Freddys Blog - Christmas Dinner!

28 December, 2007 at 23:40

Yippee! Finally a rest day and a chance to celebrate Christmas. We’ve had a really tough ...

Day 47. cant wait for our rest day...

28 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 47 28 December Position: S87.9184, W080.83335 Temperature: -15.8c wind chill -20c Weather: ...

day 45 A bad sastrugi day/ very cold

28 December, 2007 at 10:00

Position: S87.5656, W082.6789 Temperature: -37c Weather: clear skies, very cold and huge pain in ...

Day 44. Christmas on ice....

25 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 44 25 December Christmas day on ice….. Position: S87.3831, W083.4501 Temperature: ...

Day 43; missing Christmas....

24 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 43 24th dec Missing Christmas… Position: S87.2227, W084.0260 Temperature: -27c ...

Freddys Blog Dec 24

24 December, 2007 at 00:40

The day after Pat’s back injury, he was still in alot of pain. We had no choice but to move ...

day 42; Getting there, pain is easing...

23 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 42 23 December Camp; Tagney family, Black valley. Position: S87.0658, W084.5356 Temperature: ...

Day 41; Really had a bad day.....

22 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 41 22 December Really had a bad/low morale day… Position: S86.7014, W085.5313 ...

Day 40; It's all about teamwork...

21 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 40 21/12/07 Camp; Mike Barry. Position: S86.7014, W085.5313 Temperature: -15cto -18c ...

Send your Christmas message to the Pole team

21 December, 2007 at 11:15

Hi everyone, we hope you are following the progress so far and enjoying the reading, its very ...

Freddy's Blog Dec 21

21 December, 2007 at 00:40

After Polly’s fall, she took a rest in Pat’s sled – her foot was hurting and she ...

Freddy Dec 19

20 December, 2007 at 23:40

Dec 19 As I dialled the number, I felt excited – I knew Tim would do his best to help me. ...

Day 39 ;Down to the ground in pain in agony ...

20 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 39 Thursday 20th December Down to the ground in pain in agony… Position: S86, W086. ...

Day 38 ; A miserable white out....

19 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 38 19th December A miserable white out…. Position: S86.4957, W085.8810. ...

Freddy dec 04

19 December, 2007 at 11:40

Dec 04 It was a long, long time to spend 8 months in a snowcave. I slept alot to try and forget ...

Day 37; Yes, we have clear weather....brilliant

18 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 37 Tuesday 18th December Yes, we have clear weather….brilliant Position: ...

Freddys Blog Dec 17th

17 December, 2007 at 20:40

Dec 17 I couldn’t wait to get to camp and try and find out about Santa Claus. I started ...

Day 37; oh no....we'll go crazy...

17 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 36 17/12/07 Position: S86.0481, W086.4475 Camp Gerry Walsh. Oh no….we’ll go ...

Day 35; Oh, so this is where we are....

16 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 35 Sunday 16/12/077 Camp; Gerry Walsh. Position: S86.0481, W086.4475 Temperature: -15cto ...

Freddys Blog Dec 15th

15 December, 2007 at 20:20

Dec 15 When we got up this morning, it had snowed heavily. Our sleds were almost completely ...

Day 34. I feel like a donkey.....

15 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 34 15/12/07 Camp site; Ger McDonnell. Position: S85.8486, W086.5923 Temperature: -12c ...

day 33. When bad days get worst.....

14 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 33 14/12/07 When bad days get worst. Camp:South Pole Inn; Date: 14/12/07 Position: ...

Freddys Blog Dec 13th

13 December, 2007 at 20:20

Dec 13 The rest day passed all too quickly; I had great fun teaching Polly to ski and although ...

Day 32. Terrible weather, could it be climate change...

13 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 32 Camp: Allied Forwarding; Position: S85.5057, W086.6798 Temperature: -8c Weather: ...

To move or not to move!

12 December, 2007 at 12:00

The alarm went off at 5.50am as usual. Outside we could hear the wind gusting; a quick look out ...

Freddys handstand - Dec 11th

11 December, 2007 at 19:20

Dec 11 Finally a rest day; it had felt like it would never come. It was nice not to have to get up ...

Day 30. The blizzard continues......

11 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 30, Dec 11th 07 The blizzard continues, as we weather it out today. We had a restless night ...

To Broke Evans, a special man. Day 29

10 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 29. To a special man. Camp, Broke Evans Broke was the son of Teddy Evans, who Tom Crean ...

Some information

10 December, 2007 at 10:14

For some of you who may not know, the ‘supported’ route that the team has taken is to ...

Polly meets team - Dec 9th

9 December, 2007 at 19:20

Dec 09 Before Freddy could think what to say, Polly squealed ‘Surprise!.. Hi Clare!’ ...

day 28 I could hear Jon roar....

