Next week Italian cyclist and adventurer Omar di Felice will embark on an attempt to become the first person to bike across Antarctica coast to coast, crossing the south pole along the way. The adventure is part of an effort to raise awareness about climate change and advocate for reducing humans’ carbon footprint.
In an interview with The Guardian, di Felice said, “Everyone I speak with says I’m crazy, it’s impossible, the bike won’t go over because of the deep snow and the wind. It’s very hard for cycling – but I’ll just go and explore and find out for myself whether it’s possible or not.”
The planned route will start below Vinson Massif along the southern edge of the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. Di Felice will reach the south pole at the mid-point of his ride, then head for the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf before returning to the pole to finish his journey. Presumably he must return to the pole since it’s not possible to get picked up at the Ross Ice Shelf.
According to The Guardian, di Felice will need to finish the journey in 60 days or less since he’s not allowed to stay on the continent beyond January 20. Part of the route will include an ice road maintained for scientific expeditions to the pole, and he’ll only have one chance to resupply along the way.
Adventurer Kate Leeming has been working toward her own bicycle crossing of Antarctica via the south pole, and in 2014 Daniel Burton 2012 Eric Larsen became the first to reach the pole by bike.
We will be following di Felice’s progress on the Antarctica Unlimited site.
4 Comments
Nov 12, 2022
Nov 12, 2022
This will be an amazing adventure and I will be highly impressed by his accomplishment. The trip from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole by bike is extremely difficult. It took me 51 days to do it. The trip down from the pole to the Ross ice shelf is on a packed route but can still have significant drifts. Maria would know more about that. It took her 10 days I believe to go up that route. However she had a truck with her that carried all her gear. So if you give an optimistic 10 days each way that is 20 days. Which only gives him 40 days for what took me 51 days. I’m not the fastest strongest biker so maybe he can shave 11 days off that portion. We
So yeah it is possible that this can be done, but it will be extremely difficult and will be a great trip to watch.
Nov 12, 2022
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Burton
Nov 14, 2022