by Oliver Robinson | Mar 17, 2015 | Antarctica 2018
On Sunday 29th March, HSX Antarctica will complete the 26.2 mile Clarendon Way marathon, etching a route between the cathedrals of Salisbury in the West and Winchester in the East. All funds raised from this extreme challenge will go to their chosen charity: the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Each dragging a tyre along the way, to simulate dragging a pulk across the ice as well as the difficulties that people with MND face on a daily basis, this is certainly going to be one hell of a challenge! None of the team have run a marathon before.
We hope you can come out and cheer us on along the route; the team are hoping (!) to reach Winchester Cathedral at 3pm and will be making much-needed pit stops at Middle Winterslow Scout hut, the villages of Broughton & King Sombourne and Farley Mount Country Park.
If you wish to meet the team along the route, please complete this form
You can keep up-to-date with the team’s real-time progress on the day via twitter @hsxantarctica
If you would like to sponsor the team, for this or any of their 2015 challenges then please go to: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/Antarctica. The Motor Neurone Disease Association was established in 1979 and is the only national charity in England, Wales and Northern Ireland that funds and promotes global research into Motor Neurone Disease, whilst supporting MND sufferers and their families.
Thank you for your support!
by Oliver Robinson | Jan 7, 2015 | Antarctica 2018
The HSX Antarctica team are excited to share our plans for 2015!
During the year, the team will be undertaking four physically and mentally demanding challenges to raise money for our chosen charity, the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
In March, the team will complete a marathon from Salisbury to Winchester along the Clarendon Way. The route is off-road and very tough but possibly one of the most scenic races you’ll ever enter. However we are making it harder; the team will complete this marathon whilst dragging a car tire each! That’ll add a lot of drag to an already painful 26.2 miles.
The team after a 15-mile training run, December 2014
In June, as a group, the team will complete 200 climbs in 24 hours of the Peak District’s famous Stanage Edge, climbing routes between Moderate (M) and Hard Very Severe (HVS). Hopefully the weather will hold out!
Matt and Joe training at Boulder Ruckle, Swanage
In August, the team will cycle the circumference of the Isle of Wight in 6 hours. This is a 64-mile loop of the largest Island in England, a short hop across the Solent from our base on the mainland.
Dave completing the John-O’Groats to Land’s End cycle in 2013
In October, the team will summit the 15 high mountains in Wales, known as the Welsh 3000s. Setting off from Pen-y-Pass the team will complete the run in stints, passing a flag between each other. The route will see us take in iconic mountains as Snowdon, Crib Goch, Glyder Fach & Carnedd Dafydd.
The team on Y-Gribin, Snowdonia National Park
This is going to be a perfect chance to build up our fitness, mental strength and ability to work as a team – things that will be vital during our march to the Pole in 2018.
If you would like to sponsor us, all proceeds will go to the Motor Neurone Disease Association and can be done @ https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/antarctica. Remind yourself why we’re raising money for MNDA here
We hope you enjoy keeping up with the team over the year! Keep an eye out for more updates on where and when you can catch us during our ‘marathon’ year… There’ll be prizes to be won too!
by Oliver Robinson | Dec 2, 2014 | Antarctica 2018
The HSX Antarctic expedition aims to raise funds to support the motor neurone disease association (MNDA); the UK’s only national charity dedicated to motor neurone disease care for sufferers and cure research. So why are the Antarctica team choosing MNDA as our charity? Twins, Ollie and Tom Robinson have had grandparents directly affected by MND and so have first-hand experience of the valuable work that MNDA does for sufferers and their families. Here, Ollie explains their story:
“During the course of our childhood, we would often fly, without our parents, to Scotland to spend our summer holidays visiting Jean and Robbie (grandparents on Dad’s side) who lived near Perth. We would often be travelling around in their camper, messing around with the Yorkshire Terriers (Penny and Midge) and visiting relatives in East Lothian; a time filled with so many memories.
