Werner Herzog's Antarctica
This beautiful underwater photo is one of Henry Kaiser's, a colleague of Werner Herzog's, the famous documentary maker who's newest film is about Antarctica. It opens in Manhattan on Wednesday, the reviewer notes that: "If this were a nature...
Read on »
Antarctic Earthquakes
Satellite imagery shows the "sticky spot" which holds the ice back (ice rise "a"); red dots indicate two GPS stations (Image: Douglas Wiens et al) In the past few years, researchers have noticed that glaciers around the world seem...
Read on »
Robot explorers
Technology knows no bounds, are we witnessing the end of heroic exploration as we know it? It seems a little disappointing that the robots in question look like glorified snowmobiles, but researchers at Georgia Tech have designed a robot...
Read on »
Antarctic Ice loss
Antarctic ice loss between 1996 and 2006, overlaid on a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) mosaic image of Antarctica. The colors indicate the speed of the ice loss. Purple/red is fast. Green is slow. Image credit: NASA Ice loss...
Read on »
Unmanned Air Vehicles in Antarctica
Thanks to a collaboration between the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the Technical University of Braunschweig (TUBS), last month the BAS used unmanned air vehicles (UAV's) to collect data and help research in Antarctica for the first time. Whilst...
Read on »
Antarctic Flora and Fauna
Scientists in New Zealand and Australia have combined to publish work on whether some species of giant daisies known as Pleurophyllum arrived from Antarctica. The flowers, known to researchers as megaherbs, grow abundantly on the tiny windswept islands such...
Read on »
Flying Penguins
This year on April Fools Day the BBC went one further than the spaghetti trees of yesteryear - they created flying Adelie penguins. Click here to watch them in action and to find out how it was done....
Read on »
Striped icebergs
Norwegian sailor Oyvind Tangen has managed to take some beautiful pictures of striped icebergs whilst on board a research ship 660 miles north of Antarctica. According to the article: "When an iceberg falls into the sea, a layer of...
Read on »
Zhongshan
With so many stories in the news these days about China's peaceful rise this century, it was interesting to come across this article the other day. China is building a background atmosphere observation station at its Zhongshan base in...
Read on »
On thin ice: penguins and global warming
It ocurred to us the other day that we haven't posted a story about penguins yet. So here is one from a WWF report which came out recently that shows that melting sea ice and over-fishing have triggered a...
Read on »
Chunk of Mars found at South Pole
Yes really. The article from Wired magazine is a little old, but we think that it's still pretty relevant. A team of NASA-sponsored meteorite hunters came across the 1.5-pound black rock last December while scouring for meteorites in the...
Read on »
Dinosaurs in Antarctica?
Scientists recently identified the giant dino more than a decade after its fossilized foot, ankle, and leg bones were first discovered some 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) up the face of Mount Kirkpatrick. Tipping the scales at six tons and...
Read on »
15 million year old lake
This picture comes via our South Pole Gazette , which scours the internet looking for interesting Antarctic stories. This particular story comes from a blog called The Daily Galaxy. Apparently, researchers have thawed ice estimated to be perhaps a...
Read on »
Stargazing in Antarctica
Scientists at the University of New South Wales last weekend began an 8000 mile journey with an observatory built at the University to test an interesting hypothesis. The hypothesis is that because of the unique conditons at Antarctica, it...
Read on »
The best Antarctic map yet
In the middle of International Polar Year scientists have produced the most complete map of Antarctica to date. Our congratulations go out to the people at the US Geological Survey, the US National Science Foundation, and the British Antarctic...
Read on »
What's the time in Antarctica?
On the MSNBC AllDay blog, Mike Simon an NBC News photojournalist asks the question 'what is the time in Antarctica?' - working out the answer is not as straight-forward as you would imagine. Firstly, you have to bear in...
Read on »
Antarctic 'treasure trove'
No pieces of eight and gold doubloons to pay for the Expedition unfortunately, but almost as good. It turns out that scientists have found more than 700 new species of marine creatures in Antarctic waters after three research trips...
Read on »
Aurora Australis
Scrolling through youtube today we've managed to come across this great South Pole lunar time lapse by Glen Kinoshita. What's great about it is the fantastic pictures of Aurora Australis ocurring at the South Pole itself, which is what...
Read on »
Big Bang in Antarctica
This beautiful picture comes from a story that came out in June 2006, but which I only just happened to stumble upon. Planetary scientists suggest that a 300 mile crater lying beneath the surface of Antarctica could very well...
Read on »
The birth of an iceberg
Whilst perusing our very own South Pole Gazette I came across some astonishing satellite images taken over the last year or so, showing the birth of an iceberg: you can clearly see above a huge dark crescent-shaped crack forming...
