Sir Ernest Shackleton’s great-grandson becomes the first person to cross Antarctica in a family car after recreating the legendary British explorer's 3,500-mile trek 100 years later.




His great-grandfather was one of Britain's most famous explorers, and now Patrick Bergel has now entered the history books himself with a daring expedition.

The great-grandson of Sir Ernest Shackleton has become the first person to travel across Antarctica in a family car, battling snowstorms, merciless terrain and temperatures which plunged as low as minus 28C.

Bergel, 46, travelled more than 3,500 miles through the snow to commemorate Shackleton's heroic Transatlantic expedition of 1914 to 1917.

Bergel was part of a small team which spent December driving for 20 hours a day.

Details of the adventure have only been revealed today.







http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/793905/Sir-Ernest-Shackleton-grandson-Antarctica-family-car

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4426094/Ernest-Shackleton-descendant-completes-Antarctica-mission.html
Lalasticlala, Mynd44

What an amazing feat.
Too much of adrenaline

Wow

The London-based tech entrepreneur drove a near-standard Hyundai Santa Fe for 30 days in a challenging endeavour which saw him hallucinating in the snow.

The vehicle moved at an average of 16mph during the mission, but at times reached speeds as high as 60mph.


'On relatively flat ground you just go down to 5-10km/h and try to follow the path in front of you.

'But generally, because there's no visual stimulusand your body's connected to the vehicle, your brain's not being fed enough information so it goes a bit haywire.

You also start to make up things.

'It's normal to start hallucinating, seeing trees and forests around you, but it's just dirt on the windscreen.

In one area, we had to rope up the vehicles to make sure if one fell in it could be recovered by the others.

We had one scary moment there but we managed to get through okay.

Patrick Bergel was among the team which became the first to travel Antarctica in a wheeled passenger vehicle.

They followed in the footsteps of Sir Ernest Shackleton, one of Britain's most famous ever explorers and Bergel's great-grandfather.

wowzerful! So na from his great grandpa's head the crazzze start...it is well o.

Cool... Am gonna be the first to do something..
REAL SOON.

I thought I saw Earnest Shonekan

The car he used for the expedition was a 'pretty standard' Hyundai Santa Fe, which used the factory-spec 2.2-litre diesel engine, gearbox, front differential and driveshaft.

Engineers had to fit the car with special tyres which run on one-tenth of the normal road tyre pressure so they could get on top of the snow rather than plough through it.

khalifahsparkles:
I thought I saw Earnest Shonekan

You are right bro..
Just checked again and saw Ernest Shackleton...
Op did you edit the name

Explore!

Team members drove for more than 20 hours each day in the gruelling endurance test on the Antarctic in December.

Travelled more than 3,500 miles through the snow to commemorate Shackleton's heroic Transatlantic expedition of 1914 to 1917.

Group members said no one expected them to achieve the impressive feat before they set off in December.

obafemee80:
You are right bro.. Just checked again and saw Ernest Shackleton... Op did you edit the name

I guess it was our eyes playing games on us

More like an ad for Hyundai

Bergel described reaching the South Pole as a 'special moment' after the historic expedition.


He said: 'I'm not a polar explorer.

I'm an indoor guy.

This was a proper expedition with a challenge to accomplish that nobody else had done before.

'The driving experience is quite incredible.

There are degrees of whiteout where you can't see three feet, or you can't see ten feet in front of you, but that's not necessarily a problem depending on what your terrain is.

'That was the point at which nobody in a wheeledvehicle had been beyond.

Getting to the South Pole was a special moment.

The fact that this was a place my great-grandfather tried to get to more than once and I was there, it felt like a genuine connection.

Ernest Shackleton, the son of a doctor, joined the merchant navy at the age of 16.

His first visit to the Antarctic came in 1901, when he joined an expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott.

He got closer to the Pole than anyone had before, but was forced to return home after becoming seriously ill.

Seven years later he headed back to the Antarctic as leader of an expedition on the ship Nimrod.

His team got closer still to the Pole, and made a number of key scientific discoveries.

He was knighted on his return to Britain.

In 1911 he lost the race to be first to reach the South Pole, as Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen achieved the astonishing feat.

khalifahsparkles:
I thought I saw Earnest Shonekan

Up till the time I saw your post I was still looking for Ernest Shonekan's grandchild

LAFO:

Up till the time I saw your post I was still loiking for Ernest Shonekan's grandhild

Ahahaha

Signing In

following

Explorers, now I know were u got ur name from.

enoqueen:
Explorers, now I know were u got ur name from.

Lols....Long time sis.

Explorers:
Ernest Shackleton, the son of a doctor, joined the merchant navy at the age of 16.

His first visit to the Antarctic came in 1901, when he joined an expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott.

He got closer to the Pole than anyone had before, but was forced to return home after becoming seriously ill.

Seven years later he headed back to the Antarctic as leader of an expedition on the ship Nimrod.

His team got closer still to the Pole, and made a number of key scientific discoveries.

He was knighted on his return to Britain.

In 1911 he lost the race to be first to reach the South Pole, as Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen achieved the astonishing feat.

Pls Explorer is Antarctica colder than North Artic part of GreenLand and Saberia forest of Russia.

MrBONE2:
Pls Explorer is Antarctica colder than North Artic part of GreenLand and Saberia forest of Russia.

Antarctica's eastern highland is the the coldest point on the planet at -136°F (-93°C) followed by -128.6°F (-89.2°C), measured at the Vostok weather station in a nearby location.


http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131210-coldest-place-on-earth-antarctica-science/

Explorers:


Antarctica's eastern highland is the the coldest point on the planet at -136°F (-93°C) followed by -128.6°F (-89.2°C), measured at the Vostok weather station in a nearby location.


http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131210-coldest-place-on-earth-antarctica-science/

My God !Such low temperature can freeze any human in less 3mins.

Good stuff Explorer. Very informative

Where are the other cars they went with?

Emmyk:
Where are the other cars they went with?

Check 14th&15th picture very.

Check the source too.

**okada oya park** Na the place be this. Its Explorers the wicked thread producer