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South Africa: Mountaineers to Tour South Pole
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BuaNews (Tshwane)
31 October 2007
Posted to the web 31 October 2007
Luyanda Makapela
Johannesburg
Two South African adventurers will make history when they attempt a 1200 kilometre trek to the South Pole.
Alex Harris from Johannesburg and Sibusiso Vilane from Polokwane, who have been in training for almost a year for this major feat, will be the first South Africans to walk unsupported and unassisted for 60 days to the South Pole from 10 November.
Speaking on behalf of their sponsor, Harmony Gold Mining Company, Renay De Witt said the two men will start their journey with temperatures around -8 degrees Celsius at the edge of the continent of Antarctica.
Most of their trip will be spent with temperatures at -20 degrees Celsius.
Mr De Witt said as their 1200km walk progresses, temperatures are expected to reach the -40 degrees Celsius mark.
"One of the biggest risks that cannot be trained for is, however, wind. Each day it will determine whether or not the men can safely break camp and put their tent up 20km further down the line," Mr De Witt said.
Adventurer, Mr Harris said they will do the walk by themselves with no assistance and this means that there will be nobody putting out food and rigging up the tents.
"We won't use wind power, dogs or anything else to get us there. It's the purest form of getting to the South Pole," he said.
The two mountaineering partners have been preparing themselves physically and mentally to drag sleds weighing 130 kilograms behind them for 60 days.
"Our target is to cover at least 20km a day and the mileage lost in a day should be made up or one should run a risk of running out of supply," Mr Harris added.
He said Antarctica generated all the bad weather in the Southern Hemisphere and storms could be fierce.
"We will only have five days worth of emergency fuel and food, our success on this challenge will be in the balance if a storm lasts longer than that," Mr Harris said.
As with any extreme venture, both men anticipate some tension, but having spent 70 days together in a tent on Mount Everest, they are confident that they have the maturity and heart to handle it.
"This is not going to be any easy task to fulfill, but we are confident enough that we will conquer the journey," Mr Vilane said.
In 1998, Mr Harris became the first South African to have climbed the seven summits while Mr Vilane became the first black South African to top the earth's largest and most fearsome Everest Mountain in 2003.
In December last year, the pair made a trip to Antarctica where Mr Vilane was introduced to the area for the first time. This gave him time to familiarise himself with the climate.
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Training has been ongoing since then with the team pulling tyres that required a pulling force of 30-40kg every second day, covering a distance of about 17km per training session.
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