The first Solo snowmobile trip accross Antarctica
Discussion
Hi all
On a recent visit my brother in law informed us that for his latest adventure he was going to attempt the first ever solo crossing of Antarctica on a snowmobile.
Now Dr Bob as we call him (well he is a doctor) is an outdoors man of the first degree. If he is not competing in iron man contests then he is off climbing some mountain in some far flung part of the world. He is an adventurer from the old school, single minded to the point of arrogance but we love him all the same. As you can imagine my other half is scared out of her mind about the huge number of things that could go wrong on this near 3000km journey as is his other half, but he has our full support.
As you can imagine the logistics of such a trip are helish, fuel dumps etc will need to be set up along the route etc
My kids think he is a hero and will be following his trip as a school project using GPS and a radio phones etc.
From Bob’s point of view he is not only doing this because it has never been done before but because he also wants to highlight the conservation issues around one of the last un-spoilt parts of our planet.
If you are interested in following his adventure then you can check out his website at
http://antarcticcrossing.wordpress.com/
He will be hoping to get corporate sponsorship to help with the near $500k cost of this trip if not then it will all be coming out of his own back pocket. So please “like” him on Facebook as anything we can do to help raise the profile of this adventure would be really fantastic.
Thanks
On a recent visit my brother in law informed us that for his latest adventure he was going to attempt the first ever solo crossing of Antarctica on a snowmobile.
Now Dr Bob as we call him (well he is a doctor) is an outdoors man of the first degree. If he is not competing in iron man contests then he is off climbing some mountain in some far flung part of the world. He is an adventurer from the old school, single minded to the point of arrogance but we love him all the same. As you can imagine my other half is scared out of her mind about the huge number of things that could go wrong on this near 3000km journey as is his other half, but he has our full support.
As you can imagine the logistics of such a trip are helish, fuel dumps etc will need to be set up along the route etc
My kids think he is a hero and will be following his trip as a school project using GPS and a radio phones etc.
From Bob’s point of view he is not only doing this because it has never been done before but because he also wants to highlight the conservation issues around one of the last un-spoilt parts of our planet.
If you are interested in following his adventure then you can check out his website at
http://antarcticcrossing.wordpress.com/
He will be hoping to get corporate sponsorship to help with the near $500k cost of this trip if not then it will all be coming out of his own back pocket. So please “like” him on Facebook as anything we can do to help raise the profile of this adventure would be really fantastic.
Thanks
Pothole said:
Great way to highlight conservations issues: spew out a load of fumes and half burnt two stroke oil and, no doubt, leave piles of discarded equipment littered about the place. All hail the adventurer! 
Wow!! And how much research did you do before you spouted that load of ignorant bile? Some people.......Edited by Streetrod on Sunday 12th May 11:19
Streetrod said:
Pothole said:
Great way to highlight conservations issues: spew out a load of fumes and half burnt two stroke oil and, no doubt, leave piles of discarded equipment littered about the place. All hail the adventurer!
Wow!! And how much research did you do before you spouted that load of ignorant bile? Some people.......Edited by Streetrod on Sunday 12th May 11:19
No mate, not at all. Someone is trying to do something good to highlight an issue which is not only is going to cost him a great deal financially but could also cost him his life, and your first reaction is to have a dig. This is my other half's brother so have a little heart.
Your comments say more about you than I ever could
Your comments say more about you than I ever could
I'm sceptical is all. The mounds of waste equipment on Everest etc. Tell me what I need to know about the kind of people who do this type of thing.
You yourself mention fuel dumps. Do you know for a fact that those are going to be collected and all traces of his passage through virgin wilderness removed?
I'm sure all 3 of us could come up with a more productive way of spending $500,000 to promote awareness of a cause.
You yourself mention fuel dumps. Do you know for a fact that those are going to be collected and all traces of his passage through virgin wilderness removed?
I'm sure all 3 of us could come up with a more productive way of spending $500,000 to promote awareness of a cause.
Pothole said:
I'm sceptical is all. The mounds of waste equipment on Everest etc. Tell me what I need to know about the kind of people who do this type of thing.
You yourself mention fuel dumps. Do you know for a fact that those are going to be collected and all traces of his passage through virgin wilderness removed?
I'm sure all 3 of us could come up with a more productive way of spending $500,000 to promote awareness of a cause.
The reason this one man trip is costing so much is that the logistics involved are a nightmare. Yes he has to arrange for fuel dumps to be flown out and placed on the ice for him to find as there is no way he can carry enough, on the flip side it would be illegal for him to leave any trace of the fact that he has been there. Everything taken on has to be taken off.You yourself mention fuel dumps. Do you know for a fact that those are going to be collected and all traces of his passage through virgin wilderness removed?
I'm sure all 3 of us could come up with a more productive way of spending $500,000 to promote awareness of a cause.
Yes there are many ways he could spend his own hard earned $500k, but this is what he wants to do and how he wants to highlight an issue, who are we to say he shouldn’t.
If the only factor is cost then most of mankind’s great adventures should never have been undertaken as the return on investment has been little or nothing.
Do his sister and I want him to go, given a choice then no? We have already seen another English guy loose his life in Antarctica this year and my others half’s greatest fear is that her only brother could die alone on the ice. But he is determined so we will support him as much as possible. I was just hoping others would get behind him and show support
Silent1 said:
I thought he was being sponsored?
But it does have a delicious irony that he's taking a machine across virgin wilderness to highlight mankinds destruction
Look the irony is not lost on me, but its because it has not been done before. As for sponsorship, he will take it if offered, but has budgeted to pay for it himself if none is forthcomingBut it does have a delicious irony that he's taking a machine across virgin wilderness to highlight mankinds destruction
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