Icelander Vilborg Arna Gissurardóttir has completed around 800 kilometers of her 1,140 kilometer journey to the South Pole.
Greenland, one of the locations where Vilborg trained for the journey. Photo: Páll Stefánsson/Iceland Review.
On Sunday, Day 42 of the trek, she had around 330 kilometers left, which she estimated would take her about 13 days to complete. On Wednesday she wrote on her blog that the journey was particularly challenging due to sastrugi.
“The sastrugis were very challenging this morning and I often had to put my skis on the sleds throughout the day to drag them around this maze of sastrugis. This was due to either the sleds being upside down or completely stuck. I’m skiing through areas with crevasses and had to cross one big one this afternoon.”
Vilborg is carrying two sledges with supplies and equipment, which weighed 100 kilograms at the beginning of her journey. “It is essential to be well prepared for a mission like this and to be able to deal with various situations that might arise,” she said before setting off, explaining that the food she will bring must be energy rich, easy on the stomach and not weigh much.
Vilborg commenced her journey from Hercules Inlet in mid-November.
Click here to read more about Vilborg’s journey and here for her blog (most posts have an English version following the Icelandic).
ZR