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1) The Expedition and Training Essentials
2) Training in Singapore
3) Overseas Training

 

 

1) THE EXPEDITION & TRAINING ESSENTIALS

 

The Expedition

Operation South Pole

Operation South Pole The team will depart October for Santiago in Chile. From there they will be flown by the Chilean Airforce to Punta Arenas to prepare for their trek at their staging point at Patriot Hill.

Patriot Hill

This staging point is positioned at 80oS. From there, the team will have to trek 1,100km across snow and ice to reach their destination - the South Pole at 90oS.

Operation Vinson Massif

The Vinson team will depart for Antarctica in December. From there the team will set up two high camps. They will take approximately two weeks to reach the peak.

 

Division of Team

With approximately two months to the first overseas training trip to Greenland and the Swiss Alps, the team members of each group will be able to concentrate on honing the special skills needed to reach South Pole and the summit of Mount Vinson. This division is based on fitness, specific skills, endurance and versatility.

 

Vinson Team South Pole Team
Leader : Dr Mok Ying Jang Leader: Khoo Swee Chiow

Co-leader: Edwin Siew

Co-leader: Robert Goh
Members: Members:
Lee Ling Yen David Lim
Kuak Nam Jin Ang Yau Choon

 

Technical Skills

Team members must be adept at the following skills to ensure safe polar travel:

South Pole team

  • Sledge pulling
  • Navigation
  • Cross country skiing
  • Glacier travel and crevasse rescue
  • Survival in extreme cold environments
  • Medical skills in treating cold injuries

Vinson team

  • Ice and snow climbing techniques
  • Glacier travel and crevasse rescue
  • Survival in extreme cold environments
  • Medical skills in treating cold injuries

 

Diet

Training Diet

Throughout their training session, the team will be kept to a diet programme which aims to store glycogen or sugar in the muscles which is important for endurance sports. One or two hours between the training, members must load themselves up with food high in carbohydrates. Throughout training, they must be well hydrated. After training for the day, they should again consume food high in carbohydrates and an hour later - high protein content food.

Expedition Diet

The team will be bringing with them mostly dry food. A special kind of food will be brought along called 'pemmican'. It is made of animal fat cooked with nuts and fruits. It has high energy content. A bar of 'pemmican' similar in size to a Mars bar and contains 1000 calories! A second important component of the diet is Anhydrous Milk Fat (AMF), which is basically dehydrated butter. Being high calorie content, it contributes 25 to 30 percent of the entire calorie intake. The team will have to check their calorie count throughout their journey:

Day 1-8 4,400 kilocalories

Day 9-20 5,500 kilocalories

Day 21-end 6,200 kilocalories

 

Equipment

Every piece of equipment must be able to function in extreme cold. Each individual piece of equipment is not only selected based on the manufactures' specification, but also based on its pass performance in a similar environment. The equipment must be tough enough to last for the whole 60 days of the trek. It must also has to be easily to be handled with gloved hands to minimise naked skin to the cold air and thus reducing the chance of frost bite.

Special Equipment

Sledge

The sledge that will be used on this expedition differ from the regular sledges. They will be made according to Antarctica's weather conditions and have to be dependable for the length of the 60-day trek to the South Pole. The sledges that will be used are strong and light, and designed to be pulled by human over snow or ice surface. Some designs are able to double up as emergency shelter against Antarctic storms.

Skis

The skis used for this expedition are special mountaineering skis with telemark bindings. They are stronger than ordinary cross country skis and are suitable for pulling heavy sledges. The telemark bindings were selected as they give more flexibility and comfort to the feet.

Skins

Skins is a kind of material with hair on one side. They are attached to the bottom of the skis to prevent the skier from sliding backwards.

Pot Jacket

The pot jacket is used to keep the food warm after cooking.

 
 

 

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