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New Zealand Department of Conservations specialist consultant Al Fastier (L) and archaeologist Neville Ritchie carry boxes of food outside Ernest Shackleton's Hut at Cape Royds in McMurdo Sound, Ross Island, Antarctica November 29, 2005. Hundreds of cans of food are being transported back to Scott Base from the hut, where conservators will spend the winter at the new Hillary Field Centre, conserving the stores that were to be used in Shackleton's 1909 Nimrod expedition on the South Pole. Shackleton was a British explorer of Antarctica. PHOTO - REUTERS |
VIENNA - An Austrian explorer and his team have reached the South Pole unsupported in a record 33 days. Wolfgang Melchior, 50, said in a statement posted on his Web site that he and four other people reached the South Pole last Tuesday. They travelled on skis, without outside help and without a parasail. "It is a particular pleasure and honour to report that we reached the South Pole on Dec. 27 at 1630 hours. Health-wise, I am well apart from chillblains on my calf. Tired of course but I have no bigger complaints," he added. Melchior said he and his team covered up to 40.3 km a day in the journey which was roughly 900 km long. Melchior and his team would now head to a camp to rest and celebrate the New Year. Melchior had aimed to reach the South Pole in less than 40 days, which he said would also have been a record. He said he was also the first Austrian to reach the
South Pole without outside help, a parasail or taking on extra supplies. Reuters