Read on »
Antarctic Rumblings
The Shackleton Foundation is disquieted to hear of the strange new attempt by the British Government to theoretically claim a larger part of Antarctica beneath the Pole Article 4 of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty does not recognize, dispute, or...
Read on »
Watch Mount Erebus erupt!
Here is a link to an article from the Smithsonian website about Mount Erebus, the world's most southerly volcano. Whilst you're there, you can also watch a quicktime film of it erupting in Antarctica....
Read on »
National Geographic website
Click here for The National Geographic website which contains over 1800 articles on Antarctica which you can view if you enter Antarctica in the search field at the top of the page. Click on the map below for another part...
Read on »
Sebastian Copeland's Antarctic Photos
Clicking on the photo above will take you to a youtube video interview with Sebastian Copeland, "celebrity photographer" who went to Antarctica and came back with some amazing images and some valuable insights....
Read on »
HMS Endurance website
Clicking on the image above will take you to the HMS Endurance website, a 6500 ton icebreaker which travels to Antarctica every year. Here you can track its progress and find out more about Antarctica....
Read on »
Washington Post: Exploring Antarctica
Clicking on the image above will take you to the excellent "Exploring Antarctica" part of the Washington Post website it has some great photos, the one above is taken from an ice cave on the north side of Mount...
Read on »
Virtual Shackleton
The Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, England has developed a Virtual Shackleton website. It is an ongoing project in response to the weight of public interest attached to the great man himself. You can find out more by clicking...
Read on »
Cool Antarctica
The Cool Antarctica website is packed full of pictures, travel information, history, and a special section entitled "Heroic age of exploration". Find out more by clicking on the image below....
Read on »
The Shackleton Foundation
The Shackleton Foundation is a new charitable trust. Sir Ernest Shackleton is widely known as one of the most inspirational leaders of the twentieth century. Whilst he never achieved his personal dream of being the first to reach the...
Read on »
The Shackleton Centenary Expedition: to Launch The Shackleton Foundation
We sought an idea to capture the imagination of the public, an idea to match our ambition. We further sought a project that would make a significant contribution to our funding goal of £10M, and thereby place the Foundation on...
Read on »
Corporate Sponsorship
The Shackleton name is known worldwide. After a recent surge in interest by film-makers, documentarists and writers, the profile of one of Britain's greatest explorers continues to grow: inspirational as a leader, aspirational as a hero. Feature films, TV dramas...
Read on »
Justgiving
As the Shackleton Foundation is a registered charity, we now also have a justgiving website. If you like what you've read so far you can help us get there to the Pole, and help us launch The Shackleton Foundation...
Read on »
Help us get there
We can't do it without you. So, we are actively seeking sponsorship at all levels, from specialist equipment manufacturers to private donations. If you can help in any way (or know somebody who can) please get in touch with...
Read on »
Drew Webster
Drew Webster is a talented artist and teacher based in Norwich. Some of his fine-art practice is inspired by Polar exploration in general, and by Shackleton's adventures in particular. Naturally we're thrilled to find this kind of thing, having stumbled...
Read on »
See more photos
If you want to see more photos of our training please go to our own Shackleton Centenary Expedition Flickr website where over the coming months we are going to put up as many photos as possible so you are...
Read on »
Overview
Get a capsule view of who we are, where we're going and why we're doing this by reading our brochure (PDF 2.5mb) Left click to open in a new window, right click it to save it to your desktop....
Read on »
Meet the Admin
Hello there! My name is Tim Fright. I am the great great nephew of Frank Wild - one of the original team members who took part in the Nimrod expedition in 1908 and got to within 97 miles of the...
Read on »
SCE Fundraising Event
The SCE launches their fundraising drive at a special evening to be held at Christie's on September 26th. We are very grateful to both Christies and Atlantic Productions for their kind support in hosting and creating the presentation. That...
Read on »
Penguin Serenade
From Paris magazine L'Illustration, October 1909 An unnamed crew-member at play. The original caption reads: "une séance de phonographe offerte aux pingouins." We have been so far unable to discover the exact records enjoyed by the local fauna, but...
Read on »
The South Polar Times
Over-wintering in Antarctica is a long and dull business. During the 1902 Discovery Expedition, where Shackleton first served under Scott, he created and edited The South Polar Times, a lively and unique journal established to both maintain morale and...
Read on »
Shackleton Speaks
On his return in 1909 Shackleton was considerably in debt, and had to raise money by giving a lecture tour about his adventures. Shackleton was widely regarded as a hero, and the tour was a great success. We present...
Read on »
The Nimrod Expedition 1907-1909
Sir Ernest Shackleton is one of Britain's most famous and widely respected explorers. The aim of the Nimrod Expedition was to be the first to make a successful journey to the South Pole. With nineteenth-century technology, and the Antarctic...
