Many websites have been covering these with live updates, interviews, live tracking, videos, etc. But there is only one website that that has at least been mentioning, tracking, and linking to them every year since 1999...and you are here. Note that I've included a few ventures that did not travel overland to Pole but otherwise have historical significance.

I'm still working through things--now I'm working on ventures that happened before I was tracking things on my website...bear with me, or as a long-time close Antarctic friend has said, oso con migo!

Updated 19 November 2024! Note that ALE lists multiple web and social media sites for these ventures here, and Explorersweb features frequent news updates.

Just announced for 2024-25 and actually already underway...

The Transglobal Car Expedition

set out from the Explorer's Club in New York City on 9 January...this long convoluted trip started in Yellowknife, NWT on 8 February. They continued north, stopping at the abandoned Isachsen weather station in early March, and reached the Geographic Pole on about 6 May, where they received a resupply from Russian helicopters. They hung around doing repairs etc. until heading for Greenland around the 12th. They reached Station Nord at the top of Greenland, but their plans to continue driving south to Nuuk were thwarted when they were refused entry to Northeast Greenland National Park (13 May ExplorersWeb article). The venture team flew to Oslo via Svalbard, leaving their custom vehicles behind...they hope to recover the Greenland route or at least get their vehicles back and perhaps continue their planned route with them through Iceland, Europe, and Africa. The polar portion of the trip will begin in the 2024-25 austral summer with a drive from Lazarev Station (south of Cape Town) to Pole and thence to Cape Jeremy on the Antarctic Peninsula. They'll be supported by Arctic Trucks in the south, of course, and their vehicles of choice are not Toyotas but...mostly modified Ford vehicles--an F-150 hybrid, an Expedition, and a 6x6 F350 with a camper. Also, a custom Yemelya 6x6 unit. Different vehicles configured differently for various segments of the journey. Also see this 15 January Jalopnik.com article about the venture. As of the end of October they'd been in Kruger National Park in South Africa, and by 9 November they were approaching Cape Town.

Also announced:

 

Frederick Fennessy

from Oxfordshire in the UK, age 29, has plans to ski to Pole from...Gould Bay! This is 870 miles from Pole on the coast at 45ºW, near the junction of the Filchner Ice Shelf and Berkner Island. Significance...his route would be the one Shackleton would have taken in 1914-17 had his ship not run into problems. Oh, ALE has a fuel cache at Gould Bay. Frederick is underway, having been flown to Union Glacier on about 10 November and soon afterward to his starting point. here's a 6 October BBC News article about the venture. He's previously trained in Greenland and northern Canada.

Ali Riza Bilal (Turkish language site)

a Turkish adventurer and fitness coach, is skiiing solo and supported from the Messner Start to Pole. He planned to get to the ice on 18 November.

Rasmus Kragh (Danish language page)

is planning a solo ski trip from Hercules Inlet to Pole. As of 19 November he was on a flight to Union Glacier per his Facebook page.

Youngmi Kim (Korean language Instagram page)

a South Korean mountaineer, is underway on a continental crossing from Hercules Inlet to the Ross Ice Shelf via Pole and the Berkner Glacier. In 2023 she skied to Pole from Hercules Inlet in 50 days. Her tracking map is here.

Jonny Huntington

a British Army veteran who survived a brain bleed, is planning an unsupported solo trip from the Messner Start to Pole. Not a lot of detail, the link above leads to his tracking page whenever he starts, and he's posted some training stuff on Instagram. Here's a 14 October BBC News interview about his upcoming venture.

Catherine Buford

otherwise known as the Molar Explorer (she's a dentist) from Cornwall England, is finally going to do a solo unsupported trip to Pole from Hercules Inlet, to mark the 30th anniversary of Liv Arnesen's 1994 venture. She'd previously proposed ventures in 2023-24 that didn't happen. She was scheduled to fly to Union Glacier on 18 November.

Akshay Nanavati

age 40, originally from India but moved to the US at the age of 13 and served in the Marine Corps, is underway on a crossing. After arriving at Union Glacier, he started from the north end of Berkner Island on about 8 November...in the first 3 days he'd covered 30 miles, heading toward the Bay of Whales site via Pole, per the tracking link on the above page. Here's an 11 November article from the Economic Times (India) about his venture, and his Instagram page.

