It was another eventful weekend in the Antarctic where teams continue to struggle with their individual goals. For some of the South Pole skiers it marked a shift in goals and expectations, for others it was a reaffirmation to stay focused on the tasks ahead. For everyone it was reminder that Antarctica is a beautiful, yet harsh and demanding place that will test you at every turn.

The biggest news to come out of the weekend is the end of the "race" that was an important aspect of the 2013 South Pole Allied Challenge. As you may recall, three teams of skiers – Team UK, Team USA, and Team Commonwealth – were all racing one another over the last three degrees to the South Pole. Each of the teams had experienced polar guides leading the way, but for the most part they were made up of men and women who were injured in the line of duty and were now attempting to raise funds and awareness for the Walking With The Wounded program. On Saturday, the teams reached their first checkpiont and had a mandatory 24 hour rest period. At that time the decision was made to put an end to the race in order to ensure the safety of those participating. For those uninitiated to the Antarctic, the pace of the race was grueling and was making things more difficult than anyone had anticipated. So, the leaders agreed to end the competition. That doesn't mean the adventure is over however, as they will all continue to ski on to the South Pole. They'll just do so at a more measured pace that will hopefully ensure that they all reach 90ºS in a timely and safe manner.

Richard Parks remains in his race against the clock however as he struggles to attempt to set a new speed record to the South Pole. He's now five days into his restart, and while he's  making good time, it hasn't been easy. Soft snow is causing him to make slower than expected progress and as of Saturday he was still 1051.9 km (655 miles) from his goal. Obviously since then he has managed to knock off more distance, but just how much remains to be seen. Parks hasn't updated us on his progress since then, but he has been covering about 33 km (20 miles) per day, which quite frankly isn't fast enough to break the record. Things should get better once he tops the Antarctic Plateau however, and if he can put the soft snow behind him it'll help too.
Parker Liautaud and Doug Stoup have  launched the skiing portion of their Willis Resilience South Pole expedition. After spending the first week and a half of the journey driving around the Antarctic in a specially modified vehicle, collecting environmental data and core samples of the ice, they will now begin their attempt to ski to the South Pole with an eye on doing so in record time as well. They're hoping to complete the journey from the Ross Ice Shelf in just 22 days, although their distance will be much shorter than Richard Parks, who is making a full ski journey from Hercules Inlet. His expedition will cover more than 1150 km (715 miles), while Parker and Doug list their route as 640 km (397 miles).

Liautaud was also hoping to become the youngest man to ski to the South Pole but it looks like he may get trumped in that regard as well. Lewis Clarke, the 16-year old from the UK, continues to make good progress on his own expedition to the bottom of the world. While he still has more than 655 miles (1054 km) to go, and a lot can happen over that distance, he is doing well so far. Yesterday, Lewis and his guide Carl Alvey knocked off a respectable 15.1 miles (24.2 km), which is a solid pace for six days into the journey. It's not going to get easier this week however, as the forecast calls for gale force winds to arrive in the next day or two. That will certainly change the dynamic of the expedition.

South Pole cyclists Daniel Burton is finding it hard going, although he did manage to cover 15.5 miles (24.9 km) on Saturday, which is his best day yet. He indicated that the pace is slower than he had expected and that he'll need to pick things up soon if he wants to make a serious run at reaching the Pole on his fat tire bike. He says that his sleds are simply too heavy, but he has a plan to redistribute the weight some that he hopes will start paying dividends as early as today. There is a bit of hope that things are improving however, as Burton noted that it is getting easier to ride than to hike-a-bike, which he has done a lot so far as he works his way up to the Plateau.

Finally, Ben Saunders and Tarka L'Herpiniere, collective the Scott Expedition team, are continuing to struggle with progress on the Beardmore Glacier. They have left the snow behind for now while they deal with hard, smooth and dangerous blue ice instead. In order to deal with those conditions, they've swapped their skis for crampons, although progress remains slow. It may be hard to believe, but the boys have now been out on the ice for more than 45 days, and yet they still have a long way to go on their attempt to complete Robert Falcon Scott's route to the South Pole and back to the coast again. As of yesterday, they still had 1257 miles (2022 km) to go before they are done. Hang in their lads!

That's all for today. More from the Antarctic soon I'm sure.

When I posted my Antarctic update earlier today I noted that that Ben Saunders and Tarka L'Herpiniere, who collectively make up the Scott Expedition, have now been out on the ice for more than a month. That has not been an easy four weeks for the boys and to get a sense of what they've been dealing with, they released this short video. The footage shows Ben and Tarka at their starting point at Scott's Hut and then gives us a glimpse of what it is like to pull heavy sleds across the frozen expanse that is Antarctica. Bundle up before watching this one, it looks a little cold.

A few days back I posted that the 2013 Antarctic season had officially begun with the first team departing Punta Arenas, Chile for the frozen continent. That team consists of veteran explorers Ben Saunders and Tarka L'Herpiniere who collectively make up the Scott Expedition. Over the next couple of months, the two men will attempt to complete the route used by Robert Falcon Scott on his way to the South Pole back in 1912. Scott himself was unable to finish that expedition, perishing on the return trip after discovering rival Roald Amundsen had beaten him to the Pole by a matter of weeks. Ben and Tarka will make that journey in a self-supported fashion as they look to finish what Scott started.