Read on »
Shackleton's Epic Voyage illustrated by Raymond Briggs
ITEMS FROM HENRY WORSLEY'S POLAR COLLECTION Shackleton's Epic Voyage illustrated by Raymond Briggs Published in 1969 and perhaps one of the least known additions to polar literature this real gem of a book features the unmistakable drawing style of Raymond...
Read on »
The Illustrated Antarctic Glossary
Words you will need to know if you're going to the South Pole. Please note, this page is very much a work in progress, we'll be gently adding to it over the coming months. Katabatic Any wind that flows downhill...
Read on »
Professor David Drewry: The Science Plan
The expedition's plan is to travel along the length of the Beardmore Glacier - one of the great glaciers of the world - and then across the upper reaches of its drainage basin en route to the South Pole. This...
Read on »
The Route to the South Pole
Click to enlarge Following intensive ice training in Norway, Baffin Island, Greenland, Scotland and Austria, with fitness programme assistance from the OMI (Olympic Medical Institute, London) the team will follow the same route to the Pole as Shackleton's Nimrod...
Read on »
Professor David Drewry: The Glaciology Project
The Beardmore Glacier is one of the largest "outlet" glaciers of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and cuts through the Transantarctic Mountains in a valley some 250km long and up to 40km wide. Ice flows 500km from the inner reaches...
Read on »
Patrons
We are delighted to anounce that HRH The Princess Royal, Princess Anne has agreed to become the Shackleton Centenary Expedition's patron, having recently been to Antarctica herself. Furthermore, the renowned polar explorer Robert Swan OBE , is our fundraising patron....
Read on »
The UK Fundraising Committee
©Drew Webster 2006 UK Fundraising Committee David Cornell (Chair) Matthew Beardmore-Gray Theresa Dauncey David Lyon Victoria Mitchell Peter Norman Stephen Scott-Fawcett William Shipton...
Read on »
Professor David Drewry: Climate Change
As the climate of our planet changes in response to warming from the increase in "greenhouse" gases in the atmosphere, the polar regions are highly vulnerable. This is because the circulation of the atmosphere, driven by the difference in solar...
Read on »
The Original Nimrod Expedition
Ernest Shackleton returned to Britain from Captain Scott's Discovery Expedition of 1903 determined to mount his own assault on the unclaimed South Pole. On 3rd August 1907 Shackleton set sail aboard the Nimrod, bound for Antarctica. According to his plan,...
Read on »
Professor David Drewry: Blue Ice
These are perennial areas where the cold, strong winds blowing down the glacier from the interior ice sheet constantly remove surface snow exposing bare ice. The winds also cause the bare glacier ice to evaporate (technically to sublimate as...
Read on »
An original pulk
Clicking on the picture above will take you to the Victoria Museum in Australia. They have one of the original pulks used in the 1908 Nimrod expedition....
Read on »
Rt Hon. Tessa Jowell MP
Here's a letter from one of our supporters. The Rt. Hon. Tessa Jowell MP is the Minister for the Olympics and London, and is also MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, the constituency of Shackleton's school, Dulwich College. "I...
Read on »
Climate Care
The Antarctic is much in the news these days, mainly because of what the Polar icecap tells us about global warming. Both Poles are the canaries in the coalmine of climate science: the planet's own early-warning system. In part,...
Read on »
Professor David Drewry: The Geology Project
Nobody on Earth has ever seen what lies beneath the vast Antarctic ice sheet - the greatest unknown region of our planet after the deep oceans. Our current knowledge is based on remotely gathered information from geophysical surveys and informed...
Read on »
Blue Ice Research
We will carry out a Polar climate research project en route to the Pole. The Beardmore Glacier is a major outlet glacier of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Its flow and dynamics reflect the integrated effect of accumulation of snow...
Read on »
Antarctica: The Testing Ground
Antarctica is the coldest, driest and least populated region in the world; a continent slightly larger than Europe. It remains one of the least well-understood places on Earth. Last year, a billion-ton glacier about the size of Texas melted...
Read on »
The Route to The Pole
We fly in from Punto Arenas, Chile. Having refuelled at Patriot Hills base, we will be dropped on Ross Island, at the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. As befits a modern expedition, our trip will be entirely carbon-neutral,...
Read on »
Professor David Drewry: Ice Flows
The ice that flows from deep within the interior of the ice sheet of Antarctica towards the outlet glacier such as the Beardmore Glacier, are likely to erode the land surface, pick up rocks and carry them within the ice....
Read on »
The Adventurist
Henry Worsley recently gave an interview to the Adventurist website, you can click the link below to read what he said: The Adventurist It's great to see that more and more people are coming on board - we appreciate everyone's...
Read on »
The Avenue
In a very successful charity auction dinner last night at The Avenue in St James's, London, over £61,000 was raised for the Shackleton Foundation. There are so many people to thank, including the donators of some stunning auction prizes,...
