Ray T

Went along to Tower Bridge last night to see this expedition setting off.
My youtube footage here http://youtu.be/neU_OmE-CxM?t=20s filmed from HMS Belfast.

Have a look at the http://www.thecoldestjourney.org/ for info on whats going on. This is better than any reality program.

Ray t

dpb

Be honest I'm less convinced on this one, maybe I haven't got it right


There's a pair of em up front on skis followed all the way by some geezer in a jcb (with everything they need)

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

Er, he is aged 68 ffs!

TX.

Edit - plus "exposing themselves to temperatures dropping close to -90c and operating in near permanent darkness"

Ray T

There are 2 of the CATS, the test apart from Ran and Anton doing the six month 2000 Mile walk (4 months in total darkness!) , Is that Cats haven't really been extended tested much past -60 C , this is a real test as -90 C is a possibillity on this expedition, there even taking a specialist welder as there expecting the steel tracks to give up on occasions.

They have to take everything they need or they wont get the FCO licence

dpb

Is that with wind chill??
I'm not taking anything anyway from ralphy, he's national treasure

Damn it he's almost royalty

Lydia72

I went to 'An Evening with RF' event a few months ago and managed to have a brief chat with him in the interval.
He is very charming, funny, inspiring and a little bit bonkers. Also has quite good handwriting considering...

Ray T

That is still air temp! in context when I was there on a "summer crossing" we got down to -36C still air and -47 wind chill. Extra context no plane is allowed to land at southpole station when temp drops below -50.5 C as the hydraulics become suspect.

mart360

read his autobiography some years ago...

***** of steel

Much repect to him, he readily acknowledges that the cats are tested to -60, and there going to -90

He's the one out in the elements upfront

Mart

dpb

Pah, .,it was colder than that in my bathroom this morning


Good advertisement for cat, are they sponsering ?

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

What I don't get is why they are taking those massive mega heavy Cats when they could take the much lighter, more practical and much better Hagglund BV206 snow cat or whatever its successor is.

Ray T

wurzel, their towing over 100 tons of fuel plus two caboses.

Leslie

What a bunch of brave nutters!

Les

Wish

iTrader: (2)

I have a terrible feeling he won't come back ......

Wish him all the luck in the world though.

mart360

This gives you an idea of what there going to be in...

This is -40c there going for -90c!!



There going to be in temps of minus -60c to -90c


Just imagine how there breath is going to react in that weather


Mart

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

I'm loving the website, anyone know what its been made in? I do a bit of web design and would love to know what CMS that was written in.

Ray T

Mart this was our take on the hotwater experiment .

http://vimeo.com/26279618

mart360

Is that you? And where was that?

mart

Ray T

I Was Out Of Shot On That Take, This Was From Our 2010 TransAntarctic Expedition http://www.transantarcticexpedition.com/ the guy chucking the water is Vern Tejas our crevasse expert and fantastic cook, the guy in the red jacket is Andrew Regan one of the team priciples.

This day 2 years ago we had just completed the first part of the crossing from union glacier to the ross ice shelf and started the return crossing.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

I have to say that is a fantastic achievement, and looks like it may be a better setup than the Ranulph expedition. Having two skiers up front towing a GPR on a sledge sounds like really hard work. I'm guessing the Biv you had was for that purpose?

Camsedin

wouldn't be me lol

Ray T

That was the initial idea for the BIV along with it being the 1st biofuelled vehicle to get to the pole, but what we found in practice was it was to fast for the GPR data acquisition so we could'nt use it, we were going to try data streaming to one of the trucks as the BIV driver needed to keep his eyes on the terrain, what we found was that the BIV had such a minimal surface impact it could go straight over crevases, it was leaving tracks of about 10mm deep, we didnt think this was too bad for something weighing about 850KG that load was spread over about 18 sq feet of skids, For the crevasse field zones we instead jury rigged an ali A frame onto the front of one of the trucks for the GPR in the danger zones.
Ranulph wont have to pull his GPR all the time as there are the know zones of danger ( I am presuming the guys with have a safety line attached at all times anyway).