The team flew out of Punta Arenas on Monday and were shuttled to the Union Glacier camp for the first stage of their journey. They then spent a couple of days getting organized, prepping their gear and acclimatizing to the Antarctica. Yesterday they again boarded a plane and were taken to the Ross Ice Shelf, where they are now en route to the Scott Terra Nova Hut, the famous launching point for Scott's expedition. Even though it was built more than a century ago, the hut remains an important landmark on the continent.

When they were dropped off on the ice yesterday, the two men had to ski 32 km (20 miles) just to get to their starting point. They are expected to arrive there today and will likely take a brief rest before they start the real meat of the expedition. Once they're ready, they'll then begin moving south, pulling their heavily loaded sleds behind them as they set off across the Antarctic at last.

Once they're underway, Ben and Tarka expect to make daily – or at least frequent – updates from the field. In fact, as I write this they are a bit over due for their first check-in from the hut. Hopefully that update will come soon and we'll be able to follow them closely over the coming week. You can read those dispatches on the team's blog page.

In the days ahead I'll be following the progress of this expedition very closely. Expect to read about it regularly on the Adventure Blog. Other teams will soon join Ben and Tarka out on the ice, but for now most them look like they're a couple of weeks off yet. Since the lads are making a return trip from the Pole, they had to get a jump on the season. They'll also likely endure worse conditions in the early going.

Such is the life of an Antarctic explorer. Best of luck boys!

November is here at last which means the Antarctic adventurers are gathering in Punta Arenas, Chile and are preparing to set out for the frozen continent. The little village sees some unusual visitors this time of year as it is the launching point for the majority of skiers and climbers heading to the Antarctic for the season ahead. Some are already in town, sorting gear and waiting for a flight, while others have yet to depart. Of course, the Scott Expedition is already well under way as others seek to join them on the ice soon enough.

Ben Saunders and Tark L'Herpiniere, the two men who make up the team that is following in the footsteps of the legendary Robert Falcon Scott, have now been out on the trail for more than 11 days. Those days comprise just a fraction of the 110 that is expected to be required for a round trip journey to the South Pole and back to their starting point at Scott's hut, located on the Ross Ice Shelf. Still, the two men are starting to find a groove and covering solid distances despite pulling double-sleds filled with 400 pounds (181 kg) of gear and supplies. It has not been an easy start for the boys, who have already faced bone chilling temperatures and high winds, not to mention varying surface conditions.

In their latest dispatch, Ben reports that they ran into the dreaded sastrugi while skiing yesterday. For those who don't know, sastrugi are hard ridges that form as the wind blasts the snow across the frozen expanse. They can grow quite large at times and are usually detriment to South Pole skiers who lose time either going over or around them. On top of that, they can take their toll on the body as they put a lot of pressure on the hips and knees when skiing across them. Last year the sastrugi were particularly bad, causing all kind of problems for the skiers. Hopefully this is not a prelude of things to come once again this season and that the ice ridges won't be as common or as large as they were during the 2012 season.

While Ben and Tarka continue to press on, another South Pole skier is preparing to set out on the ice. Aussie Geoff Wilson will launch his Pink Polar Expedition as soon as the weather allows. He is currently in Cape Town, South Africa awaiting a flight to Novo Station where he will launch an solo and unassisted journey to the Pole to raise funds for the McGrath Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to place nurses specializing in breast cancer care into communities in Australia. Geoff's good friend Kate Carlyle was stricken with the disease and this is a way for him to help out. As a result, he's pulling a sled that is affectionally called the "boob sled" as it resembles a pair of rather large pink breasts (I'm not making this up people!). If nothing else, Geoff will at least make for an interesting site out on the ice.

The season is just on the edge of really exploding with more skiers soon starting out. In the days ahead we will likely have quite a steady stream of news. For now, it is the calm before the storm.

Just as the fall climbing season in the Himalaya begins to wrap up, the 2013 Antarctic expedition season is just about to get underway. As usual, there are a host of explorers heading to the frozen continent this year, most of whom will be making the journey on skis to the South Pole. The first of those explorers will hit the ice today, officially launching another season of adventure at the bottom of the world.

The first team to hit the ice is will be Ben Saunders and Tarka L'Herpiniere, the two men who are taking part in the Scott Expedition. They are on a plane out of Punta Arenas, Chile this morning and are now making their way towards Patriot Hills in Antarctic to start their journey. As you may recall, Ben and Tarka will attempt to make an unsupported round trip excursion to the South Pole and back, starting and ending at the Ross Ice Shelf, while following along the same route that Robert Falcon Scott took on his fateful expedition more than a hundred years ago. If successful, they'll be the first to complete the 1800 mile (2897 km) sojourn that claimed the lives of Scott and his men.

