We all have them, Grandmothers.!

Day 19
Friday, 30th Nov, 2007
83.1927S,083.8098W
Distance to Pole:757 km

We all have them. Grandmothers.!

We have just crossed the 83rd degree only 7 degrees to go. 19 days on the move and so far we have skied, walk and dragged our sleds 369 km.


My lead first today, so I was on full alert, ensuring that we’d stay on course.

Now in military mode, at 1 minute past 8 am we were on the move. Our routine is to ski for 1 hour and 10 minutes then take a ten minute break and we’d repeat this procedure for 6 to 7 shifts each day our target is to cover between 22-27 km per day. .

Relieved to have my shift over, I was able to go into a trance state of following rather then leading. We’d rotate the lead after each shift, so I could relax for a few hours and just concentrate on pulling my sled.

Today as I skied, thoughts of my grandmother flooded my mind. Mary b. O Callaghan. I went to live with her when I was six years of age for a few years, she drummed into me as a child. If you think you can, you will. If you think you can’t you won’t. So her theory she left me with is, to always believe in what you are doing that you will succeed. I could really feel her spirit with me today as I skied along with her in my thoughts, it brought back many happy memories of her at home on the hill on the northside of Cork city. Up there we are known as Norries. I wondered what she would have thought of me and my team skiing to the South Pole. Well she would have believed we could do it and so do I.

Today’s camp site I’d like to dedicated to my grandmother Mary. B O Callaghan. My grandmother.