In the early hours of the 21st January 2007 a satellite message was transmitted from Antarctica to the Ministry of Defence’s Permanent Joint Headquarters in London.

It read, ‘Message for Admiral Sir James Burnell-Nugent, Commander-in-Chief Fleet. Sir. Mission Accomplished. Today at 0625Z the 1,400-mile, 71-day journey was completed. Team members well and in high spirits. Further dispatch to follow once Patriot Camp established.’

The message was sent by Royal Marines Captain Sean Chapple, leader of a 4-man Royal Navy & Royal Marines expedition that had just completed a return journey to the South Pole.

The expedition represented the first British military return journey to the South Pole, the first Royal Marines to walk unsupported to the South Pole and the first Service expedition to the region since Capt Scott’s famous 1912 expedition. Here Captain Chapple gives an account of this amazing journey.

Preparing for the Assault

Our first port of call was Punta Arenas, Chile were we established a Forward Mounting Base (FMB) in the barracks of the 4th Detachment Chilean Marines the FMB would provide a secure area for us to conduct final preparations for our assault on Antarctica and the South Pole. On the 11th November we loaded our sledges, 240 lb each, onto a Russian Ilyushin IL76 aircraft and set off for Antarctica. After just 4 ½ hours we crossed the Antarctic Circle and landed on a blue-ice runway at Patriot Hills Camp, some 710 miles from the South Pole. After a final check on communications, navigation and safety equipment we turned and headed south, the quest had begun.

Hauling into the Pole

My strategy was to gradually increase hauling to an optimum 8 hour hauling a day with a target of reaching the South Pole on Christmas Day - before our 50 days of supplies ran out. The first few days were demanding with a steady climb up the first of the series of plateaus that step up towards the Pole.  Despite wearing two balaclavas, a facemask and goggles the –28ºC temperatures, and a constant katabatic headwind, began to cause frost damage on cheeks, eyelids and areas of the neck.

Our hauling day consisted of a number of legs, lasting no more than 1 hour 45 minutes that was initially painfully slow as our bodies adjusted to the intense physical demands. On day 8 we hit our first crevasse field, negotiating over twenty 10 metre wide chasms. On day 14 days we crossed 85ºS and the Thiel Mountains Range came into view, rising sharply out of the Antarctic wasteland, this represented the half waypoint and a celebration of cheese, coffee and shortbread.

Once clear of the Thiels we began our final climb to the South Pole at 9,300ft. As a result of the cold, thin air and compression of the southern region, we soon experienced mild altitude sickness such as laboured breathing, headaches and difficulty sleeping. We also began to encounter large fields of sastrugi, hard blown snow resembling rows of frozen waves ranging from a centimetres to feet in height creating crating a mass of obstacles to haul our sledges over.

Despite our gruelling regime we were falling behind schedule, and with food supplies dwindling we increased our target to 35 miles each hauling session, by reducing sleep periods to 5 hours and increasing our time in the harness to two 8 hour sessions. The regime soon took its toll and through weekly skin fold measurement acceleration in the loss of my body weight was noticed.  Bouts of fatigue would debilitate us forcing a redistribution of sledge loads, and at times we would pair up to haul sledges in an effort to continue our drive ever southwards.  With progress determined by mileage, days began to blur into one another, but we were closing in on the Pole. Late on Christmas Day, and after a 26 hour haul, we stopped to enjoy some festivities. We were now 12 miles from the Pole.

The South Pole

Before long we were moving again, although after 5 miles we were forced to take a short rest, as we were completely exhausted.  Travelling at just 1mph and totally exhausted we approached the South Pole. At 2:18am on the 27th December 2008 we reached the geographical South Pole, the spot that Captain Scott and his men had reached almost 100 years ago, a spot that 99.99% of the world’s population had never seen and a location that most world maps don’t feature.

The Return Journey

We now faced the prospect of turning around and retracing our steps. However with the winds spiralling out of the Pole we would use giant traction kites to harness the wind. Initially opting for a 10m2 Flexifoil Blade kite, after just 1 hour, mostly airborne, we down sized to a 6m2 Flexifoil Rage kite on 50m lines.  After just 9½ hours we had covered over 67 miles - the equivalent to 4 days hauling!

With 24 hours daylight our days were now dictated by the wind, when we had wind we would kite when it dropped, or was too high, we would camp and rest.  Modifying our hauling harness we were able to lean into the harness allowing the power of the kite to pull us an d our sledge and use our skis to edge into the snow to steer in the direction. We could effectively travel at almost 50º to the wind, and at a comfortable speed of 10-15 mph.

Success

Despite some frustrating periods of no wind the miles soon began to add up and before long we were into our final stages.  Hurtling down 40-degree slopes in 30-knot winds in 8-hour sessions became a real test of endurance and nerves, with quick reactions needed to avoid large sastrugi. Falls became a constant occurrence. Our final push was a mammoth 26 hour, 75 mile kite into Patriot Hills – the quest had been completed.

"Your expedition has been a journey of firsts; the first military return journey to the South Pole; the first Royal Marines to walk unsupported to the South Pole and the first Service Expedition to the region since Capt Scott in 1912. Your expedition was in the very finest traditions of the many great and heroic explorations of the past."

Admiral Sir Jonathan Band KCB ADC
First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff