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Colin O’Brady has become the be the first human to complete the first solo, unaided, unsupported crossing of Antarctica.
A couple months ago we gave a preview of Colin O’Bradys expedition as he began his attempt to ski and skin his way across the south-most continent. A feat people have attempted for over 100 years, however until today, remained undone.
On December 26th, 2018 Colin O’brady completed the impossible and reach the other side. The route across the continent was L-shaped to include passage through the South Pole.
Colin departed the 932-mile journey on November 3rd, completing the crossing in only 54 days. This is more than two weeks faster than the planned pace to complete in 70 days.
He began at the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf, the side closest to New Zealand. His intended route is L-shaped, allowing him the shortest distance from one side of the continent to the other while still passing through the South Pole.
One factor that has made the expedition impossible is traveling with the amount of food required to sustain a person burning that many calories for that many days. Colin believed this is the one element of the expedition that all others who have attempted have miscalculated. To overcome this challenge he worked with his sponsor, Standard Process, to develop the “Colin Bar” for an optimized calorie-to-weight ratio.
Whether or not the Colin Bars were in fact the key, they seemed to work as Colin obviously found the energy required to complete the impossible.
Colin made an impressive 32-hour push to finish the last 80 miles of the crossing in one fell swoop.
“I just felt locked in for the last 32 hours, like a deep flow state. I didn’t listen to any music — just locked in, like I’m going until I’m done. It was profound, it was beautiful, and it was an amazing way to finish up the project.” – Colin O’Brady
To say this was a pretty amazing project and accomplishment is an understatement, especially considering no human has ever done this before. Color us impressed!