Read on »
Gala Dinner
Next week we will be holding a gala dinner and charity auction in London to raise funds for the Shackleton Foundation. One of the main prizes is the chance to have the villain named after you in SAS soldier-turned-author...
Read on »
Website re-vamp
We are in the midst of a website re-vamp - over the coming weeks and months you will start to see a completely different website. We've done pretty well so far - including being designated 'charity website of the month'...
Read on »
Greenland Diaries: Evenings
(image courtesy of www.jamescairdsociety.com) Every evening whilst the guys were out on the ice, they would read part of Shackleton's 'The Heart of the Antarctic' - his account of the Nimrod Expedition. Doing so, the guys were able to...
Read on »
Greenland Diaries: Menu
Food glorious food. Out on the ice for 17 days, the guys were able to give the once over on their rations - to see what was tasty and what was nasty. Because of the monotonous nature of skiing day...
Read on »
Greenland Diaries: Where & Why
Over the next two weeks we'll be looking to bring you a few updates on what went on in Greenland. First, here's a brief explanation of where the guys went and why they went there. Why Milne Land? The...
Read on »
BBC News Online II
Yesterday the BBC News website covered our story, looking at the Shackleton Centenary Expedition. Click the following link Descendants train for polar trek to read their take on what we're doing. This isn't the first time they've covered us...
Read on »
The Telegraph II
Today's Telegraph has also covered the guy's going to Greenland. Click the following link Descendants follow in steps of Shackleton and his team to read more....
Read on »
Shackleton's Leadership Role
In late 1999/ early 2000 White Mountain Films and NOVA/WGBH Boston co-produced Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure, an IMAX film re-enacting Shackleton's legendary 1914-1916 Expedition to the South Pole. We loved the film when it came out, and have recently been...
Read on »
The London Paper
(Henry Adams, Will Gow and Henry Worsley) Today's thelondonpaper has also covered the guy's going to Greenland. Click the following link London descendent of Shackleton to finish Pole mission to read Henry Worsley explaining why they chose to go...
Read on »
Daily Echo
Last week we mentioned how the guys had left for Greenland to help them prepare for Antarctica six months from now. A local newspaper has covered our story Click the following link Hampshire Man In Bid To Complete Shackleton's...
Read on »
Greenland
This week the 2 Henry's and Will have gone off to Greenland for a couple of weeks of intensive training - they will be reporting back to us on their progress soon and you will be able to find...
Read on »
The new Shackleton Foundation website
Bill Shipton, one of the members of our Fundraising Committee has been instrumental in creating our brand new Shackleton Foundation website. www.shackletonfoundation.org. You can now go there for all your Shackleton Foundation needs. We're delighted with the result and...
Read on »
Robert Swan and E-Base 2041
We have been watching Robert Swan OBE, our Fundraising Patron's website eagerly over the past few weeks as his latest project has really come on in leaps and bounds. Here is a little background in case you are unfamiliar...
Read on »
Clouds at the South Pole
Clouds don't happen at the South Pole very often, so this is why Steffen Richter's photo is even more magnificent than it at first appears. Steffen is an electrical engineer working at the South Pole, and has a great...
Read on »
Mission Statement
The sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed that our Shackleton Foundation page looks a little different today. We have decided to place a much greater emphasis on the leadership qualities that people recognise in Sir Ernest Shackleton. This is...
Read on »
South Pole diary
We found this blog on the Economist's website really interesting. Here you can find out more about "house-mousing" and the sheer volume of clothing one man needs to wear down at the South Pole (polypropylene long underwear, fleece, heavy...
Read on »
From white continent to the blackboard
This week is National Science and Engineering week in the UK. The Royal Navy's ice patrol vessel, HMS Endurance, and the University of Portsmouth have joined forces under the patronage of round-the-world yachtswoman Dame Ellen MacArthur to provide a...
Read on »
Alan Johnston
Alan Johnston, the BBC reporter was kidnapped last year in Gaza by a group calling itself the Army of Islam. Here, Alan recalls the experience, noting that Sir Ernest Shackleton's legacy helped him deal with what was thrown at...
Read on »
Chamonix 2008
Henry Worsley, Will Gow and Henry Adams will be heading off for Antarctica in October of this year so continuous training and preparation are crucial to the success of the Expedition. Here Will writes of the team's time in...
Read on »
Leadership
"for a joint scientific and geographical piece of organisation give me Scott, for a winter journey give me Wilson, for a dash to the Pole and nothing else Amundsen, and if I am in a devil of a hole...
Read on »
Classroom Antarctica
Another day another website, this time an Australian website called: Classroom Antarctica. This useful educational website by the Australian Antarctic Division is designed for teachers and students, and is packed with ideas, references, and resources. The idea of the...
