team, QinetinQ, arrived a few hours later to complete the race in second position.
By 26/01/2009, on Day 23, all the six teams had reached the Geographic South Pole. After relaxing for a few days in their heated tents and three warm cooked food, and human company, they would fly back to their home countries. The final race positions are:
Race Positions
1st: Team Missing Link
2nd: Team QinetinQ
3rd: Team Danske Bank
4th: Team due South
5th: Team South Pole Flag
6th: Team Southern Lights






With team South Pole Flag having made it to the Pole, Mark is now the first blind man to ski to the South Pole - an incredible achievement! Simon has faithfully helped him the whole way and never given up; Inge has been their guide on this amazing journey. Mark took it in his stride as he skied up to the Pole. I am sure all will like to congratulate all of the competitors on their amazing achievement in completing this race. It has taken enormous courage, strength and determination to ski almost 800km to the Geographic South Pole in Antarctica, the driest, highest, coldest and windiest desert in the world - one of the most extreme environments on the planet. By the way, I myself met Inge in November 2007 in Antarctica (see November 26, 2007 post)when he was setting camp near Maitri as one of the organizers of Desert Safari tourist agency.


Tess and Pete of Team Southern Lights carried out peace ceremony reading 3 hours of messages from all over the world, and with a short ceremony at the Pole.
I sincerely believe and fervently hope that the nations and peoples of the planet Earth will leave Antarctica out of their race towards greed and acquisitions, and strive to keep this amazing continent safe and peaceful for posterity. We owe it to our future generations.
(Photos courtesy: Amundsen Omega 3 Race South Pole 2008)

VINNY TAKES TO THE BLUE SKY ONCE AGAIN

Guest column by Leela Latheef


(Leela read the "Nesting on no man's land", stories on Antarctica, in the New Indian Express and shared her following experience with me over email. I am reproducing her experience and photographs with her permission)




I am Leela Latheef from Trivandrum, Kerala. In ‘The Hindu’ dated 11-1-09 I read your article on extraordinary Antarctica, a place which has always fascinated me! And your article did quite fill up my never dying inquisitiveness on the South Pole. But more than other things, your story caught my attention because of Shiv and Uma who held your perpetual attention while you were there.
Not only because of your description of the South Polar Skua but also for the fact that on July 3rd 2007 I had received a call regarding a bird caught at the beach by some people when it was on its way to be killed and sold off by some fishermen. We run the Trivandrum Chapter of People For Animals [PFA] here and went in our ambulance and brought it home. It certainly looked a water bird but not like anything we had seen or known before. But nothing could stop us from admiring this strange guest who showed the least concern being in a new place amongst strangers! It even pecked at my dog when she went too close to it out of curiosity! I named the bird Vinny.
Vinny wanted to be in water, we felt. We provided her a large plastic basin first, in which she happily dipped though it was too small for her. So we quickly replaced it with this very large rubber tub meant for children. And the sight of Vinny making the best out of it was something to watch! She had a rollicking time! Again and again she would dip herself and then flap her wings and spread it and we marveled at her beauty! Meanwhile I started contacting bird experts to find out exactly where she belonged to as we still had no clue as to what kind of bird she was. Net surfing was also done at the same time. Soon things began to fit into place which was shockingly pleasant surprise news for us!
Suresh Elaman and Sushanth, known ornithologists, came over and took no time in educating us that Vinny was none other than The Brown Skua, and that she had come all the way from South Pole!!! And that, after flying a very long distance, non-stop, maybe it landed on as a stop gap on our beach; this also meant that it would resume its journey soon. It will be no exaggeration if I say that we were totally bowled over by this news. We felt privileged! We had a guest with us coming all the way from Antarctica! I almost felt connected to Antarctica. Vinny soon made into the Newspaper! It seems the last sighting of a Skua in Kerala was way back in the 1930s in Kozhikode. I do remember that Vinny was described as Katharacta Antarctica while you had described your skuas as Katharacta McCormick. I wonder if it is one and the same kind of bird.
On July 13th Vinny flew away. Though very sad we were relieved that it took to the blue sky once again. We hoped and prayed that Vinny reached her actual home. And we were left wondering whether she was bound to the South Pole! I am sending you the snaps taken when Vinny was with us. It would not explain much if I say that I still miss her. Sometimes I am still left wondering whether Vinny was a dream but then I chuckle at my own self when I realize that an extraordinary guest like Vinny happens just once in a person’s life time!

nesting in no man’s land

The New Indian Express dated 11.01.2009 on Sunday carried some stories of Antarctica penned by ‘yours truly’ on its centre-spread with photographs. You may like to see the link at http://epaper.expressbuzz.com/NE/NE/2009/01/11/index.shtml

MAITRI CELEBRATES BIRHTDAY...

