BASE NOTES

The latest in adventure

Shackelton’s Endurance is found

In March 2022, more than a century after the historic ship was crushed by ice and sank, the Endurance, the lost vessel of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, was found. With the use of underwater drones, the wreck of the Endurance was located at the bottom of the Weddell Sea, at a depth of 3,008 metres – approximately four miles south of the position originally recorded by the ship’s captain, Frank Worsley.

Upon location, the expedition’s director of exploration Mensun Bound described the discovery as ‘the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen. It is upright, well proud of the seabed, intact, and in a brilliant state of preservation. You can even see Endurance arced across the stern, directly below the taffrail. This is a milestone in polar history.’

Preet Chandi – first woman of colour to ski to South Pole

In another polar milestone, skiing 700 miles from Hercules Inlet, ‘Polar’ Preet reached the South Pole in just 40 days, 7 hours and 3 minutes. This makes her the third fastest female solo skier to cross Antarctica.

Enduring temperatures as low as -50ºC with wind speeds of up to 60mph, while pulling a 90kg sled, the 32-year-old smashed all expectation during a season which saw a number of expeditions fail to reach their goals. Preet managed to shave five days off her predicted arrival date in the first expedition to reach the South Pole in two years.

Chris Brown – first person to reach the African pole of inaccessibility

Generally speaking, the pole of inaccessibility marks the most challenging spot to reach – often that refers to the most distant point from the coastline. Each continent has its own, for Africa, that spot is deep in the bush of the Central African Republic, more than 1,100 miles from the nearest coast.

The CAR is a hugely unstable region with reports of violence, reprisal killings, looting, human rights abuse and kidnappings all very much a reality. Not far from the border with South Sudan, the region in which the pole of inaccessibility lies, is one known for its poachers, rebels and Soviet mercenaries.

On December 6, after years of planning, British adventurer Chris Brown became the first person to reach the African pole of inaccessibility in what was a logistically complex and dangerous expedition.

Jet suit paramedics to take flight in Lake District this summer

Individual jet propulsion is perhaps one of the most cliché concepts of ‘the future’ – something generally more at home in the Marvel universe or in spy movies than reality, but this year, jet suits will be introduced to the Great North Air Ambulance service operating in the Lake District.

While getting a helicopter or climbing fells on foot to reach an injured patient typically takes around 30 minutes, it’s understood that by using these jet packs, paramedics can be on the scene in as little as 90 seconds. The fully-3D printed polypropylene suit utilises three small propulsion jets which produce up to 144kg of thrust so medics can ascend quickly, ultimately improving patient survivability in inaccessible environments.

‘There are dozens of patients every month within the complex but relatively small geographical footprint of the Lakes. We could see the need,’ explains Andy Mawson, Director of Operations for GNAAS, who came up with the concept for the suits. ‘What we didn’t know for sure was how this would work in practice. Well we’ve seen it now and it is, quite honestly, awesome.’

Jasmin Paris – first woman to complete the Barkley Marathons Fun Run in 9 years

The Barkley Marathons is brutal. A near impossible ultrarunning event comprised of 5 loops of the same gruelling, navigationally challenging circuit. More often than not, the event closes without a finisher. If you’ve not seen the Netflix documentary The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young through which the race rose to fame, we highly recommend that you do.

In 2022, there was once again no winner, no one to successfully complete the five laps. But in her first attempt at the race, British ultra runner Jasmin Paris – who in 2019 won the Montane Spine Race whilst expressing breastmilk for her then-14 month old child at checkpoints – was the last woman standing and the first woman to complete the event’s Fun Run category (3 out of the 5 loops) in nine years.

‘A good few hours of the first loop were genuinely enjoyable with the sun shining and a lovely Barkleys veteran for company,’ says Jasmin. ‘The rest was largely Type 2 Fun!’ She completed three laps with a time of 39hrs 49mins 56 secs – just over 10 minutes inside the cut-off for a Fun Run.