Read on »
State Library of New South Wales Timeline
We've found a great website run by the State Library of New South Wales which looks at some of the heroic feats that have occurred in Antarctica. There is also a fantastic section looking at Frank Hurley's photographs taken...
Read on »
Sir Edmund Hillary KG ONZ KBE July 20, 1919 - January 11, 2008
We were sorry to hear of Sir Edmund Hillary's passing in early January this year. His funeral today will mark a truly heroic explorer. A legend. Conquering Everest at the age of 33 with Sherpa Tensing Norgay is one...
Read on »
The Beardmore family connection with Shackleton
Today we are lucky enough to have an article or two from Matthew Beardmore-Gray. Matthew writes: 'Hello, my name is Matthew Beardmore-Gray and Sir William Beardmore is my great great Uncle. Continuing the family connections I am on the...
Read on »
Sir William Beardmore (Baron Invernairn) 1856 - 1936
Here is another article by Matthew Beardmore-Gray, chronicling his great-great Uncle's achievements. Sir William Beardmore was one of the key financiers to the Nimrod Expedition, and it's great to have Matthew on our Fundraising Committee one hundred years later....
Read on »
Antarctic Conservation
This beautiful photo of Cape Royds comes from a Natural History Museum blog we happened to stumble upon a couple of days ago, and we are massive fans. The blog itself chronicles the exploits of a team who have...
Read on »
Ch-Ch-Chatting with the IT Manager at the South Pole
Thanks to our very own South Pole Gazette We came across this interesting (if a little geeky) article about what Henry Malmgren, the IT manager at the Amundsen-Scott Research Station at the South Pole has to put up with....
Read on »
Innovation
In it's Christmas edition, The Economist had some interesting points with regards to innovation: 'First, that genuinely new ideas are, well, accidentally stumbled upon rather than sought out; second, that new ideas are by definition hard to explain to...
Read on »
Scott vs. Shackleton
We came across an interesting article on the BBC news website today examining the reputations of both Scott and Shackleton. The article itself argues that in the past twenty or so years, Shackleton's star has risen whereas Scott's has...
Read on »
Local Radio
On wednesday morning, Henry Adams was interviewed on two different local radio stations. Henry was on at 08:40 AM on Radio Suffolk, and he was on at 09:10 AM on Radio Essex. We're really grateful to the people at...
Read on »
Donegal on Sunday
The Irish newspaper Donegal on Sunday covered our story, looking at the Shackleton Centenary Expedition and the Shackleton Foundation a few days ago. We really appreciate the ongoing Irish interest in our exploits, especially given Sir Ernest's Anglo-Irish heritage...
Read on »
Top Gear
Watching BBC2's Top Gear last night, it was good to see our friend Matty McNair work with Richard Hammond. They were competing against Jeremy Clarkson and James May to reach the North Pole. Matty and Richard used dogs, James...
Read on »
The psychology of living in Antarctica
'Psychologists categorize Antarctic research stations as isolated, confined environments (ICE, appropriately).' So begins an article from the Stanford University Humanities Lab. The SHL believes that some crucial questions - about what it is to be human, about experience in...
Read on »
The Sun newspaper
Today The Sun newspaper have covered our story, looking at the Shackleton Centenary Expedition. Click the following link Pole goal for Shack's family to read their coverage....
Read on »
Times Online
Today The Times have covered our story, looking at the Shackleton Centenary Expedition and the Shackleton Foundation. Click the following link Descendants of Shackleton's crew try to fulfil explorer's polar dream to see what they think....
Read on »
MSN UK
The MSN website have also covered our story, focussing on the Shackleton Centenary Expedition. Click the following link Shackleton's descendants in polar bid to see what they have written about us....
Read on »
BBC News Online
Today the BBC News website have covered our story, looking at the Shackleton Centenary Expedition. Click the following link Descendants hoping to finish trek to read their take on what we're doing. We're also in the BBC's 'Week in...
Read on »
More local press coverage
It has been an interesting few days for us as a variety of media organisations have covered our story. Both national and local newspapers are interested in what we are doing. Here is a selection of a few more of...
Read on »
The Argus, Brighton
It's not just the national media that have been covering us recently, yesterday the Argus of Brighton also wrote about us, looking at the Shackleton Centenary Expedition and the Shackleton Foundation. Click the following link Amateur Explorer's to Take...
Read on »
Channel 4
Today the UK TV channel, Channel 4 have covered our story on their website, looking at the Shackleton Centenary Expedition. Click the following link Shackleton descendants in polar bid to see what they've written....
Read on »
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas from everyone here at the Shackleton Foundation. 2008 is going to be a big year for us. The training will be that much more intense as the team will be going out to Antarctica in October. This...