Genny Brown

from Aruba and now living in the UK, is planning a solo unsupported ski trek to Pole in 2024-25. Not much information about her route, although her gofundme page describes it as "approximately 700 miles from the coast." She was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2016 and suffered from it for several years. In March she spent time training in Norway, she described this on her Facebook page, where she later described a severe Lyme Disease flareup in July/August 2024...nothing new about her proposed Pole venture.

Karen Kyllesø (Norwegian language Facebook page and Instagram page)

a 21-year-old Norwegian, is planning a trip to make her the youngest person to ski solo and unsupported to the South Pole from Hercules Inlet beginning in November 2024. There's a bit more information on this March 2024 Ute magazine Norwegian language page. In mid-April she was training in Svalbard. More recently, this 12 October Dagbladet (Norwegian language newspaper) article indicates her venture is still on.

AK Teigland (Norwegian language page)

from Norway, is hoping to set a world record time on the trip to Pole from Hercules Inlet. He previously trekked to Pole in 2022-23 and is hoping to break Vincent Colliard's record time of 22 days 6 hours last summer.

Darren Edwards

from Shrewsbury, England, who was paralyzed from the chest down in a 2016 climbing incident, is planning what he describes as the longest sit-ski expedition--207 miles--from 87ºS to Pole in December 2024. He and his 3 teammates--Matt Luxton (who was climbing with Darren when the 2016 accident happened), Chris Brooke, and Matthew Biggar, will be flown there from Union Glacier. Nothing new about his venture in early November 2024.

Postponed! Gina Johansen

from Norway, had plans to ski solo and unsupported from Hercules Inlet to Pole beginning in December 2024...hoping to cover the 702 miles in less than 33 days to set a new women's speed record. But on 12 July 2024 she announced the postponement of this until 2025.

Sea2Summit Antarctic Expedition

is not a venture going to Pole...but rather it is Aussie James McAloon (Instagram page) guided by ALE guy Robert Smith, they are heading from Constellation Inlet to Mount Vinson to be followed by an ascent.

A guided trip by ALE

with Emil Neszmelyi from Hungary and an unnamed father and son team, with ALE guide Morten Rostille (Norway).

Here's what was completed, planned, or aborted for 2023-24 per the map below:

Above, yet another map created by polar guide and explorer Eric Philips, and is © Icetrek. Eric has put together a number of other maps that
depict historic Antarctic (and Arctic) ventures. Go here to see all of his maps, including links to high-resolution PDFs including this one.

Preet Chandi

a Sikh of Indian Punjabi descent from the UK, did NOT announce her venture until she arrived at Pole on New Years Eve! She set a new woman's speed record from Hercules Inlet--702 miles in 13 days! This beats Caroline Coté's record from 2022-23 by more than a day and a half. More coverage from ExplorersWeb.

Colin O'Brady!

In a flashy 15 December announcement posted not on the above website but in a YouTube video shared by email and social media (Instagram), Colin said he'd attempt to beat Christian Eide's 24-day record for the 715-mile trip from Hercules Inlet. While the initial video announcement did not mention the season, things were clarified in this Explorersweb post. He arrived at Union Glacier on the 23rd, was ready to set out on the 24th...and fell into a crevasse only 4 miles from the start (Explorersweb coverage and Colin's video)! He was able to clamber out...later an ALE team from Union Glacier showed up, and one of them rappelled down perhaps 75 feet and recovered the ski that Colin had dropped. Colin returned to Union Glacier, and after resting he decided to set out again on the 26th...but only a couple of days later he decided to call things off and return to Union Glacier...and home. Colin's social media posts (also on Facebook and on X) were mostly motivational--no tracker, and images from previous expeditions.

Aborted! Sam Cox (archived page)

a 13-year Royal Marines veteran from Devon in the UK, was underway on what he calls the longest solo unsupported journey across Antarctica--1250 miles/2000 km, starting from the northern coast of Berkner Island, visiting Pole around New Years, and finishing at the base of the Reedy Glacier. If successful, he claimed that this will be 500 km further than any other solo unsupported Antarctic venture. He arrived at Union Glacier on Monday 20 November SP time and was flown to his starting point the next day. His start was delayed more than 2 weeks due to strong winds at UG...he expected the trip to take 75 days, but due to the delay he had only a 78-day window (22 November BBC News article). More recently, after approaching 84ºS and covering 250 miles, he decided to cancel the trip and await pickup...on about 22 December. He was picked up...kidney stones were suspected.