In 2003, not long after one of these visits did we find out that Robbie was diagnosed with MND. We were very young at the time, so didn’t have a lot of contact as his health deteriorated, but we know that MNDA offered the family a lot of emotional support. This is a disease that affects not just the sufferer, but the entire family. Tom and I were both protected from seeing our Grandad as the disease developed, to keep in our minds the good memories from years prior, of playing golf at the local golf course. We now know what a sufferer of MND goes through, as well as the sacrifices people have to make. Jean became Robbie’s carer and they moved house to a bungalow in order to make things more accessible for him. However, after a year of fighting, Robbie passed away. For Jean, this disease took away the man she loved as she watched it run its course. There was still worse to come.
As for anyone, the shock of losing a grandparent at a young age is difficult, but time moved on and Tom and I grew up. Tom joined the British Army and I started an degree at the University of Southampton and so it was all the more difficult to learn of Jean being diagnosed with the same disease in 2010. At first it was extremely difficult to be able to even contact Jean, without knowing what to say to somebody who is affected by the same disease which they saw their husband go through. Finally however, it was Jean that contacted us and we soon made the decision to head north and visit. Jean had by this stage been living with the disease for a year and moved in with our East Lothian cousins.
Jean was still talking, however her speech was slurred and she became very tired easily; so short visits were prescribed. It was great to see how her mind was still as quick as ever (she was once a fearsome headteacher) and that despite the physical difficulties, she was still laughing and joking (especially if you took in her afternoon G&T!) and great company. We were able to watch some home movies of us in the garden playing (failing!) golf and knew that it had made Jean happy for us to be reunited with our cousins, whom it had a been 7 or 8 years since we had seen each other last
A few short months after, Jean passed away. We were both grateful for seeing her whilst she was still in relatively good health, but for the family who welcomed Jean into their home, they had seen the disease progress and deteriorate every day for a year. We want to thank MNDA for the support that Jean and those around her received, and for that reason we want to support the charity in any way we can.”
The work the charity does to care for those suffering with the disease is extremely valuable and even then, the unending quest to find a cure continues in the background. Tom, Ollie and the rest of the team will have all those that are still suffering from MND in their minds during the advance to the South Pole.
*What is MND? MND is a degenerative disease which affects the motor neurones in the brain and spinal cord; destroying the nerves that are responsible for passing messages to the muscles. As a result, the person affected by MND has difficulties in walking, talking, eating and breathing.
by Ian | Nov 19, 2014 | Antarctica 2018, Expeditions, Training
The past few months have been pretty busy for the team. Having taken the expedition on the road, we’ve been visiting a lot of local Scout units to share our expedition and the spirit of adventure it embodies. Through troop evenings and the ‘South Pole relay’ we’ve been excited to see the enthusiasm on the faces of Hampshire’s young people. From the H0014 jamboree at Buddens Scout Centre in August to teaching the Livingstone Troop at 3rd Portchester a few expedition tips in September; the team are looking forward to 2015 and getting out seeing more of you!
In the meantime, the team have recently been sighted training for their next challenge; either running along the muddy tracks of the new forest for hours on end, climbing the coastal cliffs of Swanage and Portland above raging seas or dragging car tyres up the seemingly endless Hampshire hills. A weekend doesn’t pass when the team aren’t pushing themselves to the limit. The question is, what are the team training for? Watch this space in the new year when the team will be launching their most extreme challenge so far, whilst raising money for our chosen charity; the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
Think you know what the team are up to? Post your ideas below!
Why not give us a Tweet? @hsxantarctica #HSX2018
by Ian | Jul 8, 2014 | Antarctica 2018, Expeditions, Training, Trip Report
Being able to rescue your team members from a crevasse is an essential skill that the team hope never to use in anger in the Antarctic. However, in the pursuit of learning such an important concept, the team ventured to the French Alps in July 2013 for two weeks of fresh alpine air. Not only was this the first taste of European Glaciers for many of the team, an attempt on the summit of Mont Blanc (4810m/15,780feet) was also expected, representing, for those not well versed in Himalayan trekking like Joe and Ollie, the tallest mountain they had ever attempted.