Read on »
The changing nature of philanthropy: the new Andrew Carnegie's
An interesting article by Sarah Murray appeared in the Financial Times on Friday looking at how the newly rich are now giving away their money much earlier in life, in effect reviving and remodelling the nineteenth century tradition of...
Read on »
Joseph Schumpeter and Innovation
Today's topic ladies and genlemen is innovation, something that we here at the Shackleton Foundation are trying to further by making it one of the key components for choosing recipients of the Foundation's charitable grants of up to £10,000....
Read on »
Shackleton + Youtube + Central Park =
Today's youtube video: my Brother came across this this morning and forwarded it onto me. During the 2005 blizzard in New York, a handful of filmakers created a modern mockumentary sequel to Sir Ernest Shackleton's quest for the Pole:...
Read on »
West Sussex County Times
My local paper the West Sussex County Times have written about the Shackleton Foundation and the Expedition this week. You can read a shorter online version of the newspaper article by clicking Antarctic trip for Tim. It also appeared...
Read on »
The perils of an Antarctic cruise
The Team were distressed to find out via the BBC news website that the MS Explorer a tourist ship off Antarctica has run into trouble approximately 75 miles north of the Antarctic peninsula. It seems that more than 150...
Read on »
'Making good decisions in bad times'
Harry C. Stonecipher: the former Chief Operating Officer at the Boeing Company gave a speech in August 2001 to the Annual Conference of the Young Entrepreneurs Association in Seattle. In it, Mr Stonecipher thinks that valuable insights into life...
Read on »
Student Direct
This week's edition of Student Direct covered our story, you can read all about it by clicking on the South Pole Expedition. Student Direct is Manchester University's student newspaper (my old undergraduate Uni), and is also read by students...
Read on »
Justgiving's site of the month
The title says it all really. Thanks very much to the people at Justgiving for making this site their 'charity website of the month'. Since 2001, Justgiving.com have helped people raise over £150m for UK charities. You can click...
Read on »
Kenneth Brannagh's Shackleton
In 2000 the British TV station Channel 4 created a two-part drama about Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 Endurance Expedition to the South Pole. It was written and produced by Charles Sturridge, with Kenneth Branagh playing Sir Ernest Shackleton (below)....
Read on »
James Caird Society Dinner
The team would like to thank the The James Caird Society for a wonderful dinner on friday night at Dulwich College. At the James Caird Society's AGM, Henry Worsley and Will Gow gave a talk introducing the team and...
Read on »
Thank you Ireland
We here at the Shackleton Foundation were delighted to hear that the Irish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has approved 52,500 Euros in grants to support conservation of Shackleton's hut at Cape Royds in Antarctica. Sir Ernest and the team...
Read on »
When Hell Freezes
Last night on Channel 4, Tim Jarvis, a man who has extensive polar experience, re-created in part Sir Douglas Mawson's incredible 900 mile polar journey of 1912. Mawson, an Australian scientist had been part of the 1908 Nimrod Expedition,...
Read on »
7th Shackleton Autumn School in Athy
Athy, County Kildare, Ireland. The heart of Shackleton country - he was born 10 miles away at Kilkea House, near Athy, in 1874. On Friday 26th October, Will talked at the 7th Shackleton Autumn School in Athy, an event...
Read on »
Gulf Times
It's not just the English media that have been covering us recently, yesterday Qatar's English newspaper the Gulf Times also wrote about us, looking at the Shackleton Centenary Expedition and the Shackleton Foundation. Click the following link Descendants to...
Read on »
Barnes Green Half Marathon
Temperature: nippy. Wind: moderate. Weather: drizzly. It's not Antarctica, but in the spirit of every little bit helps, I took part in the annual Barnes Green Half Marathon in Sussex, now in its 25th year. Having done the course...
Read on »
Now see the movie
Over the coming weeks and months, we will be updating the SCE YouTube page as often as possible. There's a small selection of our favourite videos from fellow YouTubians, some classic Shackleton footage, and we will also be uploading...
Read on »
Antarctic New York
The New York Times, via our very own polar news service South Polar Gazette alerts us to this piece trailing an upcoming performance art piece taking place at the Wollman Rink in Central Park, NYC this week. The artist...
Read on »
Rugby World Cup Final
Like the rest of the country, we at the Shackleton Foundation will be cheering on the England Rugby players this evening as they look to be the only team in history to regain the World Cup. England's performance over...
Read on »
Blog Action Day
Today is Blog Action Day in which more than 12,000 blogs around the world are writing about the environment and climate change in order to raise awareness. Being environmentally-friendly explorers, we observe that green concerns are now a constant...
Read on »
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald picked up on our story on the 9th October. Clicking the link below will take you through to their take on what we're doing. Descendants aim for South Pole...
