Every Monday evening the Royal
Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) (RGS-IBG) invites
inspirational speakers to lecture their members on subjects that simply blow
your mind away. As they whisk you up on their adventure through exotic
countries or exploring geographical questions, they exude a kind of passion that
makes the back of your neck tingle with excitement and awe, as another world
folds out in front of you. They illuminate colours in the world that you have
not noticed until now and as you listen, you realise there is so much more out
there, just waiting patiently for you to embark on your on expedition to
discover them. In the Ondaajte
Theatre you are always transformed into a more informed, enlightened person and
often with a new aspiration.
As a member I try to attend as
many Monday night lectures as possible, but I ensure I never miss one discussing
polar adventures full of bravery, hardships and determination.
My dream of visiting the
Antarctic to help further scientific knowledge was first ignited when I heard
Paul Rose (pictured above), Vice President of the RGS and polar expert, speak
about his time as the Base Commander of Rothera Research Station, Antarctica
for the British Antarctic Survey. Paul
Rose is the most inspirational, passionate and captivating person I have ever
met and he always has his audience entranced with his stories.
On Monday 18th 2013 my ambition
to work in Antarctica was strengthened by Jan-Gunnar Winther, director of the Norwegian
Polar Institute, who discussed his adventure of retracing Roald Amundsen in the
South Pole 1911-2011 Centenary Expedition to the South Pole (
http://sorpolen2011.npolar.no/en/).
Roald Amunsden (pictured below) was
a highly successful Norwegian polar explorer and the first person to capture
the South Pole on December 14th 1911, beating Robert Scott Falcon
and the Terra Nova Expedition by one month.
Amunsden had dreamed of venturing
to the South Pole for 10 years and during this time, he never allowed anyone to
steal this away from him.
Originally the FRAM’s third
voyage was to the Arctic to explore the North Polar basin, but Amundsen had a
much grander plan, he wanted to be the first to the South Pole. Amundsen kept his
intention top-secret, only confiding in his brother and the ship’s commander, even
the King of Norway was kept in the dark!
In 1909 he started making arrangements for the FRAM to head South and it
was not until she had set sailed from England in 1911 that the crew were
informed they were taking a small detour to the Antarctic!
|
The Fram, Antarctica |
This expedition took Amundsen a
lot of guts to carry out, because he placed a huge amount of pressure upon himself
having deceived the King of Norway, fooled his peers and was also in a
significant amount of debt. Amundsen
did not just need to succeed in reaching the Pole first, but he had to pull off
a spectacular triumph.
Antarctica is a very dangerous
place with its unforgiving landscape, extreme environment, cascades of ice and
riddles of crevasses. All of which,
make it challenging and frequently nigh on impossible to navigate through the labyrinth
of snow and ice.
Amundsen ventured into the
unknown from the Bay of Whales using his own calculations to navigate through
the white wilderness. Whereas the Centenary Expedition used remote sensing to
create their map and find the safest route that closely followed the footsteps
of Amundsen. How times have changed!
As a precaution, Amundsen had ice
caves built along their trail, so if the group or an individual became lost and
found one of these caves, they would know which direction to head in. This was very sensible, but Amundsen
did have other quite absurd ideas! Juan-Gunnar gave us an example. Amundsen
thought it was important for the group to reach the pole and return home in
clean underwear. At the last ice
cave before the pole, he therefore ordered everyone to change their dirty underwear
for a clean pair and then had someone place the dirty underwear on a pole on top
of the ice cave. Amundsen believed that when they returned from the pole to the
cave, the Antarctic wind would have blown their underwear clean!
Unlike Amundsen, who used huskie
dogs (initially he started with 52 and returned with 11!) to pull his sledges
filled with the essentials, the Centenary Expedition skied across the Antarctic
and pulled their sledges. They did
have one secret weapon up their sleeves and that was kites, they had planned to
speed across the snow and ice using kites but unfortunately, the wind rarely
blew in the right direction! This begs the question; are some traditional
methods still superior over modern innovations?
|
Team Kite Surfing (http://sorpolen2011.npolar.no/en/) |
Jan-Gunnar Winther had a very
good sense of humour and stressed the importance of keeping in good spirits
during a journey through Antarctica, as it’s easy to become demoralised in such
a place and lose momentum. This is because you are isolated from civilisation
and social interaction, therefore only have your thoughts to occupy oneself for
long periods of time and with experiencing very harsh conditions on a daily
basis, this all takes its toll on your
mind and body.
The Centenary Expedition found
skiing across the Ross Ice Sea Shelf especially difficult. The sea shelf moves continuously up and
down with the sea; a baron white landscape stretching out over an area so large,
it is hard for us mere mortals to understand. The pure whiteness of the landscape is only broken by the striking
blue horizon of the sky, however on many days the group faced gale force winds that
whipped up the snow, allowing them to only see a few feet in front of them. Not
even a penguin dares go this far!
Each evening the Centenary
Expedition updated their blog, please read their entries here to learn more
about their journey through Antarctica, it really is extraordinary (http://sorpolen2011.npolar.no/en/diary/).
I am very envious!
The team finished their
expedition in a magnificent ‘movie moment’, reaching the Pole just 17 minutes
before midnight on 14th December 2011, exactly 100 years later after
Amundsen.
|
Team at the Geographical South Pole (http://sorpolen2011.npolar.no/en/) |
When Juan-Guannar finished his
lecture I felt invigorated and more dedicated to my cause of visiting
Antarctica to carry out scientific research and trek across its unimaginable
landscape.
I view having CFS/M.E. as a minor
detour in my aim of reaching Antarctica and believe that the life skills I will
develop and learn through having this condition will place me in good stead for
when I finally begin my adventure.
Amundsen was extremely dedicated
to his dream and through his gritty determination and boldness he succeed in
fulfilling this dream. I look up to Amundsen and am inspired by his journey,
and like him, I shall not let anyone steal my dream away from me.