hottweelz
Dedicated LVC Member
Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- A British-backed team of five explorers in Land Rovers has been thwarted by ``atrocious weather'' in a bid to be the first people to drive ``production'' vehicles to the South Pole, the expedition said. The team was part of a two-pronged expedition to the pole, in which Patrick Woodhead, 28, is leading four skiers there from the other side of Antarctica. The skiers were to meet and receive supplies from the Land Rover team at the pole, and then use kites to race them back to the Patriot Hills base. Some of the heaviest snowfalls in 15 years in Antarctica meant that ``deep, soft snow and drifts are everywhere,'' the Land Rover team said in a statement e-mailed late yesterday. ``The risk that the vehicles would become irretrievably bogged down en route to the Pole is just too great.'' Robyn Garbett, Stephen Cotton, Steve Jones, Martin Hartley and Conor Hipwell, who made up the Land Rover team, now plan to stay at the Patriot Hills base and organize air deliveries to provide the ski team with supplies, the team said on their Web site. The plan was for the team in the Ford Motor Co. Land Rovers to travel 700 miles (1,126 kilometers) each way. ``We have done everything possible to try to achieve this ambitious goal,'' Jones said in a statement on the Web site. ``The Land Rover team is committed to remaining in Antarctica, maintaining daily communication and providing support for the ski team.''
`Butcher Camp' The skiers began their assault on the pole on Nov. 15 after a 10-day delay caused by the weather. On Nov. 28, they surpassed the most dangerous part of the 1,150-mile journey when they completed a climb of the Axel Heiberg glacier, the first team to do so since that of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, who in 1911 became the first man to reach the South Pole. During the climb, the skiers passed Amundsen's ``Butcher Camp,'' where the Norwegian's expedition members killed and ate several of their dogs. The skiers are following Amundsen's route to the pole. The format of the 330,000-pound ($600,000) expedition, whose lead sponsor is Amvescap Plc's Invesco Perpetual brand, was inspired by British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, who last century envisioned a crossing of Antarctica with two teams meeting at the pole. His plan foundered when his ship, the Endurance, became frozen in sea ice in 1915. Shackleton also pioneered the use of motor vehicles on the continent. Two expeditions have successfully crossed Antarctica using motor power, using custom-made vehicles that ran on tracks rather than production cars using wheels.
`Butcher Camp' The skiers began their assault on the pole on Nov. 15 after a 10-day delay caused by the weather. On Nov. 28, they surpassed the most dangerous part of the 1,150-mile journey when they completed a climb of the Axel Heiberg glacier, the first team to do so since that of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, who in 1911 became the first man to reach the South Pole. During the climb, the skiers passed Amundsen's ``Butcher Camp,'' where the Norwegian's expedition members killed and ate several of their dogs. The skiers are following Amundsen's route to the pole. The format of the 330,000-pound ($600,000) expedition, whose lead sponsor is Amvescap Plc's Invesco Perpetual brand, was inspired by British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, who last century envisioned a crossing of Antarctica with two teams meeting at the pole. His plan foundered when his ship, the Endurance, became frozen in sea ice in 1915. Shackleton also pioneered the use of motor vehicles on the continent. Two expeditions have successfully crossed Antarctica using motor power, using custom-made vehicles that ran on tracks rather than production cars using wheels.