The team left the New Forest early on the morning of July 2nd,in order to catch a ferry across the channel and drive 800 miles to the picturesque town of Chamonix; the gateway to the Mont Blanc massif which contains over 100 mountains over 3000 metres. It is also home to some of Europe’s biggest glaciers including the Mer de Glace and the Bosson’s Glacier, which formed the central location for the team to practise their rescues skills. Crevasses are formed as a result of the movement and stress generated by the glacier as it winds its way down the valley. Ranging in any size, some are gaps less than a metre, easily navigable by foot, whilst others can be many metres metres wide and stretch the length of a football field.
The danger with crevasses comes when they have been covered over by snow left from the winter, becoming impossible to see to the untrained eye. Knowing how to get out is one thing, but avoiding them is arguably more skilful and so the team hired the expertise of a French Mountain Guide to give some instruction. He showed the team how to walk “roped together” on glaciated terrain to provide safety when in a group and gave us a useful rope setup we could use for hoisting someone out of crevasses using karabiners, ice screws and Tiblocs. 
Once all the necessary skills were practised, the next objective was the summit of Mont Blanc. The team chose this to give them a physical challenge that would put teamwork to the test, plus the gratification that comes with saying you have summited the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe! Although Mt Blanc is not extremely high, it was important for the team to acclimatize properly, as the risk of developing Acute Mountain sickness (AMS) is extremely high if not adapted to the altitude (symptoms range from dehydration, dizziness, headaches, and nausea). Slowly gaining altitude, whilst walking high during the day and sleeping lower at night allowed the team to acclimatise in the best way possible in a fairly short amount of time.
Setting up camp in the Vallée Blanche, both a mixture of nerves and excitement were felt by everyone. The team slept until 12am and after some food was eaten and harnesses and ropes were clumsily donned in the dark, lights far off in the distance showing the other climbers that were beginning the same task, the team set off on a slow plod up the snow slope of Mont Blanc du Tacul. Progress was slow, often walking 30 paces and stopping for a moment to catch breath back; it was going to be a long night.
On the slopes of Mont Maudit (the team were on the three monts route having to ascend the slopes of Mont Blanc du Tacul, Mont Maudit and finally Mont Blanc) a 50-metre, 80o technical snow climb required the team’s full attention in the dark; a slip here would have caused a 400-metre fall to the gullies below. The team made quick work of the climb and were soon left with the final 300-metre slog up to the summit dome. This seemed to take forever and was filled with false summits to make it even more mentally challenging for the team; a suspected side effect of the altitude and the desire to be on the summit. At 8:32am the team had summited Mt Blanc. Overwhelming joy, happiness and exhaustion lead to man hugs, selfies and watering eyes (the cold!?) at the top of Europe’s highest mountain. The team had done it.
Have you been to the Alps?
Share your stories with the team on our Facebook page or tweet us @hsxantarctica using #HSX2018.
by Ian | Jun 24, 2014 | Antarctica 2018, Belize 2011/12, Expeditions
How much do you know about Antarctica? The team has been busy doing their research about the continent they are going to spend 80 days on in 2018; here is our top 10:
10) The lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth was -89.2oC (128.6oF), recorded at Vostok Research Station on 21st July 1983
9) The highest recorded temperature at the Amundsen-Scout South Pole Research station was -12.3oC (9.9oF) in 2011
8) Only 2% of Antarctica’s surface is not covered in ice; called an ‘Antarctic Oasis’ these are generally found on the warmest part of Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsular, mountain tops and some coastal areas
7) The South Pole has a desert climate, almost never receiving precipitation and air humidity is near zero
6) Antarctica is the coldest, windiest and driest place on Earth
5) Antarctica is one and a half times the size of the United States with an area of 14 million km2
4) The West Antarctic Peninsular is the fastest warming place on Earth, experiencing increases in mean temperature in the order of 1oC per decade since the 1950’s
3) Antarctica is losing 159 billion tonnes of ice per year
2) Until about 50 million years ago, Antarctica had a temperate climate and evergreen forests, having been part of the supercontinent ‘Gondwana’. Captain Scott and the Terra Nova expedition were the first to provide evidence of this after the discovery of ‘Glossiopteris’ fossils; an ancient tree fern found on all of the Southern Continents
1) The Antarctic Ice Sheet contains 27 million km3 of ice; 61% of the fresh water available on Earth
