Hannah McKeand - Live Dispatches

SOUTH POLE SOLO 06-07

This November Hannah will fly down to Antarctica from Chile with ALE - Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions. Basing herself at their Patriot Hills base camp she will spend two weeks ski training travelling the 60 miles out to the nearby Pirrit Hills and back. She hopes that this training period will give her the edge to start achieving higher milages sooner into the main expedition. If everything goes to plan then around the 21^st of November Hannah will fly down to Hercules Inlet at 80°S and begin her main expedition to the South Pole. The current record for the journey, set by Fiona Thornewill in 2001, stands at 42 days. Hannah hopes to set a new record and reach the Pole in time for a New Year’s Eve drink.

The Route

The Pole itself is at 9301 feet so the entire journey is uphill, however the first few days out of Hercules Inlet present a particularly formidable opening challenge with the sharpest incline of the entire route. Once at the Pole despite the actual altitude the atmospheric pressure and therefore the psychological altitude is more in accordance with around 11,000 feet. This is due to the thin atmosphere at both the poles.

Once away from Herclues Inlet Hannah will travel down the 82° longitudinal line to the pole. There will be no landmarks along the way, only a big, white expanse. At about 87° the incline will increase again as Hannah makes her ascent onto the polar plateau.

The Terrain

The entire route to one degree or another will be covered with Sastrugi. These are windblown waves of snow and ice that are on average about a foot or two in height, but can be come big enough to stand above your head in patches. Sometimes Hannah will cross patches of blue, glassy ice, which is very slippery and will make her fall over, but mostly the ground will be coarser white ice with loose snow blowing over the top of it. Generally this makes easy going, but if the snow becomes thicker and powdery then the drag on the sledge can be horrible. Antarctic snow is not good for making snowmen.

The Conditions

Hannah will be on Antarctica in the southern summer, so it will be 24 hour sunlight. Some days will be clear and blue and sunny and if the wind drops then Hannah will even strip down as far as her bottom thermal layer to ski. However mostly the wind will blow hard, making more layers necessary for warmth. Some days there will be cloud cover and sometimes this can make it very difficult to travel. When there it is cloudy you can lose contrast and it becomes impossible to see any detail in the terrain. You can ski straight into a big sastrugi without ever knowing it’s there. The average ambient temperature will be around -30°C but the wind chill can make it seem much lower. On the last expedition the lowest temperature Hannah recorded was -56°C.

Clothing

Being the right temperature is all about layers. Hannah will wear one or two sets of thermal long johns and long sleeved tops. Then on really cold days she will wear a fleece layer and on the outside she will nearly always have a windproof jacket and windproof pants. The jacket will have a fur ruff, which is a brilliant way to keep warm on really cold and windy days. The fur came from an old sled dog. The most important items are a good selection of hats and gloves, and of course some extra thick thermal socks. Hannah uses Alpha Boots and Asnes skis, the boots are lined with big thick woollen felt liners and are really warm. Surprisingly one of the most important things to avoid when hauling a sledge in the cold, is becoming too hot, if you become too hot and sweat then the sweat freezes and you become very cold. The best thing to do is to try and keep a little bit cool.

Equipment

Hannah will sleep each night in a North Face Mountain Tent and a big thick RAB down sleeping bag. She will cook and melt snow on a XGK-EK stove and she has a specially made Nansen cooker to improve fuel efficiency.

Food

Hannah will eat noodles for breakfast because she hates porridge, then through the day she will snack every hour on things like chocolate, fudge, pemikan, salami, nuts and dried fruit, Kendal mint cake, halva and cheese. Every evening she will eat a big freeze dried meal plus crackers and butter. She will aim to be eating around 6000 calories per day which is about 3 times as much as a normal person needs in a normal day. Last time Hannah lost 3.5 stone (22.23kg) in weight.

Emergencies

Hannah carries and Argos Adventure Beacon which transmits her position at all times. She also carries a satellite phone that allows her to make voice calls and send emails via her Contact 3 communications system. Her expedition will be monitored by ALE from their base camp at Patriot Hills and should Hannah call for help or contact be lost, then their Twin Otter planes will be available to provide assistance.