9 December, 2007 at 12:00

Shaun’s bad energy day. Camp: Ben Gordon (Jon’s cousin) Date: 9/12/07 Position: ...

Too tired to write.

8 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 27 Camp: Isabella Gordon (Jon’s cousin) Date: 8/12/07 Position: S84.8364, W086.9121 ...

Freddy waits to tell - Dec 7th

7 December, 2007 at 16:40

Dec 07. Freddy’s eyes shone with excitement; he couldn’t believe how brave Polly had ...

Day 26 - how many breakfasts?

7 December, 2007 at 00:00

Camp: Sam Butler (Jonathon’s nephew) Date: 7/12/07 Position: S84.5989, W086.4098 ...

Day 25, Look, it''s the Theils mountains

6 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 25 6th, Dec, 2007 84.3695S,086.1305W Distance to Pole:623 km altitude 1573m Look, ...

our best dessert!

5 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 24 5th, Dec, 2007 84.1344S,085.4694W Distance to Pole:650 km altitude 1545m Its hard to ...

Polly's story part 2 - Dec 4th

4 December, 2007 at 16:20

Dec 04 It was a long, long time to spend 8 months in a snowcave. I slept alot to try and forget ...

Riding white horses , day 23. camp Val Dean.

4 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 23 4th, Dec, 2007 83.8978S,085.1516W Distance to Pole:677 km Another milestone, we are now ...

Day 22 - Christmas is coming

3 December, 2007 at 15:00

Camp: Liam (Shaun’s nephew) Date: 3/12/07 Position: S83.6791, W084.6142 Temperature: -12.7c ...

Day 22, No contrast day

3 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 22 3 Dec 2007 No contrast day, Arother good day in the freezer, all the team worked well ...

Pollys story - Dec 2nd

2 December, 2007 at 16:20

Dec 02 ‘So Polly, tell me everything from when I left you last year’, Freddy asked. ...

Freddy thinks of home

2 December, 2007 at 12:16

More news from Freddy who had an accident last week and is missing his friends and home. Freddy ...

Nomads in a desert of ice.

2 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 21 , Sunday, 2nd December 2007 83.4371S,084.2660W Distance to Pole:734km Nomads in a desert ...

Time to relax.!! day 20 Camp Mary. B

1 December, 2007 at 12:00

Day 20 Saturday 1st December. 83.1927S,083.8098W Distance to Pole:757 km Time to relax!! We ...

Who's Polly? - Nov 30

30 November, 2007 at 19:20

Nov 30 When I finally opened my tired eyes, I thought I was seeing things; there in front of me ...

We all have them, Grandmothers.!

30 November, 2007 at 12:00

Day 19 Friday, 30th Nov, 2007 83.1927S,083.8098W Distance to Pole:757 km We all have them. ...

I felt, I was in pardise. day 18

29 November, 2007 at 12:00

Distance to Pole:777km or just 7 degrees Had a great sleep last night, which is a hard thing to ...

Another milestone, Day 17

28 November, 2007 at 12:00

82.8303S,083.2323W Distance to Pole:796km Its true to say that we need milestones to achieve our ...

Day 16 - Sweating in the freezer

27 November, 2007 at 00:00

Position: 82.5918S,082.8983W Distance to Pole: 824km I got up today full of enthusiasm after our ...

Day 15 - our best day so far

26 November, 2007 at 00:00

Camp: Jake (Shaun’s nephew) Date: 26/11/07 Position: S82.3880, W082.7956 Temperature: -15c ...

Day 14 - still can't see a thing!

25 November, 2007 at 00:00

Camp: Aaran (Shaun’s nephew) Date: 25/11/07 Position: S82.1476 W082.6045 Temperature: -16c ...

Day 13 - can't see a thing!

24 November, 2007 at 00:00

Camp: Hannah (Shaun’s niece) Date: 24/11/07 Position: S81.9448, W082.4336 Temperature: -13c ...

Freddy's news

23 November, 2007 at 13:49

Freddy is feeling the extreme cold through his fur more than ever in his teddy life, even when he ...

Day 12

23 November, 2007 at 00:00

Camp – Parrot Everyone is feeling fine, still some blisters but our bodies are getting used ...

Mitts, and a camera

22 November, 2007 at 12:18

I was last talking to Pat on Tuesday evening when they were having a rest day. He sounded in great ...

Day 11

22 November, 2007 at 00:00

Camp – Dudley Docker Our best day yet, 24km on an 8 hour march. 35 knot head winds, arrived ...

Day 10

21 November, 2007 at 23:44

Camp – Stancomb Wills A great day, 22.2km traveled on a 7 hour march. Great weather too!

