Surprisingly, it was not Sir Ranuf or other men who put forward this ingenious and grand adventure plan, but Sir Ranuf's wife Virginia. Sir Ranulf, who loves adventure, is very interested in this project. For this reason, he spent seven years collecting relevant information, making detailed plans and making all kinds of preparations, because he knew that the natural environment in Antarctica and the Arctic was extremely bad, and any negligence could lead to the failure of this global expedition.
After the news of this unusual global expedition came out, many people volunteered to join the expedition. After strict selection, Ranulf chose Charles Burton and Oliver Shepard, both of whom were soldiers with strong physique and rich experience in field survival. Three of them are commandos of the expedition, three of them are in charge of logistics and support work, and there are two pilots. My lady is in charge of communication, and Bryn Campbell only takes part in some exploration activities, mainly responsible for photography and news reporting.
The first stage of the global expedition was to cross France, Spain and Algeria by land. Despite the long journey, they didn't encounter much difficulty because they took the tourist route. The really severe test began with landing on the Antarctic continent.
The Antarctic continent and the islands south of 60 south latitude are collectively called Antarctica, with a total area of about 6.5438+0.4 million square kilometers, ranking fifth among the seven continents in the world.
Antarctica is the highest continent in the world with an average elevation of 2350 meters. More than 95% of the Antarctic continent is covered with ice and snow. The average thickness of the Antarctic ice sheet is close to 2000 meters. In some places, the ice thickness is more than 4,000 meters, and the total volume of ice is about 24.5 million cubic kilometers, accounting for 90% of the ice on the earth and 70% of the total fresh water in the world. It is called "Ice Island".
Antarctic continent is located in high latitude, high altitude and harsh climate. It is the coldest, driest and windiest area on the earth, and is called "the world's cold pole", "the white desert" and "the hometown of storms".
June 1 1 to March of the following year is the "summer" in Antarctica, but the average temperature is still below 0℃. April ~ 10 is winter, and the temperature is as low as -60℃ ~-50℃. 1On August 24th, 960, the low temperature of -88.3℃ was measured at the eastern station of the former Soviet Union (78 27' south latitude,106 52' east longitude and 3400 meters above sea level), which is the lowest temperature recorded on the earth so far. Compared with the North Pole, the average annual temperature in the Antarctic continent is lower than 20℃.
The Antarctic continent is an isolated continent, surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, 970 kilometers away from the nearest South America. The coastline of the Antarctic continent is 24,000 kilometers long, of which 7,500 kilometers are surrounded by ice shelves that do not melt all year round. The average annual temperature in the coastal areas of Antarctic continent is between-17℃ and-10℃, and the lowest and highest temperatures are -40℃ and-13℃ respectively. The sea area adjacent to the mainland is blocked by ice with the thickness of 1 ~ 3m for nine months in a year (March ~165438+1October). Every year from March to June 10, the sea passage to the Antarctic continent is blocked by sea ice and becomes an isolated continent. Only from June 1 10 every year can the research ship approach the Antarctic continent.
1980 65438+1At the beginning of October, the British global expedition successfully landed on the Antarctic continent by taking advantage of the short and fleeting summer in Antarctica.
As soon as the explorers arrived in Sani, Antarctica, they began to get busy. They dragged hundreds of tons of fuel and other items from the ship to the camp on the shore. At the camp, they built a special insulated cardboard shed for the expedition. In this convenient, bright and warm hut, the explorers spent their first unforgettable day in the Antarctic continent. They found that although it is summer in Antarctica, the temperature is still around 0℃ and the wind is very strong.
Soon, the expedition plane arrived in Sani on time with the landing sled. The mission of this plane is to transport 90 tons of fuel and materials to Boga, 300 kilometers away from Sani. The expedition set up a wintering camp in Boga at an altitude of 2000 meters, where the commandos will spend more than eight months in the long polar winter, and then go to the polar region next summer. Pilots and mechanics are both veterans of polar flight. They flew 80 round trips a month and successfully completed the transportation task. When everything was ready, sir, Oliver and Charles left Sani on motorcycles and headed for Boga.
There is a huge ice gap between Boga and Sani, and the snow bridge on the bottomless ice gap often breaks, so many explorers are killed. Sir, to be on the safe side, they dragged a sled full of goods behind each motorcycle, and the rope was 15 meters long. In this way, if the motorcycle falls into the ice gap, the angle formed by the rope and the sled can stop the sled, thus dragging the sliding motorcycle and people can climb the rope. However, with this protective measure, many people are still buried in the ice gap. Fortunately, this kind of bad luck did not befall the jazz. It took them only three and a half days to completely cross the danger zone and reach Boga camp.
