Two South African adventurers will be the first team to walk unsupported and unassisted to the South Pole, and one will be the first black person to accomplish this.
Speaking at the Extreme Lifestyle Centre in Fourways, Johannesburg, on Tuesday, Alex Harris and Sibusiso Vilane said no one will be putting out food or rigging up tents for them, and they won’t be using wind power, sled dogs or anything else to get there.
They will be leaving for the South Pole on November 4.
”It’s the purest form of getting to the South Pole,” said Harris.
Harris and Vilane — the first known black/white mountaineering partnership — have been preparing themselves for almost a year for the expedition.
”We have been training ourselves both mentally and physically, because we will be dragging sleds weighing 130kg to 140kg behind us for 60 days,” said Vilane.
They said that their target was 20km a day.
”Any mileage lost in a day must be made up or we run the risk of running out of supplies,” they explained.
Vilane said reaching the South Pole was his personal ambition and he wanted to fulfil his personal goal and ”inspire other black Africans”.
As part of their training, both men have been pulling tyres — which require a pulling force of 30kg to 40kg — every second day, covering a distance of about 17km per training session.
They have also used mine dumps as their training field and they have consumed olive oil to ensure their fitness.
”We’ll be consuming about 5 000 calories per day and will obviously lose about 7 000,” said Harris.
The two are the veterans of various extreme adventures including climbing Mount Everest in 2003 and again in 2005.
They first met in 2003 and that is when both expressed their desire to explore Antarctica.
Harris and Vilane said they were expecting to complete their walk to the South Pole in January.
”If the Lord gives us the will we want, and with the wind at our backs, we should make it,” said Harris.
The men will start out with temperatures of minus eight degrees Celsius at the edge of the continent of Antarctica.
Most of their time will be spent at about minus 20 degrees Celsius. — Sapa