Honorary Chair Sir Edmund Hillary 1919-2008	President Daniel A. Bennett	Honorary President Don Walsh, Ph.D.

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EXPEDITIONS Flag Reports   FLAG 134 Together to the Pole—Antarctica November 31, 2004–January 13, 2005 Marek Kaminski FI'96 Photos © 2005 Wojciech Ostrowski Expedition Members: Marek Kaminski FI'96 Jan Mela Wojciech Ostrowski Introduction The expedition "Together to the Pole—Antarctica" finally ended successfully. On 31 December Marek Kaminski FI'96, Jan Mela, and Wojciech Ostrowski reached the South Pole at 3:47am Central European time. Jan is now the youngest polar explorer and the first disabled person who has made it to both poles within the same year on skis. They had to walk 188 km in 14 days through the Antarctic ice. Depending on weather conditions, they walked between 4 and 16,3 km a day. During some days the wind rose up to 100 km/h. The temperature lay between minus -13 and minus -22°F. They had planned to start from Patriot Hills earlier, but due to bad weather conditions they had to postpone their first march five days. In order to make sure that they would reach the Pole in time, they had left some of their equipment on the way. A plane was supposed to collect it later. During the expedition the small team celebrated also Christmas and Jan’s birthday. In April’s expedition to the North Pole, they already had Easter together. The small team is very happy about their success. Especially the now 16-year old Jan has proven once again that almost everything is possible. A few years ago destiny has taken away parts of his leg and arm, put it has also given him the chance of his life—becoming a polar explorer who has now written history. FULL REPORT in pdf RETURN TO LIST

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