The Indian Antarctic Expedition celebrated its 27th birthday on 9th of January this year. It was on this day that M.V. Polar Circle brought the first ever Indian Antarctic Expedition to the shore of Antarctic continent. The Expedition comprised of 21 members, with 13 of them scientists and rest logistic staff. They all had undergone snow and ice training in the upper reaches of Himalayas. The Expedition was led by Dr S.Z. Qasim, the eminent scientist from the Deptt of Environment. The team had left Goa on the 6th December, 1981, after leasing Norwegian ice breaker, M.V. Polar Circle, and took 33 days to reach Antarctic ice shelf traversing 11, 000km. Its objectives were, establishment of an Indian base camp in Antarctica, initiation of scientific work in different disciplines of Antarctic science, and assessment of the logistics requirements for future Indian missions. After reaching there, it successfully established a base camp and hoisted the Indian flag. It initiated work on geology, geophysics, microbiology, meteorology and chemistry. It also established an unmanned Automatic Weather Station (AWS) in the Schirmacher Oasis region of Antarctica. After accomplishing its mission successfully, the first expedition returned to India on 21st February, 1982. India’s national pride was apparent in the statement that “the Indian success at the very first attempt is therefore recognized the world over as a remarkable achievement.”

It goes to the credit of Mrs Indira Gandhi who initiated the planning for Antarctic expedition. Indira Gandhi, despite her many domestic socio-political compulsions, wished a respectable status for India, not only in the developing world, but in the entire world. It is said that the entire planning for the first expedition was a closely guarded secret. It was only when Department of Ocean Development started looking for an ice-breaker for the launch of expedition that the world came to know of India’s ambition. Indira Gandhi had decided to send an expedition to Antarctica, hinting that India also might join the treaty. Although at the time it was not even an acceding party, India’s 1981 Antarctic expedition was the first sent by any nation entirely outside of the treaty framework. It scored points, however, with the treaty powers by stating that the expedition was “purely scientific”, that India had no territorial ambitions in Antarctica, and that India subscribed to the principles of the treaty. But before the expedition left, the Indian government notified other developing nations of its plan-in effect, testing the waters of developing world opinion. Consultative status in the treaty-and an accompanying scientific presence in the region-would have offered a great prestige value to a developing nation like India.

With the 3rd expedition in December, 1983, India established and successfully commissioned its first permanently manned station at Antarctica and named it Dakshin Gangotri on ice shelf; with this India obtained the membership of prestigious club, Antarctic Treaty. It however, started to sink in the ice and had to be abandoned. The work for India’s second station had begun at the Schimacher Oasis region in 1987-88, and the ninth expedition launched in November, 1989 successfully commissioned fully equipped winter station, Maitri. India is in the process of starting its third station, Bharti, at the Larsemann Hill area of Antarctica.

In last 27 years, India’s Antarctic programme has development successfully in initiating a number of major scientific work and in providing better facilities to the expedition members living in Antarctica for summer season or for wintering. It, of course, is fully centrally heated with 24-hour supply of power and cold and hot water. It has a number of scientific labs where work goes on throughout the year. Its telecommunication has improved tremendously over the time. Now through satellite facilities, one can communicate with Maitri any time of the day or night throughout the year.



One important mandate of the 27th IAE, of which I was a member, was to erect Earth Station so that Maitri gets full time internet connectivity. The construction part of the earth station was completed while I was there. We all had toiled in carrying heavy construction material for this purpose. Our hard work has paid off when the station has successfully established link with the satellite and Maitri now has full time internet connectivity as well as television link. So members now enjoy net surfing like you and myself, and watch daily news and soap operas of their choice on TV.
Antarctica is now not such a desolate place as it used to be. Besides, sea-route, which till recently provided the only access to Antarctica, now we have regular flights from Cape Town, Chile, or Argentina landing directly into Antarctica. Indian expeditions are also now using air route regularly. However, both these route operate only during Antarctic summer. There are attempts now by Americans to land their Hercules C-130 during nights of icy winter of Antarctica.
More and more people are now choosing Antarctica for their adventures, like reaching South Pole skiing all the way, or using huge kites. Cult swimmers or long distance swimmers are now swimming in the iceberg choked freezing waters of Antarctica. You are considered to have achieved the distinction of Antarctic swimmer if you manage to swim 1 mile (1.6 km). Many tourist agencies are now operating packaged tour to Antarctica regularly. People believe that in very near future Antarctica would soon be a popular holiday destination for people with all amenities.



Now Toyota has introduced modified cars which can negotiate Antarctic blue icy surface and its crests and troughs. These have very large sand-tyres (about one and half feet wide) and a huge ground clearance. The Arctic Company has been using these vehicles successfully for some time now in Arctic, and their introduction in Antarctica will change the face of travel within Antarctica.