Vincent Colliard (page with tracking map)

French adventurer and the husband of Caroline Côté who set a women's record reaching Pole in 2022-23, had proposed beating the men's speed record (24 days, 1+hour) on the 700-mile route from Hercules Inlet to Pole. He was dropped off at Hercules Inlet on 21 December; by the 27th he was a bit past 82ºS and had been reporting lots of snow. He reached Pole on 12 January after traveling 22 days, 6 hours and 8 minutes...a new record! Updates were being posted on Facebook. On 24 January Explorersweb posted this interview with Vincent, who was back home in Oslo. Vincent said that after three rough degrees of "powder" prior to reaching Thiels Corner he seriously considered quitting.

Aborted! Jacob ("Val") Myers (Shackleton.com tracking page)

currently age 25, from Sapphire, NC (a small town just west of Brevard) but more recently living in Bozeman, MT for training, was attempting to be the youngest person in history to walk 700 miles from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole alone, in 2023-24 (6 November 2022 Transylvania Times article). As he had not done any polar treks, in 2022-23 his training included a 300-mile race in the Yukon in February as well as a 20-day mini-expedition in Norway (pre-expedition blog post). His supporters included Wendy Searle and Robert Swan. As of 29 December he'd raised over 98% of his $10,000 IndieGoGo fundraiser which has been closed down...the last update indicated he'd use the funding for his qualifying expedition in Canada. After the weather delays he left Punta Arenas on 20 November and started his trek on the 23rd, hoping to reach Pole in 45 days. But after only 13 days, after crossing 81.5ºS he decided to quit...based on slow progress, fear of running out of food, and declining strength. In his last undated post he was awaiting pickup. On this page, which he wrote on 20 December after his return to Montana, he describes his travels...elsewhere on this site there is more expedition info.

Alan Chambers & Dave Thomas

two former Royal Marines, were underway on an unsupported ski trek from Hercules Inlet to Pole in what they called Mission Spiritus Antarctica (JustGiving fundraiser website). They arrived at Union Glacier on 21 November. Alan led a successful British unsupported expedition from Canada to the North Pole in 2000, and he's led many other expeditions. They were flown to their starting point on 22 November and were collecting data samples for Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory's research on airborne plastics distribution. By 27 December they were at 85º40'S, and on 17 January they were less than 50 miles from Pole...they reported arriving on 20 January. They've been posting some updates and photos on Instagram...at right is their hero shot with the new Pole marker from their Instagram.

Patrick Bernier (French and English language site)

from Canada...arrived at Union Glacier on 18 November...for a solo journey from Berkner Island to Pole--850 miles. I've seen no diary updates on social media...only the daily audio updates in French on his website tracking map. As of 22 December he'd logged about 450 miles...by 27 December he was halfway between 85 and 86 degrees south, and by 13 January he'd crossed the 89th parallel. He reached Pole on the 17th.

Frenchman Pierre Hedan (French language site for Expedition Polheim)

was on a solo unsupported ski expedition from Hercules Inlet to Pole. He arrived at Union Glacier on 20 November and was flown to Hercules Inlet 2 days later...where he covered about 7 miles in his first 5 hours. By 27 December he was at about 87º30'S with about 180 miles still to go. But as the new year approached he experienced a fuel leak as well as broken ski bindings, but as of New Years Day he was continuing. Despite his difficulties he reached Pole on 8 January without resupply, after 49 days of travel.

Georgina Gilbert and Rebecca Openshaw-Rowe

were the Antarctic Fire Angels (AFA--firefighters from Great Britain). They reached the ice on 21 November and set out from Union Glacier on 22 November. Their start was a new route...they first headed north to Constellation Inlet...then went east until they reached the route heading south from Hercules Inlet. They then headed south. On 27 December they reported being just past 86ºS after a day of traveling in whiteout. They reported reaching Pole on 12 January after 52 days of travel. Daily diary entries with photos are here on Facebook.

Aborted! Italian cyclist Omar Di Felice (Italian language site)

attempted to bike from Hercules Inlet to Pole last summer but aborted after only about 60 miles. This year he planned to try again...and after reaching Pole he planned to do a return trip to 88ºS on the SPoT road...perhaps in an attempt to break Daniel Burton's 2013-14 775 mile cycling distance record. He arrived at Union Glacier on 20 November and set out the next day. As of 27 December he was at 84º40'S...his tracking map with positions is here, and he was posting updates and photos on Instagram and on Facebook in Italian and English. He was accompanied by a travel mate known only as JP...identity was to be revealed later but I have not seen. On New Years Day they were at 86º16'S. But his pace made it unlikely that he'd reach Pole before ALE's 18 January cutoff, so on 7 January he opted to be picked up at Thiels Corner after traveling 445 miles in 18 days. He was flown back to Union Glacier.

