Two days ago Roland Krueger became the first German to solo ski to the South Pole, and it sure didn’t sound easy. He skied for 64 days straight pulling a 286-pound sledge, often making as little as ten miles a day battling monster sastrugi — huge, overhead-high frozen waves of snow. Krueger was often forced to crawl, and in his wake are three more skiers. Icelander Vilborg Arna Gissurardóttir is very close and will become the first native of her country to reach the pole unaided. Farther back is American Aaron Lindsdau, who sent a radio diary yesterday about the mental torment of both the sastrugi and whiteout conditions: “Mechanically [I'm fit] but psychologically and emotionally, oh man, no fricken way, I’ve just gotten torn to ribbons. It’s mind junk that just eats you alive here.” Brit Richard Parks has even farther to go and tweeted: “Have rationed food to make 2 extra days up. 8 days to make it to the Pole, I’m going to be cutting it fine.” Via Explorersweb.

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Tags: exploration

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