At the same time, all the expedition members who are not going to spend the winter in the Antarctic have left the Antarctic by boat and are entering the Cape of Good Hope. Only the jazz couple, Oliver and Charles, and a dog stayed in Boga camp.
Winter in Antarctica is a dark and cold night. In such a harsh environment, the three men and one woman of the expedition lived in an orderly and comfortable way. Each of them has his own responsibility: Sir is in charge of the shelter and fuel. He dug a long ditch between the shelter and the container and put a cover on it, which made it much more convenient to take things. My lady is in charge of communication. The work shed where the transceiver is installed is several hundred meters away from the living shed. Every time she goes there, she grabs a rope, braving the strong wind and cold, and gropes her way forward in the dark. Oliver's main task is to keep a weather diary and manage generators and motorcycles. Charles is in charge of daily meals. Although the officers here are time-consuming and laborious, they are much busier than originally thought, but they worked together in Qi Xin, lived in harmony, overcame one difficulty after another, and finally spent the long Antarctic winter.
1980101On October 29th, Jazz, Oliver and Charles left Boga camp on motorcycles and dragged sledges, and launched an attack on the South Pole 2,000 kilometers away. At that time, the Antarctic summer had just begun, the temperature was as low as -30℃ and the wind speed was as high as 70-80 kilometers per hour. Although the weather is cold, the lower the temperature, the harder the sled will be, which also adds a little safety to their exploration.
Most of the routes they chose were unprecedented. Jazz leads the way, Oliver knows machinery, and ends up at the back in order to repair possible machine failures. Each of them has a tent, food, rope, shovel, transmitter and radio, in case they are separated by snow, they can live alone. They drive 10 hours every day, rest for five minutes every hour, eat some dry food and cook a meal when camping at night. Despite the difficult conditions, they are full of confidence in victory. Every night, they contact the lady who stayed in the camp once so as not to miss her. In fact, since Jazz and others left Boga, she has been standing by the radio, ready to receive newspapers.
Jazz and his party traveled nearly 400 kilometers and met a snow trough that lasted more than 200 kilometers. The snow trough is full of potholes and dense gaps. Motorcycles often roll over and fall into ditches. At this time, the drivers had to jump out of the car immediately to avoid being hurt by the sled board. In the violent turbulence, Jazz's hard oak sleigh cracked into a big hole three meters long, and he had to give up what he had to give up, discarding the damaged sleigh together with the materials. Fortunately, other people's sledges are stainless steel and are not damaged.
Jazz and his party went on. When they were halfway to the scheduled material supply point, they saw nothing. The pilot didn't deliver the goods here on time as planned. Time is too precious for them. However, in this continent where ecological resources are extremely poor and no one lives except researchers, lack of adequate material security means death. They have to wait patiently. 17 days later, the delivery plane finally arrived. The expedition replenished enough supplies and began to make a final sprint to the pole. On February 65438, they overcame many difficulties and finally reached the South Pole. On February 23rd, 65438, they arrived at Scott base hundreds of kilometers away. The main obstacle of this journey is Scott Glacier. They are going to ride motorcycles along the glacier from the mountain to the Ross ice barrier. This kind of bold behavior has never been tried or even thought of before. Jazz and his party started this thrilling journey after careful preparation. There are so many ice gaps on the glacier that it is difficult for the motorcycle to brake when it slides down. They can only drive slowly and carefully, minimizing pauses. When motorcycles and sledges pass the ice bridge, they often hear the creaking sound of the ice bridge, which makes people jumpy and extremely nervous. After all the perilous hardships, four days later, they finally reached the Ross Ice Barrier at 78 9' south latitude, which is an ice wall several tens of meters high. It extends far, far away. 184 1 year, the Great Wall of Ice was first discovered by the British explorer Ross, so it was named "Ross Ice Barrier". The road will be smoother and easier in the future. 198 1 year 1 month1day, Jazz and his party arrived at Scott base, thus ending the second expedition across the Antarctic continent in human history. The expedition took 75 days, which was longer and shorter than the first time that the British-New Zealand joint expedition crossed the Antarctic in 1958.
