Wednesday morning / Day 4: Yesterday was another very hard day as they continued climbing through the Triangle area and into Valley of Silence. Wind from earlier days have almost erased the trail from the previous expeditions so it was tough. But another 12km and 560 metres up mean they are nearing the end of the Axel Heiberg Glacier and a god day today may see then round the Engelstad Mountain and climb over the brow! It may, the wind is very strong with a chilling -30°C up on the plateau – so we’ll see.

Jann og Pernille

Tuesday / Norway: Then the wait is over and the South Pole Jubilee of the Century can start! Today, 6 crazy guys from Snåsa left from Trondheim and Pernille and Jann left from Oslo. They met up in Paris for the long trans Atlantic flight to Santiago.

In Santiago summer will great them and Roman and Coco will join them for the last leg all the way south to Punta Arenas. There Børge and Bengt have been hard at work for some time to prepare, pack and organize everything.

Over the next days, the team will gather, pack, test and get ready for flying out to Antarctica the 3. December (hopefully).

SATURDAY: As they were left off, they did a short 5km trek just to get the feel of everything. The first day was used on enhancing details and routines. But ready for a careful, feel the altitude, first full day the weather hit them. -30°C and a full gale meant it was just too risky to venture out for skiing. So they were tent bound as we later heard several other expedition were on Saturday.

By Monday morning the wind had eased off somewhat and they were contemplating giving it a go. We will find out when they call in late tonight. The are, as Amundsen, following the New Zealand time zone, so reports will come at strange hours.

FRIDAY: Finally the wait was over! Igor and Victor was flown by Twin Otter from Union Glacier, over the South Pole and to Amundsen’s 54^th Camp. From here they will start their quest to reach the South Pole at the 100 Years anniversary of Amundsen’s conquering along his route.

It will not be an easy task as they start at almost the highest point where big altitude, headwind and sever cold will mean they need time just to acclimatise and get up to speed.

The reason for them doing this trip alone is the very long delay caused by weather and technical issues. They had planned to start out with Christan Eide and the Ousland Team, but as Igor’s wife is expected to the South Pole for the 14^th, they made the hard decision to break away and go alone.

By this they have shortened the distance somewhat and given themselves a fair chance of reaching the Jubilee in time, while still following on the ski tracks of Roald Amundsen from 1911. We will follow them here on www.Ousland.com

Igor and Victor in the Twin Otter

Climbing hard / Det var den dagen get var så brat

Thuesday morning/ day 3: Yesterday was a stunner of a day. They moved 8,4km into an icefall that took their breath away. Enormous crevasses decorated the area as they were happy to take a big bite out of this wild area.

Not only did they negotiate lots and very big crevasses, they moved from about 1000m up to 1560m! Jacob, Ottar and Trond did a superhuman effort in deepening and heavy snow as they took turn in breaking a trail.

Rory and Teo are the entertainers in the group. Teo, the youngest, is teaching Rory the eldest how to count in Norwegian. For this favour Rory has to carry Toe’s trash and do the cooking! – Somehow we feel we have not heard the last from those two…