James Baxter

from Britain, was flown to his Hercules Inlet starting point on 21 November...his blog is quite detailed with many photos. As of 23 December he was at 84º52'S where he met up with Alan and Dave! On Christmas Day he was camped at 85º17'S, and by New Years Day he was at 86º27.5ºS and making better progress on the still-"sugary" snow. By 13 January he was at 88º20'S, and on the 17th he was 56 miles from the Pole. He sighted the station on the 19th and reached it on the 20th.

Pole to Pole expedition page with a link to the live map and pre-trip journal entries)

is British couple Chris and Julie Ramsey's plan, to drive a modified all-electric Nissan Ariya e-4ORCE from the Magnetic North Pole to the South Pole. They began in Canada on 29 March 2023 and traveling through 14 different countries (24 May 2022 Nissan press release). Their vehicle was prepped by Arctic Trucks in Iceland (February 2023 Arctic Trucks blog post) and then shipped to Canada. They started on 30 March from the 1823 North Magnetic Pole (70º38.6'N-98º28.1'W), which is on sea ice in the McClintock Channel south of prince of Wales Island (North Magnetic Pole movement map from Github)... as of 1 April they'd traveled 218 miles southwest, crossing Victoria Island (tracking map) and a 31 March 2023 Nissan press release about their plans to head to Pole in the 2023-24 austral summer season. British Guinness World Record holder Chris Ramsey initially announced his intention to become the first person to drive an automobile between these two poles in March 2021 per this Wikipedia article. Note that the North Magnetic Pole is the point where a magnetic compass needle will become vertical--currently it is in the Arctic Ocean at about 86.3ºN-151.3ºE--not a place one could drive to. Why are there two such poles? Simply, the Earth's geomagnetic field is a good bit more complicated than that of a basic bar magnet...this page from the World Data Center for Geomagnetism, Kyoto has a bit more information. Sections of the route obviously involved marine transport...including the Darién Gap in Panama, which is much more treacherous and dangerous than the Drake Passage, which was also flown over. The image at above right is from the referenced 2022 Nissan press release. The team was supported in Antarctica by ALE and Arctic Trucks. More preliminary information is available in this 28 October 2022 Fox News article which includes a 10-minute interview with Chris Ramsey. They were flown to Union Glacier on 26 November and started the drive south on the 29th. They were posting updates on Instagram and on Facebook. They reached Pole on 16 December SP time per Instagram (photo at left from that post and CNN news report with video)...by the 26th Julie and Chris were back at Union Glacier. This venture garnered this interesting 15 January Washington Post article.

Per Nordstrom (Swede) and Robert Wiȩcławski (Pole)

were each planning to do the 565-mile trip from the Messner Start with resupplies, but they decided to travel together. Per called his event Expedition Nordstrom. I've seen no updates from him, but Robert's travels are well documented with photos and videos on his Facebook page. They reached Pole on 21 January SP time after 59 days of travel and a resupply at Thiels Corner.

Guided trips included:

 

Kustaa Piha and Anders Brotherus, and guide Poppis Suomela (Instagram updates in Finnish)

--the Finnish South Pole Expedition--were being guided from Hercules Inlet to Pole. As of 3 January they'd reached 87ºS. Here's Poppis' page with a tracking image. As of 16 January they were less than 30 miles from Pole. They arrived on about the 20th.

Aborted! Lucie Porizova Vyborna (Instagram account in Czech)

was being guided from the Messner Start by Christian Styve as the ALE Ski South Pole Messner Start Expedition. They set out on about 22 November. After reaching Thiels Corner (85ºS) she decided to stop...they were picked up on about 17 December--she did get flown to Pole.

The first "Last Degree" trek

was flown to the 89ºS starting point on 28 December. These were finished by mid-January.

Not on Cat Burford (Instagram account)

a dentist from the UK nicknamed the "molar explorer" has expressed plans for a solo South Pole venture in 2023-24, as described in this August 2022 dentistry.co.uk news article. She's done extensive hiking and serious traveling, and completed a Greenland crossing in September 2023 (blog post). But I've seen nothing more recent about the Antarctic venture.