Read on »
Facebook: Shackleton Centenary Supporters Group
Hey, look: we're on Facebook. And you can be there too. We have a Facebook group set up for all our friends from all-over everywhere: we're calling it the Shackleton Centenary Supporters Club (SCSC). Shackleton Centenary Supporters Group Join...
Read on »
Lansdowne Club Autumn Journal
The Lansdowne Club have been very kind in letting us use their facilities for various team meetings and events, and acting as poste restante. If you want to donate to the Shackleton Foundation, if you'd rather not use our Justgiving...
Read on »
The Guardian
Monday 8th October 2007, The Guardian newspaper have covered our story today, its on page 16 in the main section, or you can use the link below to access the article from their website: Descendents to Follow in Shackleton's...
Read on »
Western Daily Press
Saturday 6th October 2007, Henry Worsley's local paper have picked up on our story, here's a link to what they had to say about it: The Sons of Shackleton Return for Unfinished Business...
Read on »
Excess Baggage
Some early history on how we got here, The planning for the Expedition began shortly after Will Gow appeared in Radio 4's 'Excess Baggage' of October 2005, where he anounced his desire to re-enact the 1909 Nimrod Expedition. Team-members...
Read on »
The James Caird Society
The initial idea for our expedition grew and grew thanks in no small part to the James Caird Society. The James Caird Society is an institution that exists to preserve the memory and honour the remarkable feats of discovery...
Read on »
The Telegraph
Saturday 4th August 2007, The Telegraph newspaper have covered our story today, you can use the link below to access the article from their website: Sir Ernest Shackleton Strides Again...
Read on »
Team Members
The Team Henry Worsley MBE Team Leader Henry Worsley has been in the British Army for 25 years, and is searching for a link with Frank Worsley, Shackleton's skipper on the Endurance. He has wide expedition experience, and has completed...
Read on »
Tyre-pulling in Peaslake, Surrey
I've found a definition for English eccentricity - pulling big tyres up even bigger hills on what should be a lazy Sunday afternoon in Surrey. Sisyphus eat your heart out. It's Sunday the 22nd July and the team have been...
Read on »
Expedition Equipment
Kit either excites you or it doesn't. For me, I have the sort of reaction when walking into a mountaineering, cycling or windsurfing shop that a 4 year old boy would feel when entering a giant model train emporium. This...
Read on »
Michael Palin's Pole to Pole
Instead of working on my dissertation or reading up for an upcoming exam (I have a worryingly low attention span - as I'm sure my final marks will show), I've just finished watching the last episode of Michael Palin's Pole...
Read on »
Electronica
The Antarctic is the most remote and coldest place on Earth. These two facts make it critical and yet very difficult to maintain contact with the outside world. First and foremost, we need to keep our logistics provider abreast of...
Read on »
Kit List
Individual Kit Sleeping System 1 Vapour barrier liner 1 Sleeping bag (eg Rab) good for -250C 1 Synthetic outer bag (NOT waterproof or Dryloft) (optional) 1 Foam mat (eg Thermarest Ridgerest regular) 1 Thermarest (eg Thermarest Trail Comfort regular) 1...
Read on »
Tim's 1lb Luxury Item
It turns out that we are allowed to take 1lb in weight (that's around 400g for all you metric people out there) as luxury items - something to help the long, ice-cold, windy, interminably bright (24 hour sunshine), barren, featureless...
Read on »
Crevasse Rescue
Here's a conundrum. You hope desperately never to have to use any of the crevasse rescue kit you bring. But if you do fall in a crevasse and your team members can't simply heave you out using strength alone, you're...
Read on »
Tim Fright: Why I'm Going
Tim Fright I'm an MA Student, Kings College London, although I finish in early September 07 and I'm not quite sure what I'm doing after that! Interests: Man Utd fan (yes I know, I'm also from the south of England...
Read on »
Will taking on the Sahara
Click here to download a pdf file explaining in greater detail what Will got upto in the Marathon de Sables, (you can either left click to open it, or right click to save to your desktop)....
Read on »
Will Gow: Why I'm Going
William Gow works in Business Development across EMEA (Europe Middle East and Asia) for an asset management and financial services business called eSecLending. Interests: the history of anything; sport; music. Sport: tend to be endurance based, except for the...
Read on »
It's All in the Training
In 2005, my team-mates Will and Henry successfully completed a 320 mile foot race in Canada called The Yukon Arctic Ultra. In the year and a half since I've known them they have never tired of telling me all...
Read on »
My Dad is going to the Antarctic by Max Worsley (aged 13)
I have heard many stories about Shackleton since I was very young and as I grew older, I started to understand and admire Shackleton more. My Dad collects paintings and books about Shackleton and when I found out that...
