FLAG EXPEDITION REPORT Kaspersky ONE Trans-Antarctic
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FLAG EXPEDITION REPORT Flag Number 24 Kaspersky ONE Trans-Antarctic Expedition Submitted by Felicity Aston June 2012 1 Flag Number: 24 Title of Expedition: Kaspersky ONE Trans-Antarctic Expedition Location of Expedition: The expedition began on the inland edge of the Ross Ice shelf at the foot of the Leverett Glacier at S 85 25.938 W 150 26.414 and traversed the Antarctic continent via the South Pole to the inland edge of the Ronne Ice Shelf at Hercules Inlet at S 79 58.585 W 079 48.385. Dates of Expedition: 25th November 2011 – 23rd January 2012 Expedition Participants: Felicity Aston Expedition Sponsors and Funding: The title sponsor of the expedition was Kaspersky Lab. I also received financial support from CGR Group, Fantasea Adventure Cruises, Chestfield Rotary Club, Scott Bailey, Hartsdown Technology College and private donors. I was awarded a grant from the Transglobe Expedition Trust I was given product support from Cotswold Outdoor, Mountain Equipment, Montane, Hilleberg, Fuizion, Bloc Systems, Talus Outdoor, Yellowbrick Tracking, Iridium, AST-UK, Anglo-Dal, Ipadio, Biocare, High 5, Pol Roger. Purpose of Expedition: The purpose of the expedition was to be the first woman to cross the Antarctic landmass alone. 2 The Expedition Experience: In mid-November 2011 I was flown from Punta Arenas in South America to Union Glacier a base camp in Antarctica managed by commercial operators, Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions (ALE). On the 24th November 2011 I was flown by Twin Otter from Union Glacier to the foot of the Leverett Glacier on the opposite side of Antarctica and was left alone with two sledges together weighing around 85kg. The next day I started my expedition, skiing up the Leverett Glacier through the Transantarctic Mountains towards the Antarctic Plateau. After 26 days and having covered approximately 625km I reached the South Pole where I collected a 35kg resupply of food and stove fuel that had been depoted for me in advance by ALE. After taking a rest day at the South Pole, where I met several other expedition teams, I continued alone for the far coast of Antarctica. Less than a week after leaving the Pole I met an Australian expedition skiing in the opposite direction and a few weeks later I was approached by an Anglo- Norwegian team who were kiting from the South Pole to the coast. On the 44th day of my expedition I reached a location known as Thiels Corner. My second and final resupply of food and stove fuel (weighing around 25kg) had been left at this depot for me in advance by ALE. I spent one night at the depot before continuing and 15 days later reached Hercules Inlet on the inland edge of the Ronne Ice Shelf, thus completing my crossing of Antarctica. I was collected by Twin Otter the following day and returned to Union Glacier to wait for a flight back to South America. Expedition Techniques: I have spent the last 10 years taking part in, organizing and leading expeditions to the polar regions. This expedition was a culmination of all the experience and confidence I have gathered along the way. It is a journey I have wanted to make for a long time but only now felt that I had the right mix of support and knowledge to tackle successfully. As well as preparing equipment and logistics I spent a lot of time preparing mentally for the expedition. I sought advice from a sports psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire School of Sport and Exercise Science in order to learn tools and techniques for dealing with the isolation and mental stresses of the expedition. The logistics of the expedition were organized through ALE who also arranged the required permit for the journey. During the expedition I made contact with ALE on a daily basis to report my location. Despite this contact I found being alone to be incredibly difficult emotionally and realized very quickly that my mental preparations for the task had perhaps not been adequate. 3 I was very pleased with the performance of the equipment I had selected for the expedition and consider my routines to have worked well. The only alteration I would make, given the opportunity, would be to reduce my food rations at the beginning of the expedition and to make slightly different food choices (for example to replace my breakfast oats with noodles which I found easier to stomach). Expedition Results: I crossed the Antarctic landmass alone in 59 days (including one rest day at the South Pole and one bad weather day in the tent), covering a distance of 1744km. This was the first expedition to ski up the Leverett Glacier and has shown that this is a good and interesting route for future expeditions. If I was to repeat the expedition I believe it could be done alone and completely unsupported given a long enough Antarctic season. I am currently writing a book about my experience focusing particularly on the psychological journey as well as the physical challenge. I hope that the book will be released in the first half of 2013. 