You can follow the expedition on their website, Twitter feed and Facebook page. The team is carrying a lot of communications gear and plans to making daily updates and dispatches to keep everyone informed of their progress. That's a far cry from Scott's days when the ultimate fate of the men wasn't known for months. But for those of us who enjoy learning about expedition life in the Antarctic and the challenges the explorers face, these updates should prove extremely interesting. The next time we hear from them, they will hopefully be in the Antarctic and preparing for the start of the expedion.

Ever wonder what kind of logistics are involved with getting an expedition such as this one off the ground? Then you'll want to watch the video below which shows Ben and Tarka preparing some of their gear. More importantly, it shows them packing their food, which is a painstaking task that takes a great deal of time but is absolutely necessary for survival out on the ice.

Just like clockwork, the 2013 Antarctic season appears to be ramping up right on schedule. We already know that the Scott Expedition is off and running, but soon they'll have company out on the ice. Veteran adventurer Richard Parks will soon embark on a solo expedition to the South Pole and he hopes to do so in record time.

Parks left the U.K. on Monday of this week and should be in Punta Arenas now. He is no doubt resting, sorting his gear and preparing for the flight to Union Glacier for the start of his speed attempt. He will be taking on the daunting task of trying to beat Christian Eide's speed record for traveling 1150 ki from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole, a distance of 1,150 km (715 mile), that was set in 2011. At the time, Eide managed to make that journey in an astounding 24 days, 1 hour and 13 minutes. To do that, he had to average 47 km (29 miles) per day, which anyone who knows anything about Antarctic travel will tell you is an insane pace. Parks hopes to go faster.

Richard has set a goal of completing his journey to the South Pole in 23 days. That means he'll have to average 50 km (31 miles) per day, which doesn't sound like a lot more but those extra kilometers it can really wear on someone day in and day out, particularly when they are dragging a heavy sled behind them the entire way.

If all goes as expected and the weather cooperates, he hopes to begin the expedition in mid-November. That means he has a couple of weeks to rest and prepare before heading out on the ice. I'll certainly be following his progress once he gets going.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned Scott Expedition continues to make progress, albeit at a slow pace. They boys have been on the trail for just five days but pulling the heavy sleds have made it tough so far. Their pace has dropped to as little as 1 km (.6 miles) per hour as they slog through powdery snow when they would prefer to be on hard pack. On top of that, the weather has taken a turn and gotten colder (-40ºC/F this morning!) and windier. They're now getting a real taste of what it is like to travel in Antarctica.

This was all to be expected of course and that's the reason Ben and Tarka set off early in the first place. It is also not uncommon for polar travelers to struggle early on, then find their groove once they've had a chance to acclimatize to the conditions. I suspect that will be the case here as well.

That's all for today. I'll update the progress of both of these expeditions as we get word and I'll post more starts as they come.

As I mentioned a few times last week, we're on the verge of the start of the 2013 Antarctic expedition season and soon numerous teams will be heading to the bottom of the world to ski to the South Pole, climb Mt. Vinson or explore some other location on the frozen continent. But one team got an early start to the season by setting off last week, and while they're just a few days into their epic journey, they are now moving south at last.

Last Monday, Ben Saunders and Tarka L'Herpiniere of the Scott Expedition flew from Punta Arenas, Chile to the McMurdo Station in Antarctica. They spent a few days there getting their gear and supplies organized before they caught another flight out to the Ross Ice Shelf, where they spent another day and a half skiing to their official starting point at the Scott Terra Nova Hut. Since they will be skiing in the footsteps of polar legend Robert Falcon Scott, and hoping to complete the route he couldn't, it seemed only fitting that Ben and Tarka set out from the same place that he did more than a century ago.

The boys have begun posting dispatches from the ice and so far it seems that conditions are good but the work is hard. Their sleds are at full capacity at the moment, which means they are pulling 200 kg (440 pounds) of gear and supplies behind them as they begin their 1800 mile (2896 km) journey to the South Pole and back again. Those sleds will get easier to pull as the food supplies start to dwindle, but for now it is tough going, especially since the snow is soft and powdery.


As a result of these heavy loads, Ben says they are covering about 2 km (1.2 miles) per hour, which doesn't sound very fast but is actually quite good for so early in the expedition. It usually takes a week or two for Antarctic explorers to acclimate to the temperatures and altitudes there and the body must adapt to the work load of skiing all day while puling a heavy sled behind them.

The weather has been great for the lads so far although as expected the temperatures are a bit brutal. This morning they are dealing with -30ºC/-22ºF with wind chills taking those temps down to -40ºC/F. It is a bit unusual to have such good weather at this point in the season, but I'm sure Ben and Tarka are happy to have it. It is not uncommon for Antarctic adventurers to encounter high winds, blowing snows and whiteout conditions as they get underway. In recent years, there have even been delays  to the start of the season due to poor weather at the traditional drop off point at Union Glacier.

With the first of November now just a few days away, we should start to see a few more teams making their way to Punta Arenas and preparing to head out on the ice. Because of the extreme distances involved with their expedition, Ben and Tarka set off as early as they could, but most won't be making a return trip from the Pole, so they'll have more to complete their expeditions. It'll also give them more time to allow the weather to be more conducive for travel.

Stay tuned for more soon. The season is just getting started.