What mostly happened in 2022-23...a very busy year, as depicted on the map below!

The above map was created by polar guide and explorer Eric Philips, and is © Icetrek. I must also note that Eric has put together a number of other maps depicting historic Antarctic (and Arctic) ventures. I've helped him a bit on a couple of these. This page depicts all of his maps, including links to high-resolution PDFs.

The ventures...the first 3 of these were originally planned as continental crossings...

Preet Chandi

the woman from India who skied solo successfully from Hercules Inlet to Pole in 2021-22, planned a larger venture this year...described as an 1100-mile coast-to-coast crossing. There are many news articles about this venture including this 14 October 2022 post from the British Army. She'd again head to Pole from Hercules Inlet, and then continue to the Ross Ice Shelf including a descent of the Reedy Glacier. She planned to start in early November 2022...as of 7 November she was awaiting the flight to Union Glacier. She flew south on 13 November and was dropped off at her start point the next day. After 10 days she'd covered 94 miles. As of 20 December she was doing well and at 86º-10'S, having covered 441 miles. She reached Pole on 9 January and almost immediately turned north heading back toward the coast. Until she stopped, as she'd reached the deadline for pullout at about 86ºS after transiting a total of 901.68 miles, beating Anja Blancha's record of 858 miles in 2020. But the coverage is out there as she ended up in the middle of nowhere, including this 21 January Polar Journal article which was published on 21 January before her pickup, and this 21 January ExplorersWeb article.

Antarctica 2023 (archived page)

was two physicians--Gareth Andrews (an anesthetist from the Sydney suburb Darlinghurst) and Richard Stephenson (an ER doc from Dunedin). They planned what they were calling a 1250-mile unsupported crossing of the continent, starting at the north side of Berkner Island, heading to Pole, and finishing at the upland edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. Their map seemed to indicate they'd be using the Reedy Glacier rather than the South Pole Traverse route. They planned to get to Union Glacier on 5 November and fly to their Gould Bay starting point the next day...as of the 7th they also were still stuck in Punta Arenas. They flew to Union Glacier on 12 November, on the 13th they flew to their start point on Berkner Island, and they set out the next day. As of 24 November they'd traveled 161km. By 21 December they'd reached the Antarctic Plateau and were at 84ºS. On 9 January they decided to end their trek at Pole...and by the 11th they were about 130 miles from Pole. They arrived on 19 January.

The Spirit Lives

was a six-person project by the Australian Defence Force...consisting of leader Emily Chapman with Jack Forbes, Vincent Carlsen, Sean Taylor, Tim Geronimo, and Kelly Kavanagh. Not a lot of detail on their route except that they were to begin at the Messner Start and finish on the Ross Ice Shelf, descending from the plateau using the Reedy Glacier. They were to be resupplied twice. They arrived at Union Glacier on 17 November...no blog updates since then, but as of the 24th they'd traveled 74km per their website map. Alas, they were not posting blog updates except on their tracking map, but as of 21 December they'd reached 84º-49'S. By 12 January they'd reached 88º45'S. It's not on their website, but on 7 January, the team announced on their Twitter feed that Emily and Tim had abandoned the trek for health reasons at Thiel Corner (85º05'S-80º47'W), their Camp 32, on about 21 December. They reported that Tim had "Polar thigh" (chilblains). The remaining 4 team members reached Pole on 18 January, as seen in the photo at right from their Twitter feed.

Other planned expeditions included...

 

Eric Philips (tracking map)

guided three Austrians--Alexandra Guryeva, Jens Neumann and Stefan Prucker, on an unsupported trip to Pole on a new route from Filchner Ice Shelf to Pole via the Support Force Glacier...549 miles in 50 days. They started on 23 November and reached Pole on 11 January. Eric believes that this route might pave the way for the first full ski crossing of the continent, as it is virtually crevasse-free, with minimal sastrugi (compared to other routes used this season) and favorable winds. At right is a hero shot of the group at the new Pole marker, from Eric's Facebook page.

Siv Harstad (archived page)

a Norwegian musician who was the first Norwegian woman to summit Everest from the south side as well as Mt. Vinson, proposed a Pole trip in 2022-23, but things didn't work out, so he did a shorter 560 mile kite-ski trip south from Thor's Hammer to...79ºS, where she gave up and got a flight back north, eventually getting to Cape Town on about 7 February.

