LOVE LOVE National Geographic’s Crossing the Ice – AMMMMMAAAAZING!
Was it the snow, the location or just the impossibility of the challenge itself? Yep, probably the latter.
Best film of the year. Highly recommended!
Next time you’re in the gym & they call you crazy for thinking you can finish an Ironman, without EVER competing & completing a triathlon (never mind age) – watch these 2 Aussies first learn to ski, then reach the South Pole unassisted.
Absolutely anything is possible.
After the crossing the Tasman the boys took on an even more audacious challenge – the first ever unsupported trek from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back. Starting with very limited experience they spent months researching, consulting with experts from all round the globe, training in the Arctic and NZ, rehearsing the skills they would need to survive in the highest, driest, windiest and coldest place on Earth.
Pulling loads that started at 160kg and temperatures as cold as -40 C, they battled frostbite, injury, whiteouts, crevasses, gear failure and slow starvation. During the 89 days it took them to ski 2275km without any outside support or assistance they lost a combined 55kg of body weight. Their adventure set a new benchmark and raised the bar of polar exploration globally.
Facts about Crossing the Ice:
- Crossing the Ice was the first EVER unsupported return journey to the South Pole.
- Cas and Jonesy are the youngest team to ever reach the South Pole.
- Previous attempts: Jon Muir, Peter Hillary and Eric Phillips attempted the return journey in 1998. They reached the South Pole after 84 days on the ice but didn’t complete the return. Kiwi adventurers: Kevin Biggar and Jamie Fitzgerald also attempted the return journey in 2007, their attempt was also unsuccessful.
- Less people have man hauled to the South Pole (58 people) than have stood on the summit of Mt Everest (4600).
‘Crossing the Ice’
Back in Reykjavik with 20 hours ’til my return flight to Denver. Rest, relax? Heck, no. Shelled out a fast 5400 ISK (Icelandic króna) – tonite’s my last chance to see the Northern Lights!
Quick dinner, then boarded a bus to Iceland’s western fjords with Stephen & new Aussie friend Maria. Best chance to see the Lights (& first possibility since September 5th) were tonite on Iceland’s western edge.
Clear, cold night; windy & 6 degrees. Waited in pitch darkness, high on a knoll for the Lights to start the dance.
No more than 20 minutes in, folks started to murmur. Faint clouds seemed to stretch, elongate upward, diagonally. Gray to pink – and then, the most amazing greens. FAAAANNNNTASTIC!
Surprisingly almost as soon as these illuminated solar flares began to dance, they would then shrink, diminish, disappear. That said, once the show started, the frequency of light & colour came in rapid succession.
Another ‘WOW’ event off my bucket list. Cannot adequately express how it feels to see this phenomenon in person.
Re-boarded the bus near midnight, mission accomplished. Honestly, I don’t dream BIG enough. I pray/hope/dream on a scale from 1-10, my God blesses me using a scale 1-100. So very blessed!
Quick shut-eye, then used Reykjavik’s local bus service to briefly explore the city before my Colorado return – Highlights: Reykjavik Art Museum & Hallgrímskirkja (Lutheran church).
Goodbye Iceland — land of volcanoes, glaciers, waterfalls & rainbows! I leave inspired, forever changed.
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- Northern Lights over Iceland’s Western fjords
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- super cold, windy & 6 degrees — would I do it again? YES!
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- STUNNING solar flares
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- most AMAZING greens – will NEVER forget this night!
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- SPECTACULAR!
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- Reykjavik Art Museum
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- Tomas Martisauskis: Creature (postmodern take on the relationship between sculptural matter and the space)
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- Zilvinas Kempinas: Fountains (pools of magnetic tape waves driven by heavy-duty industrial fans)
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- troll envy
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- Hallgrimskirkja (Lutheran church) — designed to resemble basalt lava flows of Iceland’s landscape
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- Goodbye Iceland! I leave inspired, forever changed.
7 days ago my island circle tour left Reykjavik. Traveled first across southern Iceland (viewed waterfalls, geysers, icebergs & glaciers), looped up into the eastern fjords (discovered fish leather fashions), then encountered 3 days of unseasonable snow travelling over mountain passes in Iceland’s North (Viking snow swim in Mývatn).
Today, SUNSHINE 🙂 as we completed the loop through Western Iceland.
First stop – Deildartunguhver, the world’s largest and most powerful hot springs – gurgling at a piping hot 200°F.
WATCH my short clip ‘Deildartunguhver (Iceland)’!
2nd stop – Hraunfossar & Barnafoss waterfalls. A series of cascading waterfalls, Hraunfossar (Lava Falls) pours from a lava field lying under the glacier Langjökull. In layman terms – BEAUTIFUL!
Barnafoss (Children’s Falls) on the other hand pushes through a volcanic rock canyon before also emptying into the river Hvítá.
Many Icelandic folk tales have been associated with Barnafoss, the most famous being about two boys from a nearby farm, Hraunsás. One day, the boys’ parents went with their ploughmen to a church. The boys were supposed to stay at home, but as they grew bored they decided to follow their parents. They made a shortcut and crossed a natural stone-bridge that was above the waterfall. But on their way, they felt dizzy and fell into the water and drowned. When their mother found out what had happened, she put a spell on the bridge saying that nobody would ever cross it without drowning himself. A little while later, the bridge was demolished in an earthquake.
Finale – Þingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park where the Alþingi, an open-air assembly representing the whole of Iceland, was established in 930 and continued to meet until 1798. It was here that Christianity was introduced as the official religion of Iceland. AND in 1944, Iceland declared its independence (from Denmark) at Þingvellir.
All super interesting but for me – Today’s Highlight: the Eurasian & North American tectonic plates jutting dramatically from the valley’s volatile surface. An active fault line runs diagonally across Iceland (SW to NE) & is the source of earthquakes and major volcanic eruptions (every 4 years on average).
Amazing tour end – STUNNING!
Back in Reykjavik with 20 hours ’til my return flight to Denver. Rest, relax? Heck, no. Shelled out a fast 5400 ISK (Icelandic króna) – tonite’s my last chance to see the Northern Lights!
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- Western Iceland
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- Delidartunguhver, world’s largest & most powerful hot springs
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- SUPER hot, 200°F!
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- Hraunfossar waterfall (Lava Falls)
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- Barnafoss (Children’s Falls) – sadly, named for 2 boys believed to have fallen into the river below
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- funny, yet on-point warning
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- Thingvellir Nat’l Park
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- Eurasian (foreground) & North American tectonic plates
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- stunning natural beauty
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- scenic North American tectonic plate & fault line area
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- Althing, Icelandic parliament, was established in 930 and continued to meet until 1798
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- sunshine, snow & volcanic rock – nope, can’t stop smiling
