I just got back from Mt Whitney, the highest mountain in the contiguous United States. Myself and a fellow MBA student led a UC Berkeley team successfully to the summit on Sunday 19th September. It was a great experience, though extremely tiring. It was actually a pretty hot day (not an issue we are likely to face in Antarctica….). Hiking up steep switchbacks and scrambling over rocky crags is also unlikely to be a challenge on the ice, but the very long day (14 hours of climbing) and was a good test of endurance for our trek.

I’m back in Berkeley now, and settling back into the task of securing a main sponsor - a challenge that seems greater than actually getting to the Pole!

Still, as we have always said “if it was easy, then there would be no challenge in it”

Cheers for now!

-Alan

Hey everyone, Alan here.

Now it looks as though I will be planning a wedding as well as this expedition.

Over the past weekend I got engaged to my girlfriend Esther. Now that we are planning a life together, I have had to hone my diplomatic skills to ensure my planned trip to the South Pole doesnot cause too many problems on the home front. Although she has been aware of this expedition since its inception, the engagement and a wedding next summer put a somewhat different angle on things.

I thought I had avoided Salsa Dancing (this being my bargaining chip when I first convinced her that being away for 3 monthswould not place too much strain on our marriage), but it appears she is going to hold me to this promise.

So if I want to go to the Pole with her blessing, I need to honour my commitment and go to Salsa classes with her.

I’m sure Scott or Shackleton never had to salsa!