Things are wrapping up out on the ice, as the final teams reach their goals. The Antarctic season is nearly over for another year, but for now, there are some intrepid explorers still toiling away.
The biggest news at the moment is probably that the Shackleton Centenary Team are now camped a short distance from the South Pole and should reach their final destination, on schedule, tomorrow. It has been a long road for the boys, who arrived on the ice at Shackleton's Hut way back on the 13th of November. Now, more than two months later, they are just about home. For several of the team members this will be an especially emotional day as they finish up what unfinished business for their families. Several members of the team are direct descendants of original members of Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition which stopped 97 miles short of the Pole back in 1908. As of today, weather conditions are good, and they should have no problems reaching their goal tomorrow.
The South Pole Quest Team are still trying to make their way home back to Canada, and are now not expected to until Tuesday. But they continue to update their website and answer questions about their journey, which makes it fascinating to hear their thoughts after their expedition is done. One of the questions answered is: "What was the biggest problem you faced during your expedition?" You can hear their audio response by clicking here.
Mark Langridge has updated his website as well with a host of photos and blog updates. According to the latest report, Mark should arrive back home in the U.K. tomorrow for a much deserved rest. Before getting there though he'll suffer through an 8 hour layover at the Santiago airport, before a 10 hour flight to Madrid, and another 8 hour layover before finally heading home to London.
Thomas Davenport sends word that they are more than half-way back to Patriot Hills as they continue to make good time using the kites. His latest dispatch, which is curiously dated the 31st of August, 2007, says that they chalked up 66 nautical miles, but not with out an incident or two. Thomas openly admits to some spectacular crashes along the way, but none caught on camera as of yet. Darn!
Finally, Mike Horn updates us that he is now enjoying traveling with others and sharing the trail. He is expecting to hit the South Pole early next week, but possibly sooner at the faster rate they are all traveling now. Once there, he'll turn around and head back to the coast via kite as well.
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