THE FIRST FINNISH ANTARCTIC SOLO EXPEDITION
"Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has yet been devised." — Cherry-Garrard.
 My aim is to ski across the Antarctica to South Pole solo, unsupported and unassisted starting on November 2008. My expedition starts from 80th latitude and ends to 90th latitude to Amundsen-Scott Base on the South Pole.
Only one engine and a pair of well trained skies will participate on the expedition. The slegde will contain 100 kilos of equipment and gear of which most is food and fuel for the cooker.
In total the expedition measures approx. 1100 kilometres and will take 50-60 days by skiing. The hardest obstacles in the expedition are the constant physical strain on the body and the psychological pressure of lonelyness.
 Eventhough the cold temparatures are usually not the issue for Scandinavians, on solo expeditions it is an important factor which has to be recognised as it counts to the overall work load. The continous cold enviroment adds to the psychological stress but with the best equipment and appropriate preparations this can be reduced to a manageable level.
Navigation and communication present techical problems which are solved by satellite navigation systems and satellite phones. Ordinary compass navigation becomes unreliable as specially made compasses with south weighted needles are needed. The enviroment and weather combined also can create a navigational problem as on white-out situations no fixed points can be seen. The satellite phones provide a media channel and a safety line to the outside world. Daily dispatches of pictures, text and video can be sent to media and sponsors to keep the audience updated as expedition goes on.
If you want to know more about my expedition or if you want to support or sponsor my expedition please contant me by email: teemu.lakkasuo [at] etelanapa.fi.
You can follow my preparation and expedition on these pages.
Contact information:
Teemu Lakkasuo
teemu . lakkasuo [at] southpole . fi
tel. +358 (0)40 56 222 99
NEWS
-01.11.2009- The unassisted problem of South Pole route
A lot of people are again starting their expeditions to South Pole this season and are at the moment counting days to get on skiis and start the arduous journey through the icy wastelands. Some of them might be team expeditions and some solo.
As the Explorersweb defines assistance: "Assist refers to the outside help received by an expedition." (www.adventurestats.com). I think the definition mostly means that you should not be in direct contact to other expeditions or other persons or to pick up any extra gear, food, fuel or other things after you've started your expedition...
Read more from DIARY.
-31.12.2008- Madrid
Teemu has arrived to Madrid and if the last flight from Madrid to Helsinki is on time Teemu will arrive to Finland around 4 pm. Read more from DIARY.
-29.12.2008- Heading home...
Teemu will fly today to Santiago and continue from there tomorrow towards Helsinki. Read more from DIARY.
-27.12.2008- Punta Arenas
The flight to Punta Arenas was finally on and Teemu has started his trip to home. Read more from DIARY.
-20.12.2008- Patriot Hills
Teemu arrived to patriot Hills and is waiting the next flight to Punta Arenas. Read more from DIARY.
-15.12.2008- AT THE SOUTH POLE!
Teemu has reached THE SOUTH POLE today at 15:30 Chilean time. Read more from DIARY.
-12.11.2008- 80. parallel of latitude has been crossed
80. parallel of latitude has been crossed and the official expedition is now in operation. Read more from DIARY.
-11.11.2008- Ready to go at Hercules Inlet
Flight to Hercules Inlet went safely and the official expedition starts tomorrow when I cross the 80. parallel latitude. Read more from DIARY.
-10.11.2008- At Patriot Hills
The weather looked promising this morning and we all headed to Punta Arenas airport. At 10.30 am our plane finally took off to Patriot Hills. Read more from DIARY.
-08.11.2008- Flight delayed
Today it became certain that the flight will be delayed due to harsh winds in Antarctica. The flight might be possible tomorrow, but Monday seems more likely at the moment. Read more from DIARY.
-03.11.2008- Punta Arenas
The flights from Helsinki to Punta Arenas through Madrid and Santiago de Chile went safely and I arrived in Punta Arenas late at night on Monday. Flight to Patriot Hills, Antarctica departures hopefully on Saturday 8.11.2008. Before that I have plenty of checking and repacking to do. Read more from DIARY.
-29.10.2008- Fitness test...
Finally I had time to see last weeks fitness test results. The results were not a big suprise eventhough MaxVO was average. The reason for not so great results is the 15 kilos I've managed to fatten myself. Read more from DIARY.
-26.10.2008- Less than a week to go...
I recieved the YellowBrick location beacon which I'm going to use during the expediton. The transmitter only has one switch and to turn it on I just need to remove one small magnet from the box. Read more from DIARY.
-20.10.2008- 12 days...
Less than two weeks to go... During the last weeks there's still a lot of things to do. Next thursday I'm going to a physical fitness test and the locator beacon test's are scheduled on Friday. Read more from DIARY.
Older News ==>
|
Follow the expedition with a RSS-feed