Journey to the south

Skiing great lengths

Wen got sponsors for his Antarctic adventure. They provided him with outdoor clothing, satellite communication and power source. Hu say the couple also spent over 2 million yuan ($306,000) of their own money on Wen's South Pole journey.

On Nov 13, 2019, Wen began skiing toward the pole. It was extremely difficult for him to haul his laden sledge on the snow and ice, but it was his lifeline. The sledge carried his scientific instruments along with all his gear, food and communication equipment. Each day he would consume about 1.5 kilograms of food, loading his body with some 6,000 calories needed to fuel his strenuous daily trudge. When he started, he weighed 85 kg, but by journey's end he was 65 kg.

Wen had a pretty strict daily schedule to follow — he would wake at 6:30 am to boil water and make breakfast so that he could be packed and ready to ski by 8 am. To conserve energy, Wen would divide his daily skiing into eight parts, resting for 10 minutes after every hour on the move. He would be asleep no later than 10 pm, something he found difficult as the distinction between day and night in the South Pole is no more than the sweeping of hands of a watch can determine.

Wen would draw a picture each night to record his mental condition. He could draw anything he wanted — he once drew a person crying, and another night, he drew a person falling in the snow. These were accompanied by daily vocal recordings. Sometimes, when he was happy, he would talk a lot, but when he was depressed, he only spoke a couple of words. The drawings and recordings will help scientists to analyze the mental and physical changes that occur in people under such extreme conditions, Wen says, adding that he hopes they will provide useful references for future endeavors to the southern continent.

A GPS device would relay his location to Hu every 10 minutes. Back in Beijing, the screen of Hu's computer would display Wen's direction, ski speed and the altitude he was at.

Each evening, Wen would use the satellite phone for about 5 minutes to report his progress to Hu, along with a summary of his physical and mental condition. They would then discuss the plan for the next day. Hu would shield him from anything that might distract him from his goal, especially online comments about his trip.

In the first 10 days, Wen only managed to ski about 70 km. A lot of the time, he was forced to wait for a break because of weather conditions. On the 11th day, the sun finally made an appearance and Wen was so happy that he sang as he skied. He covered 26 km that day alone, representing the longest daily distance he had traveled since starting out.