Meet Captain Louis Rudd.
From November 2018 – January 2019 he will attempt to become the first person in history to complete a solo crossing of Antarctica, unsupported and unassisted. He will travel for 70 days over a distance of 1,500km, from Union Glacier to the Ross Ice Shelf via the South Pole.
During his early military career Rudd spent time amongst the ancient, glacier-carved landscapes of Norway’s interior. It was here that he discovered his love for cold environments and peaceful isolation. He also learnt to trek long distances carrying heavy weights – an early introduction to the harsh realities of a polar journey.
In 2011 Lou led a team through the Scott/Amundsen Centenary Race, organised by Henry Worsley. A hundred years earlier, in 1911, Captain Scott was beaten to the South Pole by the Norwegian, Roald Amundsen.
At the end of 2016, Lou also launched the SPEAR17 expedition and led a 6-man British Army team of Reservists on a 1,770-mile traverse of Antarctica. It was a group of polar novices, some of whom had never skied before. Their route, from Hercules Inlet to the Ross Ice Shelf, was very similar to that of the Spirit of Endurance. From here on we’ll be following Lou’s journey closely, giving you regular updates from the world of vast ice fields, frozen volcanoes and mile-deep crevasses.