Joe is making great progress in his Antarctica expedition, and is currently on Day 39 of the trek.
If everything goes to plan, he should reach the South Pole on Sunday 6 January, and then have a few days rest before kite-skiing back to the coast.
Meanwhile, we’ve received this photo of Joe enjoying Christmas dinner on ice.
For all the latest news and photos, and to follow Joe’s daily blog, visit https://www.hsxantarctica.org.uk.
HSX is always looking for new members, who are inspired by epic expeditions from Nepal to Cambodia to Antarctica, and want to undertake similar adventures themselves.
We have recently produced an HSX promotional postcard to attract new members, which is available in hardcopy format from Jamie.
Send a message to info@hsx.org.uk for information on membership and details of forthcoming HSX activities and expeditions.
New members are especially encouraged to consider taking part in the Easter Lakes expedition to Great Tower (19-22 April 2019) or the South Wales hillwalking weekend (September 2019).
Following last year’s HSX visit to Peak Assault, we are planning to be back in force on 18-20 October 2019.
Peak Assault is a wild country orienteering weekend for Explorers, Scout Network and adult leaders, in a surprise mountain location.
There are HSX opportunities to be part of a team, part of the staff either on the hills or in the control centre, or to be a supporter to the Explorer Teams at base camp.
For more information watch the video, see the web post, or contact Fi (HSX event director) or Adam (general Peak Assault queries)
HSX visited Hertfordshire Scouts Peak Assault event to find out more about the event with a view to teams from Hampshire Scouts competing in next years event (18-20 October).
Peak Assault is a wild country orienteering competition for teams of Explorer Scouts and Scout Network members, held over a weekend in a surprise mountain location.
It’s been running for 50 years and attracts over 400 competitors and staff.
To find out more about this year’s event, visit the Hertfordshire Scouts Peak Assault website.
I write this having found accommodation at the last minute due to discovering our planned refuge for tomorrow night failed to get a permit for this season (that would explain the lack of response!). With typical Swiss efficiency, the errors in our email were highlighted and corrected and we were told that we weren’t lucky to get a space, but it was unusual for us to get beds at such late notice!
To give you all a quick update, over the course of yesterday a couple of the team members picked up injuries which meant that they withdrew at various stages of the route. Meeting in Courmayeur (Italy), the team split with 3 of them crossing back into France via the Mont Blanc Tunnel, they then proceeded by train, tram and bus into Switzerland and onto Champex. The transport officials surprised the team by their laid back approach to tickets (I think we saved about half the travel fair as a result!). Our final leg on the bus was clearly the drivers last journey of the day and he had better places to be, his driving lessons were clearly conducted on a rally course!
While the walking team crossed from Italy into Switzerland this morning, the team carrying injuries booked accommodation and sourced lunch for the next day (while taking the opportunity for a refreshing dip in the glacial Champex Lac!).
As I type, the team are arriving at the hostel in time for dinner!
Jamie
“Things are going well, we are already underway with day three.”
“Day 1 – Les Houches to refuge bonhomme les croix 30km with over 2000m of ascent. Much to the delight of those staying in the refuge we bivvied our waking up to ice on the outside but fantastic views over the alps and our onward journey.”
“Day 2 to refugio elisabetta a slightly shorter 20km day crossing the border into Italy the views have improved dramatically as has the weather:
“Day 3 we have split the team to speed up progress due to one of the team aggravating an existing injury… the bulk of the team will bivvy overnight at Refugio binatti a plan is being formulated for the other two but we will rejoin them in the next 36 hours.”
Jamie