Progress Map coming soon

21 November, 2007 at 13:27

We are working hard on our map system, which has to be integrated and modified in many ways to get ...

Day 9 - Rest day!

20 November, 2007 at 12:00

Camp – Mortimer McCarthy (Irish polar explorer) Position: S81’10.499, ...

Day 8 - the worst conditions so far

19 November, 2007 at 00:00

Camp – Tim McCarthy (Irish polar explorer) Position: S81’10.499, W081’46.467 ...

Day 6 - getting very cold

17 November, 2007 at 12:00

Camp: Patrick Keohane Date: 17/11/07 Position: S80.54.604, W081.36.033 Temperature: -25.5 c ...

Day 5

16 November, 2007 at 01:14

Camp: Sport Corrantuathail Date: 16/11/07 Position: S80.43.319 W081.28.452 Temperature: -11.6c ...

Day 4

15 November, 2007 at 12:00

Camp: Robert Ford Date: 15/11/07 Position: S80.31.075, W081.21.702 Temperature: -9.6c Weather: ...

Boots fail!

14 November, 2007 at 12:00

Camp name – Tom Crean Date: 14/11/07 Position: S80.31.075, W081.21.702 Temperature: -21 ...

Making good progress

13 November, 2007 at 12:00

Camp name – Joe O’Leary Date: 13/11/07 Position: S80.20.577, W081.11.944 Temperature: ...

0nly 1100km to go!

12 November, 2007 at 12:00

Camp name – Niall Foley Date: 12/11/07 Position: S80.04.999, W080.33.044 Temperature: -10 ...

Punta Arenas - 12 hour standby call

10 November, 2007 at 06:00

Last night we were put on a twelve hour standby for flying. We are happy that all the technical ...

Punta Arenas: Food for Exped - The ultimate diet!

8 November, 2007 at 18:44

A lot of work has gone into planning the food for this expedition. On Greenland I lost over 12kg ...

Punta Arenas: Sample exped daily food pack

8 November, 2007 at 16:00

See Punta Arenas – Food for Exped – The ultimate diet!

Hercules Inlet - Rock and roll

8 November, 2007 at 00:00

The most incredible flight took us from Chile to Patriot Hills on Antarctica a distance of 3000km. ...

Punta Arenas: Gear finished at last!

7 November, 2007 at 16:09

It was a relief to finish with out gear; it is amazing that items from Ireland, the UK, Norway and ...

Punta Arenas – ALE Antarctic team briefing

7 November, 2007 at 11:30

At 10am this morning we gathered at Club Croatia with ALE staff and other expeditions preparing ...

Punta Arenas: Critical time - packing Gear

6 November, 2007 at 15:34

A 6am start this morning to get down to the arduous task of sorting and packing our food and gear ...

Punta Arenas: Gear arrives

5 November, 2007 at 15:17

Everybody in ALE is extremely busy preparing for the first flight this season of the Illuyshin ...

Punta Arenas. Shackleton Bar

4 November, 2007 at 00:00

We’ve been busy meeting with the various people at ALE ensuring that everything is in order for ...

Punta Arenas: We have arrived!

3 November, 2007 at 00:00

The Expedition has truly begun. We are here in Punta Arenas, the southernmost city in the world ...

Dublin to Punta Arenas

2 November, 2007 at 00:00

It was a comfortable 14,000 KM flight that brought us 36 hours from Dublin to Punta Arenas in ...

and we are off

31 October, 2007 at 10:14

A grey and overcast day at Dublin airport, but inside things are much brighter as all our ...

RTE 1 7pm Part 2 of Beyond Endurance

30 October, 2007 at 13:59

The second part of the beyond endurance TV series is to air tonight at 7pm on RTE 1. The ...

Last minute equipment failures

28 October, 2007 at 15:44

At the last minute we discovered our solar panels have been playing up and not producing the power ...

Paying tribute to Tom Crean

26 October, 2007 at 16:15

On Friday 26th October, I went to visit The South Pole Inn with Jonathon in Anascaul, Co. Kerry to ...

Freddy leaves school

25 October, 2007 at 16:13

We have heard that Freddy has received permission to leave school in preparation for his long ...

BBC coverage of expedition

25 October, 2007 at 15:56

The BBC interviewed Jonathon before he arrived in Ireland to join the team. You can view the ...

Equipment arrives from all over the world

24 October, 2007 at 16:07

We are still waiting on vital pieces of equipment to arrive from our suppliers all over the world: ...

Sledge goes missing

24 October, 2007 at 15:40

We are urgently waiting for Clare’s sledge to arrive back from Greenland. Last seen at Old ...

Beyond Endurance TV series airs on RTE

23 October, 2007 at 16:11

Phase 1 – Crossing South Georgia will air on RTE from today for the next 4 weeks. We will be ...