Abandoned! Antarctica Unlimited (Italian language site)

is Omar di Felice, age 42 from Rome, who planned the longest-ever cycling journey across Antarctica--1000 miles from Hercules Inlet to the Ross Ice Shelf via Pole...and then back to Pole to claim the "longest bike ride" title. That traverse route down the Leverett Glacier meant his trip could not be classified as "unsupported." And although details are sparse, it appeared that he was doing this alone. This 26 September bikerumor.com page includes a bit more detail about the planned trip as well as about his bicycle, and this Explorersweb page has additional info, as does this 2 November Cycling Weekly article. Omar planned to begin around 20 November...update, he flew to Union Glacier on 27 November and was flown to his starting point on the evening of the 27th. There's a bit more information about his trip on his home page, updates on his Facebook page, and a tracking map here that has not been updated since 28 November as he was stuck in his tent for 3 days as of 2 December. And on 3 December he called it quits due to what was called a "personal problem" otherwise reported on social media as mental health struggles. He was flown back to Union Glacier.

Three Poles

is Finns Mikko Vermas and Tero Teelahti, who planned an unsupported/unassisted ski trip from Hercules Inlet to Pole. The "Three Poles" name refers to the challenge for folks to reach the North Pole and South Pole unassisted, and the summit of Everest, something only 8 people have done so far. Mikko summited Everest in 2010...and both men skied to the North Pole unsupported in 2006. They first proposed this expedition in 2020 and again for 2021-22. They arrived at Union Glacier on 21 November and were dropped at their starting point on the 26th. As of the 29th they'd covered 39 km but were also stuck in their tent due to bad weather. By 19 December they were at 84ºS and were doing well despite Achilles tendon pain. They continued to make good progress despite Vermas' thigh being in bad shape...by 10 January they were at 88.4ºS. They reached Pole on 18 January SP time, on their Day 52, and by 0100 PA time on the 21st they were ensconced in a hotel there.

Caroline Côté 

from Montreal, is Antarctica in Solitaire. She planned a solo unsupported trip from Hercules Inlet to Pole hoping to break the previous women's speed record on this route...currently held by Johanna Davidsson (Sweden) who did this in 2016 in 38 days and 23 hours. She planned to start at the end of November. She was posting voice updates, her site indicates she'd almost reached 83ºS as of early December, and she reached Pole on 11 January, smashing the speed record! More on her feat in this 12 January ExplorersWeb article...but I must note that she was greeted by the current South Pole Area Manager, Hannah McKeand, who is a former speed record holder for this journey.

Mateusz Waligóra (Polish language website with no venture updates)

from Poland, headed to Pole from Hercules Inlet...I've subscribed to his updates...and he is sharing stuff and updates here on Facebook. On 4 November he was on flights from Europe to Punta Arenas. He was dropped off at Hercules Inlet on 17 November. The latest blog post from him is from 12 December, but Facebook on 21 December shows him well underway on day 34. By day 55 (11 January) FB indicates he was still doing well, although posts did not indicate his location...as of the 3rd he'd crossed 88ºS. He reached Pole on 13 January. The photo at right is from his Facebook page, with the quote "This expedition did not begin at all 58 days and 1250 kilometers earlier in Hercules Inlet on the border of Antarctica and the Ronne Ice Shelf. It started many years ago on the frozen slab of Nyskie Lake in Siestrzechowice [Poland]."

Nick Hollis

is an extreme athlete, trainer, and entrepreneur living west of London, England. After completing the Seven Summits in 2019, he proposed completing something called the 721 Challenge--in addition to the Seven Summits, he plans a last-degree North Pole trip, a row across the Atlantic Ocean (the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge from the Canary Islands to Antigua & Barbuda)...and this season's planned solo ski trip from Hercules Inlet to Pole. His website is here, and the 721 Challenge website is here. The latter site has a map showing he was at Union Glacier as of 24 November, dropped off at his starting point on the 27th, and at 83º-58'S as of 21 December.By 12 January he was at 88º33'S, and he made it to Pole on the 18th.

Polar Weber

is Ben Weber, originally from Scotland's Orkney Islands although he's lived in many other parts of the world. He planned a solo ski trek from Hercules Inlet to Pole, after having completed a group crossing of Greenland in April-May 2022. He was scheduled to arrive Union Glacier on 10 November...and he was raising money for Cancer Research UK. He was dropped off at his Hercules Inlet starting point on 18 November. As of 24 November he'd traveled 43 miles and was suffering from severe neck pain. By the 29th he was at 81ºS, still suffering neck pain. As of his day 34 he was halfway to Pole, having passed Thiel Corner and 85ºS. On 12 January he was only 20 miles away from Pole, and he arrived on the 13th. At right, the photo of him with the new Pole marker, from his Facebook page.

