Destination: The Pinnacles, Pirit Hills
Essence of the trip:
Journey to the end of the world on our most southerly expedition, which will transport you to the planet’s least explored continent for a truly one-of-a-kind adventure. Here you will venture by ski, sled and the adrenaline inducing method of snow-kiting through regions that few have ever attempted to travel through, taking in the imposing granite Pinnacles of the Pirit Hills region and the dramatic Independence Mountains.
This trip will give you:
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A true polar expedition across the ‘White Desert’ – an area yet to be fully geographically mapped. You will be carving your own paths in the most extreme conditions, and have the chance to climb a previously unclimbed peak near the South Pole.
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A journey through vast, spectacular scenery deep into the interior of Antarctica, with the opportunity to climb never before ascended peaks and explore seemingly endless polar landscapes en route.
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The chance to put your snow-kiting skills to the test and glide at high speeds over the frozen wilderness.
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The chance to awe at the incredible and rarely seen Aurora Australis, as you traverse one of the most inhospitable environments on Earth.
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An incredible sense of achievement once you have successfully completed an exercise in personal survival and a genuine wilderness exploration that few have been able to do before you.
Details:
Flying in from Patagonia, you will land on Antarctica’s permanently frozen ice blue runway in Patriot Hills at 80 degrees south – only 10 degrees from the South Pole itself. In a land where the sun never sets at all for half of the year, you will spend your first day acclimatizing to the otherworldly environment of Antarctica, bathed in 24-hour daylight.
After your first night out in the polar elements, your guides will instruct you on the specialist polar equipment and skills that you will need to complete your expedition and you will then spend time getting to grips with the pack sled hauling and cross-country skiing techniques that will provide your key methods of travel.
Once all of the equipment kit has been loaded onto a light aircraft, you will take a short flight towards the Pirit Hills, giving you the chance to enjoy an aerial view of the awe-inspiring landscapes of the Ellsworth Mountains, the Independence Range and vast plains of completely untouched terrain – which will be your only company for the next 10 days.
The Pirit Hills have had very few visitors and have never been fully explored. Your trip will therefore be a genuine journey into the unknown and will demand an extensive range of Polar survival skills and endurance, so your expert guides will instruct you on techniques such as how to build emergency shelters, navigate safely across crevasses and a vast range of other skills that you will need to draw upon during the course of your expedition.
For the next five days you will then journey across the interior of Antarctica, hauling a sled or using cross country skis as you navigate through mesmerizing vistas, where dramatic granite rock pinnacles pierce through the seemingly endless sea of snow and ice. Once you’ve mastered the sled and skis your guide will assist you on embarking on a days snow-kiting excursion across the ice caps at high speeds. En route you will have a real possibility of discovering fossils and fallen meteorites that scar the landscape and you will also be able to scale previously unclimbed peaks within the dramatic Independence Mountain range. As night falls you’ll bed down in ice dens that have been temporarily carved for you where you can watch as the Aurora Australis flickers over the sky.
The sense of achievement when you finally arrive back at Patriot Hills will be incredible, as you will have safely completed a true polar expedition and will have explored one of the most geographically and climatically extreme environments on Earth, accessing places that no-one has ever been before.
If you are interested in taking this trip and would like to discuss it in more detail with our team of experts get in touch here or call us on 0207 426 9899 (UK) or 1-888 341 9663 (US) to start planning your trip.