751 Kilometers from the South Pole

An expedition is making steady progress toward the South Pole with the sponsorship of Dong-A Daily

The expedition, led by Captain Park Youn-suk, 40, was at latitude 83 degrees, 16 minutes south and longitude 80 degrees, 01 minutes west on December 22. The team left Hercules, on the coast of the Antarctic Continent on November 30, and has walked 383.7 km for 23days. In a straight line, they remain 751km from the South Pole.

The distance falls short of the original goal of 22km per day. A strong wind of over 30m per second, blizzard conditions, has caused poorer progress than expected. Stones as big as thumbnails are blown by winds.

Moreover, whiteout slows the progress of the expedition. Whiteout is a situation in which you cannot distinguish distance and cannot see even an inch because everything is white. The members of the expedition team often tumble over sleighs loaded with equipment because they cannot see under their feet. One of the members, Kang Chul-won, 35, once fell more than 50 times a day in whiteout. The expedition lost three days waiting in tents.

The members are also not in good condition. Captain Park applied a cataplasm for the first time because of pain on the sole of a foot. Another member, Lee Hyun-jo, 31, suffered a stress fracture. All five members of the expedition have difficulty eating, because their lips cracked.

Fortunately, it does not fall to less than 20 degrees below zero, as it is summer in the South Pole. The wind chill, however, is still far less than 40 degrees below zero because of the strong winds.

Their plan to arrive at the South Pole on January 25 seems possible. As they go into inland, the wind dies down. Also, sleighs gain in speed because their loads are lightened.

Captain Park said, “I guess we advance each day because every situation is much better than that in the expedition for the North Pole early this year. The messages from our fans at donga.com fill us with new energy.”

Chang Jeon jeon@donga.com