Explorer Henry Worsley has died after suffering exhaustion and dehydration during an attempt to cross Antarctica.
The ex-Army officer, 55, was 30 miles short of his goal of becoming the first person to cross the continent unaided.
Yes, first solo crossing. One of his ancestors was with Shackleton. They didn't even get started. This one got almost all the way, a pretty valiant effort.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@pam w, not sure I'd describe an attempt in which he dies as valiant. Tragic possibly.
Sad news. I saw a photo of him a couple of days back he looked totally exhausted. He must also have been devastated to have called it off so close. A brave brave man.
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This guy was a true hero. Ex SAS. He did it to raise money for his wounded army comrades. Valliant is the word.
He succumbed to bacterial peritonitis. This is tragic bad luck only 30 miles from destination. Even more so that his wife couldn't get to his bedside at Clinica Magallanes in Punta Arenas, Chile.
No one has done what he tried to do. Also:
He has raised a fund of over £100k for the
Endeavour Fund, part of the Duke of Cambridge Royal Foundation charity.
He took a big risk, but that was his nature and training. I don't for a minute think that he expected to die. Cruel bad luck.
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@SkiPresto, well said.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
What a man. I agree with @pam w, and @SkiPresto, a valiant effort.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Lou Rudd, who completed an 800-mile Antarctic trek with Henry Worsley in 2012, remembers the friend who put his life on the line.
"Henry Worsley will have known well the dangers of his expedition. The trek that claimed his life at the weekend was his third polar expedition and came after a distinguished military career that included many cold weather deployments. In that time he built invaluable skills and experience and topped them up with months of hard research. Ranged against him was simply the most inhospitable place on the planet. For any polar expedition, the worst enemy is the environment. Antarctica is the coldest and the windiest place on earth.
Four years ago, Henry and I completed an 800-mile unsupported journey in the footsteps of Roald Amundsen. As we left the coast, the temperature quickly plummeted from -20C to -40C and at one point sank to -53C. It feels far worse, because you are buffeted by winds typically reaching 40 to 50mph.
Altitude is another enemy. The pole itself is around 9,000ft up.
Then there is the back-breaking physical demand of hauling a sled packed with supplies. All three journeys that Henry undertook were unsupported treks where he was dropped at the start and then dragged everything he needed to survive for the next two-and-a-half months. With clothes, a tent, food, cooking fuel, the load can come in at about 330lb (150kg). The burden gets lighter as you proceed, but people have no idea what a physical and mental drain it can be day after day. The task means you can be burning up to 10,000 calories each day, but your attempts to minimise weight on your sled means you can’t carry enough food to replace all that. We were eating 6,000 calories each day and still lost three stone each over the course of the journey."
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@SkiPresto, Well said. It really was a valiant effort.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
I agree, a truly valiant effort. I have huge respect for his courage, determination and commitment to keep going despite all the dangers he faced.
It really is such a shame that it ended in this way.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
I'm obviously sorry and all that, but...
I guess I don't understand a "challenge" which boils down to how sick you have to be before you press the transmit button. Perhaps none-hero people would be better at this sort of thing, as they would call their support people in fast enough to live.
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Poster: A snowHead
Philwig, not sure if you're just trolling or not but obviously the 'challenge' was to try and complete the enormously difficult and dangerous task he'd set himself to raise money for a cause he believed in. Non-hero people wouldn't even have set off.
And in terms of calling in support. As I understand it he wasn't aware he had an internal infection and just wanted to complete the task he'd set himself if he could muster the strength to keep going.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I imagine that Amundsen would have regarded the man-hauling of sledges as complete madness. He wanted to get things done in an efficient manner, rather than set about things which were difficult purely because they were difficult. He learnt from the Inuit and others, took a lot of care to get the right dogs and took every opportunity to hunt for food. And used his dogs as food too, of course. Quite different from the classic"British" approach, perhaps. But I still consider Worsley's effort as valiant. As was Scott's.........
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
olderscot wrote:
I agree, a truly valiant effort. I have huge respect for his courage, determination and commitment to keep going despite all the dangers he faced.
It really is such a shame that it ended in this way.
Well put. Agree, but such a waste of inspiring man.
Maybe I'm just a cold hearted barsteward but I wonder if I'm alone in being no more moved by this than any other "extreme athlete" who dies in the pursuit of their sport. I hear about the amount raised for charity but then try to reconcile it with the time and money that will have been spent on the endeavour itself and find it less impressive. I am under no illusion that people like him are not hugely self motivated and extreme personalities but part of me feels that the pursuit of their personal ambitions is very different from real heroism.
NB Not to say that he hadn't been a true hero in the course of his army career.
Thing is, everyone remembers Scott, Amudsen is a footnote in history. There was a huge exhibition about the South Pole and in particular Scott at the Confluence museum in Lyon that I went to last year with the family. Just a small bit about Amudsen having got there first.
Maybe appropriate that it was in the Confluence - a symbol of failure with an 80 million euro building ending up costing 1.2 billion euros! It finally opened years late and still not fully finished.
Amudsen was all nordic efficiency and pooch eating, not really very exciting. Scott - heroic failure and self sacrifice. The stuff that dreams are made of. Man-hauling sledges through a sound stage in Pinewood.
Scott was cheating to some extent having taken proto-moto-neiges which didn't work too well in the cold. Not really "by fair means" although they proved more of a liability in the end and no one could criticise their courage hauling sledges 800 miles across the Antarctic mountains. They were unlucky to have chosen a particularly cold season with winter coming early and very cold temperatures.
... obviously the 'challenge' was to try and complete the enormously difficult and dangerous task he'd set himself to raise money for a cause he believed in. Non-hero people wouldn't even have set off....
There are perhaps other more effective ways in which rich people could help charities. That's not relevant to my point.
Having support and then failing to use it seems a daft reason to die.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
philwig wrote:
Having support and then failing to use it seems a daft reason to die.
I don't think it's "daft". He's only 30 miles from finishing!
If he was feeling sick 300 miles from the end, it might actually be easier to conclude he couldn't possibly lasted another 10-30 days in that condition, and call in support. But 30 miles (3 days?) from finish? Anyone who's somewhat persistent would want to push and hope to finish!
(A person who's willing to endure the hardship of a solo trek across the south pole isn't one who will quit at the slightest sight of discomfort. After all, the difference between those success and failure quite often lies on the willingness to push through in difficult situation. Call it foolhardy, but that's what set him apart from the rest of us armchair worriors)
After all it is free
After all it is free
Isn't there something about people being most vulnerable just after they have been rescued? And might the transition to being beyond the point of possible recovery have happened after he was picked up but before he reached the clinic in Chile? The transfer must have taken some time...
But very sad, and huge respect.
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Just listened to his last two messages on Soundcloud and even though he was absolutely wasted and must have been gutted to have put in such an effort and then just fallen a tiny bit short, after 70 days alone hauling that sled through unimaginable hardship he had the perspective to remember why he was doing it and that there were people less lucky then him out there. Too tempting and egotistical for survivors to think they had made it through something because they were 'better' than those who hadn't. He knew he was just lucky to come through service uninjured and he owed it to those who hadn't been so lucky to try and do something. And that what was in his mind at the end. Not doing it for ego this chap. Inspirational indeed and in so far as I have to confess I hadn't heard of him previously, inspirational even in death. RIP sir.
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