Jonathon arrives in Ireland

22 October, 2007 at 15:45

With the inevitable stress that builds up in the final days of an expedition that has been in ...

4000 food items on the move

17 October, 2007 at 15:36

Out of all the items of equipment and supplies we need for the South Pole and Beyond, the food is ...

Imperative to test the food

15 October, 2007 at 15:41

With such an unvaried diet for the expedition, it is imperative that we test all the food to ...

Global Foods

14 October, 2007 at 15:42

All of our food has been sourced from all over the world and has arrived here in Kerry at our base ...

Beyond Endurance - Greenland complete!!

5 September, 2007 at 10:15

We have now completed the first leg of the Expedition to South Georgia, So our next objective the ...

"We did it, were off the ice..."

5 September, 2007 at 10:12

Following a phone call at 16:45pm irish time, 13:45pm Greenland time, Pat Falvey, Clare ...

The end is in sight

4 September, 2007 at 10:13

A call from Pat confirmed they were still going strong through whiteout conditions and strong ...

Team 10km from ice cap edge

3 September, 2007 at 10:13

The team rang yesterday evening as they dashed to make the flight to Copenhagen this morning for ...

Greenland team to make decision today

2 September, 2007 at 10:13

The trio called me on Friday evening to discuss their options, they had made some progress through ...

Everything Wet!!

31 August, 2007 at 10:16

Approx. 80km from the western edge of Greenland, the 3 adventurers are battling with an endless ...

Meandering melt water

29 August, 2007 at 10:17

What a day! Due to global warming we’re encountering a large number of melt water rivers, ...

Arriving at DYE-2

28 August, 2007 at 10:19

Dye 2 on Sunday. It appeared out of the mist like some long forgotten alien artifact, a great ...

Running out of Food & Time !

22 August, 2007 at 10:21

Pat called me on Wednesday evening in great form. He said they were all well except for his sled. ...

Signs of Sun

21 August, 2007 at 10:21

As the day progressed the blizzard relented and we could just see the sun briefly filtering ...

20 km in Blizzard

20 August, 2007 at 10:22

Due to our slow progress in the afternoons over the soft snow we decided to get up at 3:30am and ...

Powder Snow Causing Drag

18 August, 2007 at 10:23

Our progress these last couple of days has been somewhat hindered by continuous snowfall which ...

Beyond Endurance on RTE coming this Autumn

16 August, 2007 at 10:23

Its finally on our screens, well kinda. RTE have just released their upcoming schedule of ...

Hauling well now, destination Dye 2

15 August, 2007 at 10:25

We’re now hauling well, making over 25km per day. We’ve 224km to go till Dye 2, a ...

28 kms today in white out

14 August, 2007 at 10:26

We have just covered 28 kms today in whiteout conditions, we also confirmed that one of Charlie ...

480 Km to go

13 August, 2007 at 10:26

Its 0607 in the morning, feet are sore, otherwise in good form, after a good meal and building up ...

Those damned crevasses!

12 August, 2007 at 10:27

All is well overall, sadly we departed the other group as we are now going our separate ways. We ...

Short Dispatch

11 August, 2007 at 10:27

Short message from Pat indicated they traveled 18km today and are finally getting momentum ...

Onto the Snow

10 August, 2007 at 10:28

Well, we’re finally out of the bumpy stuff and onto the snow. Unfortunately, the other team ...

Crossing snow bridge

9 August, 2007 at 10:28

There were two teams that left Kulusuk at the same time. Ours and an international team led by ...

Picking up the pace

8 August, 2007 at 10:30

Its been a tireing day! We spent the morning ferrying our sledges across crevasses, some quit ...

Glacier edge ice formations

7 August, 2007 at 09:31

Today was hell. As we made our way up the glacier the bumps I described yesterday became larger, ...

Finally on the ice!

6 August, 2007 at 10:31

We’re finally on the ice! After precariosly lowering the sledges into some old fishing boats ...

Prepartion

4 August, 2007 at 10:32

Well, we’ve finally packed our sledges! We estimate that each team member will be hauling ...

Inuit Fishing

3 August, 2007 at 10:32

The weather today has been bright and sunny, about 20 degrees centigrade, with a 3 knot arctic ...

First dispatch from Greenland!

2 August, 2007 at 10:33

We flew into the west coast yesterday and caught a small propeller plane to Kullusuk on the east ...

South Pole team finish training session in Norway

19 June, 2007 at 10:34

Now their fourth time heading to Norway this year, Pat, Clare and Shaun had a great few days up in ...

2008 Bookings Begin

6 June, 2007 at 10:35

We have just confirmed our 2008 voyage which will take place in November, keeping the itinerary ...