Inspire 22

--the project name happens to be an acronym for Interdisciplinary South Pole Innovation & Research Expedition--was a 10-person venture with plans to travel from the Messner Start "on the coast of Antarctica" (hmmm...that seems like an oxymoron??) to Pole. The team was...well I'll be lazy, here's their list...but I will note that they were being guided by Canadian Devon McDiarmid who has been mentioned on this website before. They were doing extensive physiological research, and their site includes a number of medical references that were relevant to their planned research. They left the UK on 7 November...and arrived at Union Glacier on the 23rd. They were flown to their Messner Start on the 25th, as of the 29th they'd covered 52 km. They reached Thiels Corner and met up with Polar Preet on 15 December. They reached Pole on 10 January...alas because of their physiological project they had to abstain from indulging in real food and coffee at the tourist camp. They returned to Union Glacier on 11 January.

AK Glück-Teigland and Kjartan Bergsvåg (Norwegian language news site)

reached Pole on 6 January after 40 days of travel from Hercules Inlet on what they called the Nansen South Pole expedition. I could not find a website for them, and all of the media sites were totally behind a paywall except the one linked above, which does show a photo.

ALE Ski South Pole venture guided by Norwegian Kathinka Gyllenhammar

began from the Messner Start with clients Martin Navratil and Robert Owen...Robert was medevaced during the trip, but Kathinka and Martin reached Pole on 9 January (Facebook photos of their arrival).

Hedvig Hjertaker

a 28-year-old Norwegian woman, hoped to be the youngest woman to ski solo/unsupported/unassisted from Hercules Inlet to Pole. Previously only eight women had done this. She's done some other serious ventures including summiting Aconcagua (22,841') and crossing the Greenland icecap in the spring of 2022 (archived page). Not much news. As of 24 November she was at Hercules Inlet. On her day 5 (2 December) she'd covered about 36 km. By 20 December she'd traveled 400 km and had encountered a strong gale, so she took a rest day. She was doing better by the 27th as she was at 85º36'S and reported "a whole day without a jacket and freezing..." Her most recent website updates were undated, but she'd crossed 89ºS, and as of the my view of her map on 13 January she was about 40 miles from Pole. She arrived on the 15th after traveling for 49 days.

Abandoned! Wendy Searle (BBC News article)

currently living in Wales, was also trying to beat Johanna Davidsson's speed record from Hercules Inlet to Pole. She did the same trip in 2019-20 but missed out on beating the record by about 3 days (January 2020 ExplorersWeb article). Also see this Shackleton.com page about her which includes social media links. This 29 November National Geographic article indicates she'd start on 5 December, as confirmed by this 18 December planetski.eu web post. Alas, she abandoned her attempt on 19 December after completing 211 miles, as she realized she was behind the world record setting pace she needed and was continuing to suffer from a chest infection per this 23 December Explorersweb article.

Kim Young-mi...

a Korean mountaineer, reached Pole on 16 January after a 51-day solo unsupported ski trip from Hercules Inlet--the first Asian woman to do so, per this 18 January 2023 Chosunilbo article. Her venture was in memory of fellow climber Park Young-Seok who completed an unassisted trip to Pole in 2004. Her name is sometimes Anglicized as Young-Mi Kim.

Inspiring Explorers Expedition™ 2022 -- South Pole

was a project that was planned by the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust (NZAHT) for 2022-23 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Roald Amundsen. The team was led by the experienced Norwegian polar guide Bengt Rotmo of Ousland Expeditions (Norwegian language page...and yes, that is THAT Børge Ousland), and NZAHT executive director Nigel Watson. They would travel nearly 621 miles/1000km from the Ronne Ice Shelf to the South Pole using the route inspired by Reinhold Messner and Arved Fuchs' 1989-90 Antarctic crossing. The NZAHT was looking for 3 Kiwi or Norwegian volunteers to join the venture...applications closed on 13 June 2022. And on 1 August the three volunteers were selected--Laura Andrews, age 28, an Auckland firefighter; Marthe Brendefur, an intelligence analyst from the west coast of Norway--among other things, she crossed the Greenland icecap in 2019; and Mike Dawson, age 35, from Tauranga, NZ--he has been an Olympic athlete and coach in canoe slalom, and he would be the expedition videographer. More information about the team from the NZ Antarctic Heritage Trust...and here is a 10 October Bay of Plenty Times article about Mike Dawson's preparation for this trip. On 4 November the entire team had assembled in Punta Arenas. They reached Union Glacier on 16 November and were dropped off at the Messner Start point on the 18th. After the first week they'd crossed 83ºS. As of 20 December they'd reached 86º-50'S. They reached Pole on 6 January after 50 days of travel...by the 12th they were back in NZ.

