Expeditions 7: Two Years Around the World on all Seven Continents.

David Harris

Expedition Leader
One other quick question: I was looking at the AT website and it states that E7 is using 1 x AT44 Hilux and 1 x AT44 6x6 Hilux on the Antarctica leg. Does this mean you have nixed the 6x6 Hilux in favor of the modded Cruiser?

 

toddz69

Explorer
Why mod the Cruiser so much for something it's not made for, rather than just buy/hire another AT Hilux? BTW: Is the Hilux a diesel and if so what mods do they do to prepare it for the Arctic? It seems like the best tool for the job would be some sort of tracked vehicle like a Hagglunds.


I believe it's because the goal is to have the same vehicle on all seven continents.

Todd Z.
 

Scott Brady

Founder
Why mod the Cruiser so much for something it's not made for, rather than just buy/hire another AT Hilux? BTW: Is the Hilux a diesel and if so what mods do they do to prepare it for the Arctic? It seems like the best tool for the job would be some sort of tracked vehicle like a Hagglunds.

We are doing both. We have an AT44 4x4 and an AT44 6x6. We are renting the 6x6 from Arctic Trucks as the support vehicle to the South Pole. The 6x6 is already in Antarctica and is part of the support fleet. Conditions of our permit require two vehicles once you leave a 75km radius of a support base.

These are actually two different trips in Antarctica. We are driving to the South Pole, and if conditions allow, driving entirely across the continent to the Ross Ice shelf. We are also doing a multi-day trip around the coastal mountains with the Expeditions 7 Land Cruiser. If you note in this thread, one of the goals of Expeditions 7 is to take the same Land Cruiser to all seven continents. As a result, the E7 VDJ78 is also coming along for the fun.

The AT44 Hilux runs circles around the tracked vehicles and are far more efficient and comfortable for the trip. The only advantage of the tracked vehicle would be payload.
 

Scott Brady

Founder
Thanks for the updates Scott. That is one huge tire! Are you going to stud those meats? Wonder about your fuel range loss with those tires. Did you guys play with the gearing?

On the HiLux, the gearing is 4.88 and they have twin transfer cases.

On the Land Cruiser, the factory gearing will be fine with the 38" tire and in low range. The torque of that 1VDT is impressive.
 

Scott Brady

Founder
Just wondering is there any sort of rules/restrictions etc once you are down in Antarctica? Do the various country sections have different restrictions/quarantine items etc

What about once you hit any of the bases do you need passports and visas to enter or is it considered one all encompassing "country" in that regard?

Will you be meeting up with the Spaniard cycling across from December 1?

What sort of infrastructure is setup for communication, is it purely station based and then you rely on satellite phones & how would coverage be that low surely not many satellites overhead?

There are tons of rules, most important of which is permitting and a "security" umbrella organization. The biggest consideration is rescue, so you must (as an American traveling there) operate under a rescue and infrastructure group like TAC (The Antarctic Company), which is a most Russian organization that primarily operates out of the Russian Novo base. We are using TAC, and they have been awesome. The conditions of the permit are many, including managing waste, impact, etc.

We are operating in conjunction with TAC and a few other expeditions. The benefit of this is shared costs and increased support. This is why we are collaborating with Arctic Trucks and also Walking with the Wounded. We all benefit from the expanded support net of the additional vehicles and personnel.

There are no visas or immigration. We do exit and then reenter ZA.

We are likely to meet up with several cool folks along the way, including the possibility of meeting another ExPo member at the SP. How fun is that!

We rely on satellite communications, and the Iridium system is the only reliable one in Antarctica. We can use BGAN near the coast, then it is all Iridium. We have two Iridium phones and one TextAnywhere device. We will also have a PLB and 2M radios.

The logistics are incredible. Two years of planning. . .
 

David Harris

Expedition Leader
Payload is a factor considering that you are unsupported. How much fuel will it take to cross the continent? Also, how fast will you be able to go in that terrain with the AT's?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Scott Brady

Founder
what do you guys do for toilets???


This is a common question, about as common as "are you excited to see Polar Bears?" ;)

We use a small privy to block the wind (biggest threat to the man-bits is wind), then have a seat that holds a disposable bag with a thickening agent inside. We must remove or burn all of the waste that we produce, including human waste.

Pooping in Antarctica will no doubt be the most uncomfortable experience on the continent.
 

grimbo

Explorer
How will you go with transporting sufficient drinking water (obviously you will melt snow to drink) but you would also require enough readily accresible weather whilst driving, recovering vehicles, sleep etc. is it as simple as keeping it in a thermos or do you need to keep them 'heated' to stop it freezing.

Also food stuffs, will it be a similar situation with power bars etc to maintain your energy during the day
 

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