Long Journey of 1200 km at -55° C

“With a one percent probability, I will not give up.”

Sponsored by DongA Ilbo, explorer and mountain climber, Park Young-suk, will leave to conquer the South Pole on November 16.

Headed by Park Young-suk and Goo Ja-jun, the team of seven will depart from Korea and stop by Auckland, New Zealand to Santiago, Chile to Punta Arenas, Chile and arrive at Petriot Hill in the North Pole on November 25. Five members, including Park, will move to Hercules along the coast. From that point they will start on their long journey of 1200 km to the South Pole. They will carry sleds and walk the path of ice for 61 days

It will be a great challenge because they will have to walk almost 20 kms daily.

If Park succeeds, he will move one step closer to achieve the dreams of all explorers. He has already ascended the summits of the highest mountains in seven continents, 14 summits 8000 m high in the Himalayas, and Mt. Everest, one of the three poles.

DongA Ilbo will accompany the team and report vividly on how they will challenge the invincible nature.

The total surface area of Antarctica is about 14.2 million square kilometers big, which is larger than Europe. The average temperature of the continent is -55 ° C year round. The continent is also buffeted by strong winds, called blizzard, at the speed of 40 m/s or faster. The lowest temperature ever recorded was -89.2° C and a wind speed of 88 m/s was recorded

98 percent of the continent is covered with ice. Thick ice coverage makes it the highest among all continents, with an average elevation of about 2160 m. Crevasses, deep splits in glaciers, are everywhere. In addition to that, unlike in the South where unaided expeditions are not impossible through airdropping supplies, the bad weather in the North forces adventurers to carry all equipment and supplies on the sled.

Park tried to adventure the North Pole in February but returned home empty-handed. At that time, the plane, which was supposed to pick him up at the pole, was unable to do so. He pledged to beat the North Pole, saying, “I tried before and I am quite confident about it now.”

Besides DongA Ilbo, LG Insurance, NCSoft, and North Face are co-sponsoring the expedition.

Chang Jeon jeon@donga.com