Not on Akshay Nanavati (12 June mansworldindia article)

born in Mumbai and a former United States Marine, planned a 2022-23 50-day 684-mile solo ski expedition from Hercules Inlet to Pole. Throughout his life he has suffered from medical, addiction, stress, and PTSD issues; he has turned to adventure and has become a successful motivational speaker and author. He participated in a 2021-22 ALE expedition to Pole via the Axel Heiberg Glacier, from which he had to be medevaced due to frostbite. He was to precede his Pole trip with an October 2022 ski crossing of the Patagonian icecap. Ashkay, currently age 37, moved to the US at the age of 13 and currently lives in Scottsdale, Arizona (more information from Akshay's Wikipedia page). Akshay's website documenting his 2017 book Fearvana was never updated to describe his planned 2022-23 ventures...in fact, his website indicates his "next adventure" would to the Arctic beginning in February 2023...perhaps in preparation for a future Antarctic venture.

Revised... The Pole of Possibility

is Paralympian gold medal winner Karen Darke (age 51) along with Manchester Arena bombing survivor Iona Somerville (21), both from the UK, who were originally planning a "last two degree" venture to Pole (137 miles/220km) along the 79th meridian (west)...the route selected in part because 79 is the atomic number of gold. Iona later opted not to participate. Karen was to be accompanied by researcher/explorer Mike Christie who would be collecting ice samples, and filmmaker Mike Webster. Karen would be traveling on a hand-pedaled trike as well as a sit-ski while the other team members. would be skiing. Karen had previously proposed sit-ski ventures to Pole in 2012-13 and 2013-14 (along with Mike Christie and others) but these ventures never happened. As of 16 November she was hosting an event in the UK. The team reached the ice on about 19 December...they started on their trip on the 22nd heading down Union Glacier, up the Skytrain Ice Rise, and on to the Ronne Ice Shelf (79ºS-79ºW)...from where they retraced their route, covering a total of 186 miles (trip update from icetrikes.co) (archived site). She reported that she was leaving the ice on 10 January. There were reportedly others on this expedition.

Kate Leeming

an Australian extreme cyclist and explorer (as well as a high-ranking tennis player), has proposed and abandoned Antarctic cycling ventures for the past few years...she finally completed a short bike ride from Wolf's Fang Runway to Whichaway Camp (125 miles) in February 2023, with vehicle support presumably from Arctic Trucks. Here's a good Wikipedia article about Kate which I've edited to add info about her most recent venture.

Undaunted: South Pole 2023 (archived link)

was a last-two-degree venture guided by Robert Smith and guide/filmer Kyle O'Donoghue, with Robert Swan and his son Barney Swan. Robert joined the trip for the last degree.

Carl Alvey

originally planned to guide a reverse snow kite expedition from Pole to Hercules Inlet with two clients...they actually were flown to Thiels Corner from where they kited back to Hercules Inlet. My only information is from the above map.

More to come as these pages are still under construction. Meanwhile...a couple of notes. Where specific dates/times are mentioned, I try to use South Pole summer time (UTC+13), but I'm not always able to determine this, particularly for older expeditions where the blog or website has disappeared. Sometimes they have used the time zone of ALE's Union Glacier camp (UTC-3 in austral summer, the same as Punta Arenas), or they may have used the time zone of the expedition's home country.

Other caveats...the information on many of the older expeditions comes from websites and news articles which are no longer online but are archived...and in many cases the photos and blog entries did not get archived. And...the accepted meanings of the terms "unsupported" and "unassisted" have evolved over the years. Many ventures have used these terms, and rather than try to do an evaluation on older expeditions, I have used these terms as quoted from the original venture websites and/or news media.

Also important...one of my sources is Explorersweb--they frequent updates on the various ventures throughout the austral summer, so if you're interested I highly recommend that you visit their website and contact them to get on their email list.