Kite Skiing at the Hardangervidda Plateau

When we reach the South Pole, our heading will be in a North Westerly direction towards the Ronne Ice Shelf - with the wind directly behind us. This is where the heroic age of Polar Exploration meets the 21st century.

Having skiied for over 450 miles and 30 days to reach the Pole, we will try to harness the strong winds on the Antarctic Plateau to kite ski pulling our pulks at speeds up to 30mph. To do this we need to be able to use the 8.5metre kites efficiently and skillfully.

We headed to the Hardangervidda Plateau in Norway on March 15th 2010, this would be our first taste of the power of these kites which we would have to master in order to succesfully complete the expedition. My first attempt to fly one of these kites through me 10 metres across a frozen lake.

The power that they harness is awesome, and the wind speed was only about 10 knotts, 30 knotts is probably what we would be having to deal with in Antarctica. The training was simple, fly the kite and learn to put the power on when needed, enough to move at speed but less when required. I spent most of the week dragged face down through the snow, it was clearly evident that the learning curve would be steep!

We have learned the basics now we have to master the techniques that are going to get us to the Ronne Ice Shelf, luckily there are plenty of open spaces in which to practice in the Lake District, an 8 day kite ski expedition is planned for February 2011.