South Pole
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Day 15 Onwards, southwards and a 20km day!
Putting the pain aside, today was pretty decent. Windy: strong south westerlies so pretty much going into my face. After the first hour of blanket cloud cover it became perfectly clear. The…
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Day 14 Another whiteout and Cottage Pie for diner
18km It started off okay, with stiff winds and a bit cloudy. However within an hour, the Antarctic clouds descended and it was just skiing through a whiteout from then on. Tough…
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Day 13 81 degrees South and a record 20km day.
A hard but rewarding day. This is really a nice landmark to reach! I started off at S80 degrees, and had been slow and literally tortured progress. Sometimes it has just been…
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Day 11 Storms, Sastrugi, Three Sails Mountains and stunning views!
14.5km/ 9miles Last night… wow! That was a terrific storm. As expected, it reached its strongest from around 3-5am and it really was strong. Very happy with the tent – always felt…
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Day 10 Wind like an express train
Nothing much happened today: just an Antarctic storm that started blowing up from around midnight last night. It was all so calm as I setup the tent yesterday evening but the storm…
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Day 9 A slow and painful 10k
10k/6.2miles But at least it is another Antarctic 10km done!! Today was always intended to be a shorter day considering the pains over the last few days. I wanted to see how…
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Day 8 Another tent day
It’s definitely frustrating. Another day in the tent. It’s difficult not to think of the time lost and the distance that would have liked to have covered today. The weather has been…
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Day 7 Up on my skis again and again… not
15k/9.3miles So, it was a mixed day today. 15km covered and I felt pretty decent after the rest day yesterday. The pain in neck had subsided; uncomfortable but not bad. Great conditions…
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Day 5 A pain in the neck!
10k/6.2miles Today (day 5, but the fourth full day!) was tough. The pain in my neck from yesterday had only been temporarily alleviated by the painkillers, and while it was still much…
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Day 4 First steep climb to 900m
Today was a day of -25 degrees, blue skies, some light headwinds and 16k/10miles travelled. Slowly does it! It has been great to get up the first steep climb up from Hercules…
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Day 2 First full day on the ice
Distance travelled 12km/7.5miles 17th November. Today has been all uphill and slow, but steady! Could see the wall of the glacier I had to ski up ahead of me as I packed…
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Long Road South
57 N to 90 S The long journey south starts here at Inverness Airport. 57 degrees North to 90 degrees South. Ben will travel to London and then onto to Punta Arenas,…
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Hard Yards
The clock ticks towards my departure to Antarctica. There have been some fun hours spent in the local woods here in Carrbridge in the Cairngorms National Park. Dragging my four friends around…
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STV interview
Strange seeing myself on TV! Really amazing to receive encouragement from legendary explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes as well! It has been a long time since last met with him and he has…