Second historic solo trek across Antarctica

Associated Press (ap.org, Dec. 27, 2018); Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly

A British adventurer was close to becoming the second person to traverse Antarctica completely unassisted just a few days after an American became the first to conquer the feat, which was previously said to be impossible.

Louis Rudd's expedition blog on Thursday showed that the 49-year-old has only has about 50 miles (80 kms) left on the journey across the continent and is expected to finish Saturday. If Rudd — a Hereford, England, resident and captain in the British Army — completes the journey, he'll become the second man to do so after Colin O'Brady of Portland, Oregon, became the first on Wednesday.

Empire Beneath the Ice (Quayle)

The more than 900-mile (1448-km) trek took O'Brady 54 days. O'Brady and Rudd were competing to become the first to travel across Antarctica without getting new supplies or help from the wind. O'Brady won after he covered the last roughly 80 miles (129 kms) in one big, impromptu final push to the finish line that took well over an entire day.

"While the last 32 hours were some of the most challenging hours of my life, they have quite honestly been some of the best moments I have ever experienced," O'Brady posted on Instagram, where he has been documenting the arduous journey.

Rudd congratulated O'Brady on his blog late Wednesday. "I've just heard that the American Colin's finished," he wrote. "Fantastic, well done to him. He'd pushed really hard all the way across and done extremely well, so congratulations to him." Rudd wrote... More