Our route will see us travel 2,100km from Berkner Island to the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf on the other side of the continent, via the South Pole.

The start

We will start on the outer coastline of Antarctica, near Gould Bay, at the northern end of Berkner Island. From there we will ski southeast. Pulling our pulks that will weigh over 100kg across the island and the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf.

The first 300km or so will have gentle climbing as we cross the island. The temperatures in this region are much warmer than up on the plateau, making over-heating a risk. However, it is common to get deeper snow on this part, making it harder to pull the sleds. After we leave Berkner, then it’s pretty flat (aside from the sastrugi fields!) as we cross the ice shelf, covering 150km until we reach the actual continent.

This is where the work will really begin!!

Up and onward to the Pole

To travel up to the Antarctic Plateau, we will ski up the Support Force Glacier. This route to the Pole was pioneered by renowned polar explorer Eric Philips in 2022-2023. The glacier, which features several heavily crevassed zones, climbs up from just above sea level to 1050m over around 110km. From there, it’s just a constant climb for the next 700km to the South Pole, at just over 2800m.

As we get higher and closer to the Pole, temperatures will plummet, often reaching -40C and lower. When temperatures get that low, it becomes much harder to glide as you’re skiing, making travel more strenuous. We can also expect some terrific winds flowing down from the plateau, as colder air sinks towards the coast. Plenty of sleepless “nights” in the 24 hours of sunlight we’ll be experiencing!

Eric and his team reported several huge areas of sastrugi in the region. These are strange formations cut out of the ice by the wind, often reaching a couple of metres high. Sastrugi will be especially challenging in whiteout conditions which are so frequent on the continent. In whiteouts, you literally can’t see anything beneath your feet until you’re falling off the edges of the ice!! At least the slow ascent might make it easier to acclimatise to the altitude. While the South Pole is at 2,800m, due to the extreme latitudes, it feels more like 4,000m.

And across to the other side…

The sun would have been behind us as we travelled towards the South Pole. However, as we continue back north, it will largely be directly in our eyes during the day. We’ll be on the other side of the world!! While of course we will be wearing goggles, we shall see how it goes. Altering our daily schedule, to ski at “night” when the sun is behind us is an option. We’ll also keep climbing across the Titan Dome in the Queen Maud mountain range, which reaches up to around 3,100m. This will mean even colder temperatures. Being even higher will also make breathing becomes even harder.

Altogether it’s around 420km or so from the Pole to the top of the Reedy Glacier. Half of this will be spent climbing up and over the Titan Dome. Once over the dome, it’s a gradual descent until the top of the glacier, at around 1,800m. Reedy is our gateway through the Trans Antarctic Mountains to the Ross Ice Shelf. Funnily enough, the route down it was also pioneered by Eric Philips – what a guy!

There are multiple glaciers that descend from the polar plateau through these mountains. However, many of them are perilously dangerous and crevasse fields dominate. Just looking at satellite imagery and contoured maps quickly gives an idea of what they might be like! The Reedy Glacier is one of the safest. At least we’ll have the pleasure of a rapid descent!

While the Reedy Glacier is less crevassed than other glaciers, we will still need to be careful. Back to roping up! Fatigue will also be an increasing issue. Also, by the time we reach here, we will have spent over around 80 days on the ice. Burning around 7,000 calories a day pulling our sleds, so we most likely will have lost 10-15kg of weight.

Once we make it to the bottom of the glacier, however, it will… hopefully, be a breezy steadily downhill journey to the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf, with minimal crevasse risks and the finish line in sight. Just that old problem of fatigue and exhaustion to deal with, but we can’t have everything!