Ernest Shackleton’s Descendants Relaunching Famed 1909 Nimrod Expedition

Sometimes I wonder where the hell I have been. I spend hours and hours rounding up some of the biggest and best adventure news for this site, and still, things get by me.

Case in point:

At exactly 10am on October 28th, 1908, Shackleton and his team set off from Hut Point for the South Pole. One hundred years later, the SCE ice team intends to do the same.

The SCE ice team just happens to be the descendants of Ernest Shackleton, himself. SCE stands for the Shackleton Centenary Expedition, who happens to be moving forward with a plan to recreate the unfortunate events of 1908–although this time, make it a success.

Back in 1908, Ernest Shackleton decided to set out for the South Pole. While being a success to some degree, Shackleton’s biggest goal eluded him. A mere 97 miles from the South Pole, Shackleton and his team of Explorers were forced to head back from where they came. This is a noteworthy moment in the fact that Ernest Shackleton and his crew survived to tell their tales. This also sparked the race for the South Pole, a race that would end tragically for one explorer, but make a hero out of another.

The South Pole was finally reached on December 14, 1911 by Norwegian Roald Amundsen. A month later, Amundsen’s South Pole competitor, Robert Falcon Scott reached the pole only to find out that Amundsen had been their first. Scott’s return trip would end in tragedy as he and four expedition members would die of starvation and extreme temperatures. Many books have been written on this subject and are widely available.

The Shackleton Centenary Expedition will focus on the first attempt on the South Pole. Along with this historical occasion to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Nimrod Expedition, the SCE will be conducting some scientific research to go along with their voyage.

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 provides a rare opportunity to collect scientific information important for the study of the behaviour of this major glacier in relation to climate and to collect rock samples that may reveal details of the geology of land submerged beneath the interior ice.

As I mentioned, in 1908 Shackleton’s Nimrod Expedition wasn’t a total failure in any sense of the word. Shackleton and his team were the first to climb a peak in Antarctica, Mt. Erebus, as well as the first to discover the ‘magnetic’ South Pole. Much like this first expedition into the Antarctic, the SCE team will be looking to do the same. This includes a pit stop to Mt. Erebus, then on to the Ross Ice Shelf, the Beardmore Glacier, then hopefully to the Pole itself. The team will be embarking on this expedition and going unguided, traversing most of the distance on skis. They are hoping to complete an epic journey first started back in 1908 by Ernest Shackleton. It should be an exciting expedition, and one I will have to keep my eyes on.

The Shackleton Centenary Expedition has put up a great website outlining this expedition, as well as following along on the first South Pole attempt by their ancestors. To get more information on the course for this trek, you can CLICK HERE. To read more on the team members, and yes, there is a Shackleton connection with each of them, You can read about them HERE. To check out the whole site, including Shackleton’s own Expedition, then I suggest you head HERE.

Is this getting annoying yet? Alright, to break the cycle and have a little fun, if you would like to see the latest NUDE PHOTO of Mariah Carey, Click HERE. I am just testing to see if you reading and paying attention. I am not promising that that is where the link will take you, though. Remember, I try to run a family friendly site.

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