Read on »
The Antarctic, By Max Worsley (aged 13)
What beauty is seen through the mist of white snow, The depths of Antarctica, where no one will go. The biting wind will freeze thoughts from your mind, And the deathless cold will leave you behind. The elegance of animals...
Read on »
Jameson Boyd Adams
"Waiter, has the chef peed in the soup?", asked my great-grandfather earnestly in a smart London restaurant. "Good Lord, of course not Sir Jameson", replied the shocked waiter. "Then I won't have any." This was typical of "the Mate",...
Read on »
Northern Exposure
In 2005 Will Gow and Henry Worsley took part in the brutal Yukon Arctic Ultra Race. Here's Will's explanation of what happened in a letter to his sponsors. I cannot begin to thank you enough for the incredibly generous sponsorship...
Read on »
Dressed For The Occasion Part 2: The Head
As most people know, keeping the noggin warm is critical for being warm generally. If you favour balaclavas as I do, you'll need to bring a variety to cater for different conditions and so you can replace the one you're...
Read on »
Expedition Food
It is critical that we get our nutrition right. We will be working extremely hard day in day out for 80 days, pulling twice our bodyweight behind us in extremely low temperatures over variable terrain. This requires massive amounts...
Read on »
Henry Worsley: Why I'm Going
Henry Worsley It was as I was leaving school that I first became intrigued and gripped by stories of the Heroic Age of polar exploration. Amundsen's meticulous planning and Scott's tragic death were great and noble stories but it was...
Read on »
Family Legacy
Our house is filled with worn-out Shackleton memorabilia and paraphernalia: rich in sentimental value, much less so in actual economic value. Above the stairs hangs a four feet by four feet sepia-toned picture of Frank Wild attending to a...
Read on »
Icebergs
I saw my first iceberg en route to South Georgia and despite always having been in awe of their sheer size and majesty captured on film or in pictures it is quite a different thing to witness something the...
Read on »
A photograph of Frank Worsley and Ernest Shackleton
ITEMS FROM HENRY WORSLEY'S POLAR COLLECTION This photograph, one of my favourites, was taken for a San Francisco newspaper in November 1916 when Ernest Shackleton and Frank Worsley were attempting to raise funds to rescue the Ross Sea Party. It...
Read on »
Will Gow: Why I'm Going II
Having tapped all my friends and family for sponsorship for the MDS I realized if I was ever going to fulfill my dreams of a journey to Antarctica I would need to include the corporates. This was stepping the whole...
Read on »
"The Mate"
Commander Sir Jameson Boyd Adams KCVO CBE DSO Extract is taken from an article written by A Diggins for "The Poacher", an annual companion to Lincolnshire life. Jameson Boyd Adams like Sir John Franklin, was born in Lincolnshire and found...
Read on »
Top Ten Things To Take To The Pole
No doubt you will have mulled at length over what ten things are indispensable for an expedition to the South Pole. If for any reason you haven't, here are our suggestions. 1. RBH Designs insulated socks and mitts We will...
Read on »
Polar Bears
I've just found out that a polar bear has a top ground speed of at least 25 miles per hour or around 40 kilometres per hour, either way that's fast. Given that there aren't very many trees at the South...
Read on »
Polar Bears II
I've just found out that polar bears don't live in the Antarctic, I shall still keep my wits about me though... you can never be too careful. Turns out that every day's a school day after all....
Read on »
Dressed For the Occasion Part 3: Hands
You can't really take too many pairs of gloves on a 900 mile walk to the South Pole. Inner gloves should be supple and not too thick, enabling you to work with them on. They should also be smooth-skinned, so...
Read on »
Home From Home
We love our tent. Which is lucky really as it's our only source of refuge at the end of another interminable day's hauling. It gives us warmth, respite and a feeling of control in the face of elements that conspire...
Read on »
Fortitudine Vincimus
Fortitudine Vincimus- "By endurance we conquer" -- this is/ was the Shackleton family motto, and I have been trying to remember it when looking at the bewilderingly new world of blogging, RSS feeds, SEO and other internet paraphernalia. Over the...
Read on »
Dressed For The Occasion Part 4: Feet
You can travel to the Pole in large Alfa boots with huge quantities of insulation and really restrict your chances of getting frostbitten toes. However, they are heavy and are inefficient for cross-country skiing, which is how we will be...
Read on »
A Hard Day's Night
If you don't sleep well, your body doesn't recover well from the day's exertions in time to perform all over again. The effect snowballs over 80 days on the ice until exhaustion takes over. A key danger on extended cold...
Read on »
Getting to the Heart of the Antarctic
An old Polar refrain has it that there are three ways of getting to the South Pole. There's the Norwegian way, with skis. There's the Canadian way, with dogs. And then there's the British way, with the heart. We might...
Read on »
A Night Beside Shackleton's Grave
'Soldiers, all men in fact, are natural hero-worshippers.