A team of mountaineers on Queen Maud Land in the Antarctic are using an Inmarsat BGAN terminal to relay their “epic adventure” to the world.
The six-man team are there to climb lvetanna, the “Wolf's Tooth” in Norwegian, which lies at 71° 51' South, 8° 20' East, in the Orvin Fjell mountains on Queen Maud Land – an area half the size of Europe.
The mountain is known as the most technically demanding peak on the harshest continent.
With temperatures possibly dropping as low as -50°C and with the potential for 100mph winds, it will be no picnic for the team, who departed for Antarctica from South Africa on 16 December.
Led by climber Leo Houlding, it includes film director and photographer Alastair Lee who reports that their BGAN Explorer is “working like a charm” as he uses it to update blogs and send back images from the desolate icy wilderness.
Images sent so far include shots of the team in a beautiful blue ice cave, which took nearly six hours to carve out. Another shows the near vertical face of lvetanna and the task ahead of them.
“The cave is amazingly sheltered and has this beautiful blue colour. Combined with the hundreds of facets scored into the icy snow by a saw, and the shiny surfaces resulting from breathing and water boiling sessions inside the cave, it makes you feel like you have entered a magical crystal dungeon,” said Alastair.
“Over the past few days, we have been moving multiple loads to our advanced base camp.”
The team plans to start its ascent in the next few days, after making a start at fixing lines up the massive ridge.
