Antarctica Blog - 7th December 2012

Hi Guys, it’s game time!  My flight leaves tonight from Heathrow Airport and I am due to arrive in Punta Arenas in Chile tomorrow. This is my new micro site where you’ll be able to read my Antarctica blog and latest news.  My new official website will be launched in 2013, I have been working on developing it with Limegreentangerine for the last month and I am really excited about the new look website which we hope to bring you sometime in February.

In the meantime, all my news will be here, hope you enjoy the blogs and as always I am really grateful for all your messages of support so keep tweeting and facebooking me messages because they do get to me and give me a real boost on the ice.

I’ve been running around like a lunatic all week triple checking everything before I go, there’s no option of forgetting stuff so my head is a bit frazzled and I have had meetings to attend and plenty of work to get through still as well so in some ways I’ll be pleased to have some serenity of the ice once I am there.  Although that serenity might not last too long!

I’ve spent today doing last minute tests on my new sat phones.  It’s my only means of communication with the outside world in Antarctica and I have two this time as last time I broke one.

After packing and sending my freight containing my pulk (sled) and gear last week, when I get to Punta Arenas I then have the epic task of getting all my gear out of customs and then take it to ALE’s (the logistical provider) warehouse where I will spend most of the 9th fine tuning my gear to get it as light as possible. I’m aiming to get my pulk, which I will be man hauling to about 82kg/12st 9lb.

I am flat out today writing Christmas cards and sorting a few things before I leave, so on the plane I am going to write a blog in more detail and give you a bit of an insight in to my prep and my thoughts on the weeks ahead.

Speak soon guys.  Rich.