Marine Results co-founder Ed Danby is off on a trip of a lifetime this week (although he has done a few trips of a lifetime already!) when he joins Skip Novak, veteran of 25 years’ experience leading expeditions to the Antarctic, on board his renowned yacht Pelegic Australis for a six week expedition to the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia. The yacht will support a team which is attempting to climb the Salvesen Range of mountains, led by mountaineer Stephen Venables, who has previously climbed Everest and visited and skied through the Salvesen Range several times already. Ed will be part of the sailing crew which will initially get the boat from the Falklands to South Georgia with the full expedition team on board. He and other support members will also undertake some skiing expeditions, explore the old whaling stations and sail the boat to a number of different anchorages on its way to its ultimate destination of Trollhul where they will land the mountaineering team for a planned 10 day expedition.
The trip will start on 10th September which is the end of the Antarctic winter, to aim for the best conditions. The glaciers, which have become increasingly hard to negotiate in summer, due to global warming, will still have good snow cover and the cooler temperatures will make the glacier travel more efficient.
Ed says “I am really looking forward to this trip. Due to the complexity of this expedition with six climbers ashore for ten days, Skip seconded me in as crew to back up the coastal cruising operation. As sailing crew we will also get some skiing and snowshoeing in on a daily basis which I am pretty excited about. Being the centenary of Shackleton’s legendary crossing of South Georgia with Frank Worsley and Tom Crean, after their open boat journey from Elephant Island in 1916, just puts the cherry on the cake for me.”
Like all extreme expeditions, the team will have a flexible approach to weather and terrain conditions, and the planned itinerary will have to adapt accordingly.
Ed Danby has already sailed around the world breaking the record for the fastest circumnavigation and has taken part in many of the world’s greatest yacht races.
Business will of course continue as normal at Marine Results in his absence in the hands of the very competent team who weren’t quite as lucky as Ed to get this gig!
