'It’s important a Brit cracks this journey first' – Lou Rudd launches bid to cross Antarctica solo

Captain Lou Rudd, MBE will today launch his attempt to be the first person to cross Antarctica solo, unsupported and unassisted.

The expedition comes two years after Rudd’s close friend, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Worsley, lost his life attempting a solo crossing of the Antarctic landmass. He was just 30 miles short of his goal when he collapsed, unable to go any further.

In early November the Spirit of Endurance Expedition will arrive at the Ronne Ice Shelf in the Weddell Sea. From here, Rudd will set off on a 1,000-mile crossing which will take 75 days through the Antarctic summer.

Speaking to Telegraph Travel, Rudd said: “It’s really important it’s a Brit that cracks this journey first. There have been a couple of Brits that have tried this in the past and been unsuccessful, so it’s fitting and appropriate that it’s a Brit that goes down and completes this journey first.”

Antarctica is the harshest environment on Earth. In the first leg of the trip Rudd must ascend the crevasse-littered glaciers that run down from the sea to the South Pole, a vertical climb of over 9,000 feet. From the South Pole there is a descent back to sea level. Rudd will be travelling on skis, pulling a sled behind him.

Rudd will haul his burden with a starting weight of 150kg including food, fuel, a tent and other equipment. He said: “Weight is critical. I’m looking at [losing] grams with the amount of weight I’m taking. I’m even sawing handles off toothbrushes to save weight. The one allowance I’ve given myself is that my wife has given me a very lightweight, small Christmas present.”

“I know from experience to be patient at the beginning and then the mileage will come as I eat my way through my burden,” he added.

Nobody has succeeded in crossing Antarctica solo before, but in Rudd’s words this isn’t about foolhardiness or ego. “It’s about showing what can be achieved through courage, commitment and a determination to do the best you can,” he said.

“I think the journey will be a real mental battle. When you just look at the distance, 1,000 miles in front of you, it can be quite daunting. I’ll be focusing on the first week, then aim at the next week, and break it down into manageable mental chunks”

The expedition comes a century after Sir Ernest Shackleton led the Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914, attempting to make the first crossing of the Antarctic continent by man-haul. At the time this was regarded as the last great Polar challenge and, in many ways, it was designed to be a riposte to the news three years earlier that Scott had lost out in his race to the South Pole against his Norwegian counterpart, Roald Amundsen.

Departing on the eve of war, under direct orders from Winston Churchill, Shackleton’s ship left Plymouth for Antarctica. In many ways, Shackleton’s expedition was to suffer in the same way Scott’s had; both were to fall foul of unusual and severely harsh weather conditions. Shackleton’s ship was caught in the ice and destroyed, leaving Shackleton and his crew to make a perilous journey over ice, dragging their small lifeboats behind them. Then, when the ice began to break up, they were forced into the boats and to make their way through the ice-laden waters to the tiny and inhospitable Elephant Island, at the top of the Antarctic Peninsula.

With an Antarctic winter approaching and his crew facing death from starvation and cold, Shackleton decided to risk everything and attempt to sail to a whaling settlement in South Georgia, from where he could initiate a rescue operation.

However, this involved crossing 850 nautical miles of the most perilous seas on the planet, with only the most rudimentary of navigation equipment. Against all the odds, Captain Frank Worsley was able to successfully navigate their tiny, semi-open boat across the seas, using only a sextant.

They found themselves on the wrong side of the island to any opportunity of rescue, separated by barrier of mountains and ice that had never been travelled before. Shackleton, Frank Worsley and Tom Crean traversed South Georgia in a feat that was probably as challenging as the Trans-Antarctic route they had originally anticipated doing. When they finally arrived at the whaling station of Stromness, hardened whalers wept at their story of survival. His team were rescued, but Shackleton was never to complete the challenge of crossing Antarctica that he had set himself.

The first crossing of Antarctica was finally achieved in 1958, when Sir Vivian Fuchs traversed the continent via the South Pole using mechanical Snow-Cat tractors. Since then, the traverse has been completed by a number of teams who sought to use the man-haul methods that Shackleton had originally planned on using.

However, a shift in thinking moved the goal of crossing Antarctica from being a team-based challenge, to one of a single person, unsupported and unassisted.

Today, Lou Rudd will receive his MBE at Buckingham Palace to mark his outstanding leadership and determination in Polar expeditions.

After months of preparation and training, Rudd is all set to depart on his expedition. However, he does have one superstition that he will be carrying with him. “Somebody worked out that on Captain Scott’s original journey to the Pole, that if he and his team had taken eleven more steps each day they would have made it back to the depot where they were striving towards. They could have picked up resupplies and potentially would have survived the journey,” he said.

“So whenever I’m on a Polar journey, when I get to the end of my day’s skiing and I’m about to stop and pitch tent, I’ll stop briefly and always take eleven more steps. Just in case.”

Lou Rudd’s Spirit of Endurance Expedition has been co-engineered, facilitated and supplied by British performance clothing brand Shackleton. Lou will be blogging throughout the journey here. Lou is working with the Heads Together Foundation and ABF Charity, which helps support soldiers and their families in times of need.