Finally the day came! I could leave the tractor train where I had been cooking for a group of clients the last few weeks. They had all flown out and we were the only staff left.

Working for ALE gave me the opportunity to be in the center of Antarctica with a complete set of kites, enough food, fuel and gear to survive for 20 days, and most important: 1500km back to the base.

I chose to leave immediately even if the wind was a bit light (2-3m/s), and quite a lot from the side. I felt it was important to break with the comfort of the camp. Rigging up my 14m Yakuza on 60m lines gave me a decent 50km start in 4 hours.

Kiting in Antarctica, especially up high on the plateau is all about cold, high friction and light winds. The point where I started lies approximately 3300m above sea level. The temperature was roughly -30C. My first goal was to get to the South Pole. This was my start point for a record attempt on a route from there to Hercules Inlet, which is on the edge of the continent. This route covers 10 degrees of latitude or 1100km.

To get to the SP I had to kite around a clean air sector where all traffic is banned. This meant 400km with unfavourable wind directions. I used my 14m Yakuza for this whole leg, adjusting line lengths from 40 to 100 meters. It took me 5 days to cover this distance. This was a really valuable warm up trip, allowing me to fine tune the kit and getting used to the cold conditions.

At the pole there are a couple of dangers for an expedition. You need to cross a skyway for planes to access the pole itself. There are all sorts of buildings and antennas where you could accidentally park the kite. The approach area is also full of 2.5km deep holes drilled by a Swedish team and used to detect neutrinos. But the main danger is being trapped by the hospitality and friendliness of the pole people.

After spending almost 24 hours at the pole, I felt the need to hit the road. A poor weather forecast for the next day gave me the necessary kick in the ass. I packed up, still rigged with the biggest kite and got going. This was the 20th of January 2:30 in the morning.

I was determined to be efficient from now on without getting too exhausted. The first day was slow, I kited ‘til the kite fell out of the sky and was impossible to launch again. Having done the route two times before, I knew what was in front of me. The only insecurity was what the weather would throw at me. First there is 200km to the start of the downhill from the plateau. Down the hill the sastrugi gets bigger, sometimes more than 2 meters. Here the wind tends to pick up.

My plan was to get to the downhill as fast as possible. Luckily the wind picked up a bit the next day and I could do the first big day. For the first time since starting I camped while the wind increased. This was after doing a couple hundred kilometres on a sunny stabile day. It stayed sunny for the rest of the trip.

This evening I talked with Mark, the weather man at Patriot Hills. He told me that the catabatic wind would pick up the next days from Thiels Mountains and back toward Patriot Hills. That is the dream situation for a kiter on this route. It means clear weather and strong predictable tail wind.

I made a plan. My friend Niklas Norman and his team had the world record distance in 24hours. Kiting more than 440km in 24 hours on the Greenland icecap. When I planned my trip I didn’t think it would be possible to beat that in Antarctica. The surface here is rougher, and the impact on the knees and thighs would be too hard. But with a good forecast I decided to make the next day a test day. I would cover as much terrain as possible in 10 hours, make up the status and get a good rest.

The next day was fantastic and I covered almost 240km in 9 hours. Camping with the scenic Thiels Moutains in the horizon and getting ready for a record push the day after.

The weather man was right, the wind picked up and for the first time on the trip I had to pack down the Yakuza and find my 9m Haka. With this on 40m lines I set out at 0700. The wind picked up even more and I had to change to a 5.5m Cult, still on 40m lines. Going for 24 hours without real food felt stupid, so after 10 hours I put up my tent and had a 2 hour lunch break before the final push. Kiting through the night the conditions varied from smooth snow in between the sastrugi to rock hard surfaces. The smooth runs were fantastic kiting, always navigating through challenging ground. The hard stuff was painful.

Sometimes the wind got so rough I had to change to a 10m parawing, which is on shorter lines and a good tool when the going is tough. 0645 the next day I camped. The GPS showed 502km in a straight line to the start the day before.

I was now just outside Patriot Hills and Hercules Inlet was only 50km away. After having a good meal and a rest I chose to continue. This was maybe not the best decision, because of my tired legs and brain. The hill down to the Inlet had quite rough surface and the wind started to get gusty. One of the skis caught and released. I went flying between the kite in a loop and my sled coming from behind. Landing on my shoulder I tried to control the kite, but went flying again. This happened four times I think before I gave up and pulled a back line to kill the kite. It was a long walk back to my ski.

Finally I gave up kiting, the wind was all over the place. For the first time on the route I found my skins and poles and skied the last km to a nice landing place for my taxi, a twin otter.

A dream had come true. Being alone on maybe the best kite route in Antarctica with some of the best gear there is, lucky with weather and conditions.

WOW! You should have been there.

Ronny

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