The home stretch

We’ll stop complaining about the snow conditions, but it’s possible that skiing 50 km is far easier in other parts of the world. Here it took us nearly 24 hours. In other words, we have turned our normal rhythm upside down and are doing everything in our power to reach the South Pole by the fourteenth. We have two days and 80 kilometres to go. It ought to be doable.
Map of Antarctica: Amundsen's route to the South PoleThe Chief is still ahead of us and we’re skiing for dear life trying to catch up with him! Photo: Norwegian Polar Institute / Google Earth

Helmer Hanssen once wrote “The theosophists apparently believe that after we die we come back in some other form. For my part, I most fervently hope that I do not return as a sled dog on a polar expedition.” Today this assertion has been rewritten to state that it wouldn’t be much fun to be reborn as a modern polar traveller with a severe lack of time.

Position: S 89 16.826, W 178 15.363
Temperature: -30°C
Wind: Calm
Elevation: 2960 metres
Distance traversed: 50 km
Distance behind Amundsen: 22 km
Total distance traversed: 1231 km
Distance remaining to the South Pole: 80 km