4 ATTACHMENT 1: MAPS Hercules Inlet Union Glacier Leverett Glacier ATTACHMENT 2: TEAM BIOGRAPHIES Felicity Aston is the first and only woman in the world to ski across Antarctica alone. The 1744km, 59-day journey completed in January 2012 also made her the first person in the world to do so purely by muscle power without the aid of kites or machines. In 2009 she led the 38-day, 911km Kaspersky Lab Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition, the largest and most international women’s team ever to ski to the South Pole. The team included women from Brunei Darussalam, Cyprus, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Singapore and New Zealand. Her book about the expedition, ‘Call of the White: Taking the World to the South Pole’ was published in March 2011 and was made a finalist in the Banff Mountain Book Competition. Previously, Felicity has led several other notable expeditions including the first British women’s crossing of Greenland, a 700km winter crossing of Lake Baikal in a Siberian winter and an adventurous expedition in Iceland for young people with a brain injury. She was also part of the first, ever, all-female team to 5 complete the Polar Challenge, a 500km endurance race to the magnetic north pole. Trained as a Physicist and Meteorologist, Felicity’s first polar experience was as a scientist with the British Antarctic Survey. Based for three years on a remote research station on the Antarctic Peninsula, her job was to monitor climate and ozone. www.felicityaston.com ATTACHMENT 3: EXPEDITION DETAILS The plane had become a tiny black blob in the pearly sky. I could still hear the distinctive drone of its engines but with every breath the sound became fainter. I closed my eyes to focus my ears on the noise but it was slowly, and inevitably, blotted out by the silence. When I opened my eyes again, the plane had gone. I was alone. I stood motionless for a second, breathing in the cold air. Even the smallest of movements sounded brutally intrusive in the stillness; the rasp of brittle fabrics, the polystyrene squeak of my boots in the snow. I turned on the spot, running my eyes slowly over the horizon, trying to take in my surroundings. After months of gazing at this spot on the map it seemed unreal that I was now physically here. To my right was the flat expanse of the Ross Ice Shelf, a featureless dichotomy of white snow and blue sky, while to my left was a wall of mountains, the Transantarctic Mountains, which extended in an unbroken chain as far as I could see. The sun, still high in the sky although it was almost midnight, bounced from the mountainsides of vibrant orange rock and turquoise ice, each peak appearing intimately close-by even though I knew that I could travel for hours towards them and still not touch stone. As I turned on the spot looking in wonder at all this surreal magnificence one thought alone echoed through my brain. In all this landscape, in all this space, I was the only living thing. I felt panic fill my chest, like a slow rising bubble threatening to block off the air to my lungs. It burned in my stomach like fermenting acid and I felt choked. I tried to analyse the source of my anxiety. It wasn’t that I simply feared for my life or my safety, it wasn’t that straightforward. It seemed to be the alone-ness itself that scared me. I had spent time by myself in wilderness areas before and relished the experience - I have always been comfortable in my own company - but this was a whole new level of isolation; to be so far not just from other human beings but from any form of life whatsoever. The nearest open water where any wildlife was to be found was more than 700km away and the nearest human habitation perhaps as much as 1000km to the east. The sense of desolate loneliness was instant, overwhelming and completely crushing. 6 I tried to push the feeling aside, focusing instead on the two small plastic sledges at my feet, each one containing a bag that bulged with the food, fuel and equipment I would be using in the weeks ahead. ‘OK. Time to get sorted,’ I told the air. I moved towards the sledges purposefully, roughly tearing open the zip of the bag nearest to me. As I sifted through the contents I realised that I had forgotten what I was looking for.