After the expedition across the Antarctic continent, the British global expedition embarked on a voyage to the Arctic Ocean. 198 1 In July, the "Benjamin Bowing" arrived at the Yukon estuary in Alaska, North America. Because the estuary is full of shoals and reefs, ships can only stop at the sea 20 kilometers from the shore. The expedition must arrive in Dawson within two weeks, because there are more and more icebergs in the northwest passage of the Arctic Ocean, and every day of delay increases the danger of being surrounded by icebergs. Jazz decided to sail an inflatable boat to the Arctic Ocean with Charles. Bryn Campbell got on Charles' boat.
Two inflatable boats began a dangerous voyage, and evil waves swept in like an avalanche. Under the relentless impact of the waves, the boat is bumping up and down and is in danger of capsizing at any time. Suddenly, Charles was lifted by a row of waves and turned Brin's head into the sea, and then the boat was overturned by the waves. Charles quickly climbed to the bottom of the boat and pulled Brin up. They tried their best, but failed to turn the boat over. Seeing this situation, Sir immediately pushed several barrels of oil on the ship into the sea to reduce the load on the ship and then came to save them. The two ships rocked violently in the violent wind and waves and collided. After some efforts, Mr. Wang's boat finally leaned against the capsized boat. He jumped into the bottom of Charles' boat and just wanted to connect the two boats with a rope, but the boat was washed away by the big waves. At this critical moment, Jazz bravely jumped into the rough sea and swam to his boat. After some efforts, Jazz finally climbed onto his boat. He drove the boat as close as he could, and then threw a rope to tie Charles to the capsized boat. After all this, Jazz set sail to the east, while Charles and Brin pulled the rope to the west and tried to turn the boat over. But the ship's engine is broken and it can't be started. The three of them had to squeeze into Jazz's boat and return to the boat where Benjamin bowed.
Sir, after a short rest, they embarked on a dangerous journey from Yukon estuary to ellesmere island. During this journey of nearly 5000 kilometers, explorers mainly used inflatable boats and Boston whaling ships. They went upstream from yukon river, went downstream along the upper reaches of mackenzie river to Beaufort Sea, then went north through the northwest channel with dense fog and icebergs, and arrived at Tanqueray Bay in the ellesmere island of the Arctic Ocean on August 2 1 day. Jazz and Charles cross the island on foot and reach the wintering ground on the north shore of the island. Three months later, the exploration plane brought them snowmobiles and other supplies. When winter came in the Arctic, they embarked on a journey to the polar regions outside the Arctic.
Due to the influence of the Arctic Ocean current, the layers of ice on the ellesmere island are superimposed, and the broken ice is squeezed into an ice wall. This area has become a famous "land of pressure" in the Arctic Ocean. These ice walls are more than 3 meters high on average, but ice walls as high as 10 meters are everywhere. It is difficult for snowmobiles to climb such a high obstacle. At first, Sir and Charles cut a passage with axes, but this is not the way. After discussion, they decided to give up their motorcycles and walk north. They overcame many difficulties and walked dozens of kilometers before the road was relatively flat. They immediately contacted the lady who lived in ellesmere island. Soon, the plane brought them a motorcycle. They rode on snowmobiles, regardless of fatigue. On the way, Jazz accidentally fell into the water with his car. With the help of Charles, he managed to climb up, but all the equipment and materials such as motorcycles and sledges could not be salvaged.
The journey beyond the North Pole is full of dangers. If you are not careful, you will encounter bad luck. Once, the ice near their tent suddenly exploded, and Sir and Charles rushed out of the tent to check it out. Although the ice has not broken, terrible noise is coming from all directions, which makes people feel extremely scared. Sir and Charles are calm, witty, tenacious and brave in the face of all kinds of unimaginable difficulties. They cut, shoveled and dragged all the way, and finally planted the British flag in the North Pole on April 1982+0 1.
Leaving the North Pole, Jazz embarked on the final journey of this global exploration across the North and South Poles. Jazz plans to reach Spitsbergen before the ice breaks in early June, then slide across the mountains on the island and meet the ship Benjamin Bowing on the other side of the island. It's hundreds of kilometers from the telephone pole to the slipway. Who knows, soon after they set off, the ice cracked ahead of time. Helpless, they chose a solid floating ice and set up two small tents on the ice, intending to drift to their destination with the ice.
After a 99-day trek, they finally reached their destination and returned to the Benjamin Bowing. The explorers reunited after a long separation hugged each other tightly, and it was difficult to restrain the joy of victory.
When the British global expedition successfully returned to the starting point of England, the dock was filled with cheers and people warmly welcomed these adventure heroes. The British global adventure lasted for three years and traveled more than 30,000 kilometers. Finally, the first global exploration across the North and South poles was realized, and a new chapter in the history of world geographical exploration was written.