“FINISH LINE!!! I did it!” Colin O’Brady wrote in 2018 after completing the first solo, unsupported, and unaided crossing of Antarctica, covering 932 miles in 54 days.
Now, seven years later, the 40-year-old adventurer is pushing that finish line even farther, embarking imminently on an unprecedented 1,780-mile journey across the continent over 110 days — adding on the Ross and Filchner ice shelves in addition to the landmass between them.
“I’m really curious if I can go back and push myself not just farther in distance … but in a spiritual context — mind, body, soul,” he told NBC News. “And to me, there’s no better proving ground for that than Antarctica.”
Should he succeed, O’Brady will have another notch on his trailblazing belt, becoming the first individual to traverse the entire continent on foot, traveling solo and without any external support, from one ice shelf to the other.
The journey ahead will be anything but easy: He will face temperatures as low as minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit, hauling a 500-pound sled loaded with all his supplies while wearing just a single set of clothes.
But O’Brady is no stranger to challenging expeditions. A couple of years ago, he fell into a crevasse — a deep crack in a glacier — unroped. “I was very fortunate to survive that crevasse fall and I’m going to have to go over similar terrain,” he said. “So there’s no doubt about it that there’s real consequences, real threats.”
He’s now traveled to the continent six times, and during his last trip, the bestselling author spent nearly all of his time in complete silence — opting to largely forgo music or podcasts and looking out at nothing but “endless white landscape.” And considering it’s summer in Antarctica, O’Brady will experience 24 hours of daylight when he finally commences his crossing. But that doesn’t mean it’ll be clear skies: “Oftentimes — probably maybe 30% to 40% of the time — the clouds come in and you can’t see anything,” he said. “I’m just navigating off a compass … no way to see where you’re going, even a few steps in front of you.”
If you think this sounds like the stuff of an adventure documentary, you’d be right. Netflix is following O’Brady for an upcoming doc, offering viewers a front-row look at what’s sure to be quite a ride.
As O’Brady puts it, it’s a reminder to push one’s limits despite fear: “I’m definitely afraid of dying. I’m not trying to take some crazy risk or something like that. But when I really put my head on the pillow at night, what I’m more afraid of is not fully living.”
Want to follow O’Brady’s journey? His whereabouts will be live-tracked here, and he’ll be sending updates through a portable satellite unit that his team will post on social media.
RELATED: Inside “Polar Preet” Chandi’s Journey to Become the First Woman to Cross Antarctica Solo
Share to:
