Arctic Kites

After a week of not exercising very much and eating everything in sight Rachel has managed to put on a grand total of minus 0.5kg! This has prompted a friend to offer her the following advice; “If you’re not feeling full you should be eating!” Recent quotes from Rachel include “I need a break from eating just for 5 minutes!” and “Hang on, I’m busy stuffing my face!”.

The team is thrilled that Ronny Finsås who lives in Finse, Norway has agreed to join and lead the team. Ronny, known as ‘the Kiting God’, recently kite-skied from the South Pole to Hercules Inlet, a distance of ~1100km in 5 days and over 500km in 1 day!

The international team used the training week in Finse to full advantage, going through the expedition plans, routes and equipment in detail. It was fantastic to all get together and share each other’s excitement in the forthcoming adventure!

Chris and Rachel are delighted that Australian explorer and freelance journalist Felicity (Flip) Byrnes has joined the expedition!

Flip Byrnes is the great granddaughter of Frank Hurley, who was the photographer on the Imperial Trans Antarctic Expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleton on the Endurance.

Flip’s earlier adventures have seen her snowboarding in Kashmir, trekking in Mongolia, climbing Mont Blanc and sliding down mountains in Chile, Argentina, Kashmir, Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. She has also walked the 1,500 kilometers of the Camino de Santiago (Way of St James) in northern Spain.

For the last seven years Flip has contributed reports recounting her explorations to both The Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian in the UK, as well as other publications. Flip will be writing an account of this expedition as a column in The Sydney Morning Herald.

We are managing to train just about every evening after work for between two and four hours, either in the Kinetika gym, swimming or pulling tyres around the local woods. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are swimming days, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays are gym days and Sunday is pulling tyres! If we’re very good we occasionally get a day off!

Rachel is eating like a horse, desperately trying to put on weight but failing miserably! Over Christmas she managed to put on 2kg and must have been the only person in the country to be pleased about it!

The last couple of months have been quite hectic sorting out the final items of equipment as well as the expedition logistics. We are getting there – slowly but surely!

This weekend we spent preparing for Finse. Food, skiing equipment, kiting equipment, camping equipment and clothing has all been packed and amounts to ~90kg of baggage!

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