Gareth Brauteseth

The Check List of kit has come together.

If any of you are planning on going south, consider this checklist to keep warm and always remember layers. I board the Ilyusion Il-76 on Tuesday Nov 2 at 11pm, in shorts and T-Shirt which is perfect for long lazy days in Cape Town in November.

In 1 Bag I will have-

• Thermal Pants
• Thermal Top
• Fleece Pants
• T-shirt
• Long Sleeve Shirt
• Fleece Top
• Goretex Trousers
• Goretex Jacket
• 4 Pairs of Ski Socks
• Down Insulated Jacket
• 3 pairs of gloves
• Neck Gator
• Beanie- a warm one
• Goggles
• Polarised Sunglasses
• Baffin Boots
• Tekkies (Trainers-we call them Tekkies in South Africa)
• SPF 100 Sunblock
• Toothbrush
• Tooth Paste
• Nail Clippers
• Camera
• Deodorant
• Diary
• Pen
• Laptop
• Humour
• Books- Good Ones, Cry the beloved country James Bond etc.

So, if you planning to travel to South, this is what you should pack. If there is something else, please let me know…

Sam Beugey

If any of you watched the BANFF Film festival earlier this year there was a film about 4 French climbers who go climbing in Pakistan.

They spend 20 days on a cliff face, climbing, sleeping, washing, and cooking on the side of a mountain. Eventually they get to the top, over 6000m up. It is a great story of the coming together of some great friendships. Only good humor and a chilled out take on your surroundings get you through this.

And when they get to the top…

Sam Beaguey puts on a wing suit and jumps off the top. What takes 20 days to get up, takes 20 sec to get down. This is an awesome film of some great guys pushing the boundaries. Watch it here.

Sam is part of the White Desert team who will be taking guests on some of the wildest rides of there life. It is going to be insane!

Ilyusion Il-76

There are a few ways to get down to Antarctica.

The SA Agulhas is one.

The mother ship of all South African Antarctic research. Managed by SANAP, she has been making the voyage down to the Ice for almost 30 years. She is loved by science in South Africa and is a symbol for pioneering and a history of great research coming out of the rainbow nation.

Then, there is the Russian way…

The Ilyusion Il -76, a ship of a different kind, an air ship built for moving things. A monster machine build for transporting troops, tanks, refueling fighter jets and in times of peace, lifting scientists, and the White Desert team, to the ice.

These aeroplanes are tough, a bit like the Hilux of the skies. Making their mark in the 80’s, where they transported over 750 000 Russian troops into Afghanistan and surviving ground attack from Afghan rebels, the Ilyusion is now used by governments worldwide for research supply and anything where the ability for an aeroplane to be tough is paramount.

We will be sharing the ride with Russian scientists, a whole lot of kit, engineers and 4 pilots, who I really hope know how to fly this beast.

So, in a few days I head down to Antarctica.

When you type weather forecast Antarctica into your goggle search bar, the response is something staggering.

Obviously the temperature is something ridiculous with the average being somewhere around -49degrees C and the lowest ever recorded a chilly -89degrees C. When the wind doesn’t blow I am assured it is around the freezing point.

The wind has been measured at 200mph, that is strong, one sure way to dry the washing, but wait a minute, the washing freezes!

Luckily I am going down in summer where the sun will be up 24hours a day; yes that’s it 24 hours a day. So, a good pare of sunglasses is absolutely crucial.

That’s why I must say thank a million to my mates at BLUEYE.

BLUEYE is technology coming out of Australia that is amazing. The Injection molded PC Polarized Lenses have a track record of research coming out of your ears. But the proof is in the pudding. You suspend the lenses off the end of your nose and you experience a whole new level of Sun Shade experience.

The brand is specifically designed for extreme sports in mind, made from Polycarbonate material the lenses carry the best impact-resistant material available to
protect your eyes.

I have a few models to test out but what excites me the most are the Zoo frames that are going to be very handy for Kite Skiing on the ice. The lighter lenses won’t be very handy as the white of the ice is brutal, but the darker lenses will most definitely come into their own.

The Norwegians love the Ice, I suppose because they live in it for half the year.

My forefathers are Norwegian with Otto Brauteseth, a hard man of humble means, coming out on a ship to South Africa in 1882. 130 years later I am getting ready for a trip to Antarctica just like so many Norwegians that have gone before.

One of Norways greatest modern day explorers is Børge Ousland, who, for the past 20 years has been exploring the Arctic and Antarctic pushing the boundaries of human endeavor.

The man is amazing, there are not many people who can boast a first under their belt these days, but Børge was the first person to complete a solo expedition to the North Pole without re-supplying, and the first to cross the Antarctic continent alone. He is still the only person to have accomplished both feats.

As I write the man is in the North Atlantic on his latest mission of sailing through the North East and North West Passage in one season.

Awesome!

In the eternal search for adventure, somewhere cool to explore and something new to experience I came across this.

Cenotes, found in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.

What make these things awesome are first of all their beautiful and then, the legend that the local Maya have about the Cenotes. Because these are the only natural resource of safe drinking water in the area Major Maya settlements would sprout around the walls of the wells.

The Maya believed that these were gateways to the afterlife and they would throw valuable items into them as offerings to the gods. Golden sacrificial artifacts have been found in some Cenotes which led to some pretty crazy exploration.

You can head there today and dive to all corners of these wells to have a peak at what’s available, pretty nuts…

Who’s keen for a trip to Mexico?

Adventure Chef Jenna Viney

I am a lucky member of a crew that is hosting guests down on the ice of Antarctica during the summer season of 2010/2011.

The opportunity to get down to the White Desert does not come around too often in ones life and I have been blessed with the opportunity that I have no doubt pounced upon.

“Whichaways” camp is based on the ice shelf and plays home base to White Desert. White Desert (www.white-desert.com) is the latest in adventure tourism and if you have the time, the money and the nerve I suggest you make a plan to get down, the waiting list is getting pretty long.

Besides the Ice climbing, the penguins, the leopard seals, the South pole and the Kite Skiing you will be spoilt by some of the most amazing food that adventure has to offer.
Jenna Viney (www.jennamayfood.com) is the award winning chef who splits her time between Antarctica in the European winter, Russia in the European Summer and Greece just for a good time. I had coffee with Jenna yesterday and it was a sign of good things to come. The team is going to be phenomenal and I can’t wait to meet the rest of the guys as they arrive in Cape Town to get ready for the Desert.