DAY 1 – 11TH DEC 06
LHR Terminal 2…. I can’t believe I am here at last!  This is the start of an incredible life-changing journey.  The air of excitement amongst the team is over-whelming.  Carolyn, Jenny and Ronnie are novices and their nervous grins are plastered all over their faces!  I am so happy to finally be going and yet “how is it that one simple hug from your mum can melt your heart and reduce you to tears?!”  Our route to Antarctica is LHR – Madrid – Santiago – Punta Arenas.  Fantastic.

DAY 3 – 13th DEC 06
How uniquely wonderful that Punta Arenas has not been taken over by English!  The predominant language is Spanish and we find ourselves struggling with the lingo to buy last minute rations: 
“Quisiera queso, por favour!” I’d like some cheese please?!! (Actually I’d rather a beer, but there we go).

DAY 4 – 14th DEC 06
Team rations finally packed and all kit ready to go.  High fat salami and chocolate coming out of our ears … I’m going to be sick of this stuff soon.  Do women realise just how fattening Galaxy chocolate really is??  I will be consuming 4,325 calories per day… which is actually a relatively low cal diet in the Polar World but none-the-less double our normal daily intake!  We’re now on standby ready for insertion to Antarctica by crazy Russian Ilyushain (IL74) pilots renowned for their wild vodka parties.

DAY 6 – 16th DEC 06
Our arrival to Patriot Hills, Antarctica was an adrenaline rushing experience.  The Russian Ilyushain thundered down the blue ice runway before skidding insanely through 30 degrees before coming to a shuddering halt.  The whites of everyone’s eyes summed up the experience pretty well!!  Welcome to Antarctica …. 24 hrs day light, balmy -17 degrees Celsius, gentle 11 knots wind, and glorious sunshine.  Utterly breathtaking.

DAY 8 – 18th DEC 06
The past few days have been very rewarding.  I am amazed just how much cold weather knowledge and skills I have developed through my military training.  Mike, our team leader, has been out of action for 3 days due to sickness, so I have been teaching and training our three novices ready for our trek to the pole.  “Polly’s ski school” proved the most rewarding.  From total beginners, all are now competent at skiing whilst dragging the sledge behind them over rough terrain called “Sastrugi” (frozen wind generated waves of ice).  Tents are now assembled and collapsed in strong winds (35 knots gusts) within record breaking time and all have passed the cooker test without burning the tent down….a vital must!  We’re now awaiting Mike to get better and a good weather window to be flown by Canadian Twin Otter to our start point 88’23”S Shackleton’s furthest point south.  Spirits are high, and I am keen to get going!

DAY 12 – 22nd DEC 06
Temperature is a cheeky -28 degrees Celsius and there is a beautiful “Par helium” around the sun (sunlight refracting through ice particles in the air).  Mike has made a full recovery but sadly today we had to say goodbye to Jenny, one of our team members, who has been taken ill.  Jenny is too weak to attempt the trek to the pole.  Despite her loss she has remained so positive for the remaining team to achieve our goals.  It’s really given me a renewed inner strength to ensure we succeed for her. 

DAY 14 – 24th DEC 06
IT’S A GO!!  At last the weather has finally improved.  The winds have dropped and the low cloud has cleared.  It’s been a very frustrating long wait, but we are finally being flown to our start point.  There’s no turning back and I am itching to get trekking and test my newly acquired Solar Navigation skills!

DAY 15 – 25th DEC 06
Christmas Day and I am finally trekking to the South Pole.  I could not have asked for a better Christmas present!  Having been flown to 8,500 feet some team members are experiencing altitude sickness such as headaches, nausea and the odd nose bleed.  I am lucky not to suffer and feel good, so have offered to take extra weight off the novices to lighten their sledges.  I expect my sledge now weighs around 70 kg which is well within my capabilities as I have trained for heavier.  Train hard, travel easy.

DAY 17 – 27th DEC 06
I’m skiing well and feeling strong.  The raw beauty of Antarctica is breathtaking; I am loving every minute of it.  I continue to take more weight from fellow team members, and regularly drag two sledges behind me; my sledge and Ronnie’s who is suffering really bad blisters already.  Even the team leader is struggling with severe lower back pains.  I liken trekking to the pole as being on a giant white treadmill!  The barren emptiness provides me the opportunities to reflect on life and plan for the future.  Ambient temperature a comfortable -27 deg Celsius, however wind 14 knots generating additional wind chill down to -41 deg C.  My eyelashes are caked in beautiful white mascara during the rest stops.
 
DAY 18 – 28th DEC 06
Our daily routine consists of trekking 3 sets of 2 hour sessions, followed by 1 hour at the end which we nickname Happy Hour!  This routine enables us to cover 12 nautical miles (15 statute miles) each day but I know we can cover more.  We have a rest stop between sessions, of which the word “Rest Stop” amuses the hell out of me!  They are anything but restful, with less than 10 minutes to unzip and precariously pee from the side of your wind suit, adjust layers, shovel down nuts, chocolate and grim salami, slug down drink, plug various team members with much needed “Vitamin I” (Ibuprofen painkillers!), check GPS, check everyone is feeling OK and re-boot for the next leg!  Exhausting stuff!  (10 minutes to prevent us getting cold and frost bitten fingers/toes.)  I am chuffed with my thermal barrier sock system which is working well, keeping moisture against my feet and hence boots dry.  (My thermal barriers are very expensive supermarket bags!!!)  The result is warm, wrinkly feet that can be treated with athlete’s foot powder at the end of the day.  My facemask also continues to amuse me.  If I am not careful how I place it down on my sledge it freezes in the most bizarre shapes which are near impossible to wrap around my face when I set off again.  And bizarrely I’m really enjoying all this!

DAY 19 – 29th DEC 06
Today we had to medically evacuate Mike our team leader.  His back has given way and he is unable to move, let alone ski.  I was proud of our team as we raced to get the tent up for shelter and hot water on before Mike suffered frost bite to his hands or feet.  The Canadian Twin Otter extracted him within 4 hours of our satellite call early this afternoon.  Their speed of response was impressive and we were lucky with the weather holding and finding a suitable landing site.  Now we are only 4 girls “Girl Power!”

DAY 21 – 31st DEC 06
The South Pole has just come into sight on the horizon!!  It’s still 13 nautical miles (16 miles) away but what a New Years Eve boost.  The thrill shivered down my spine as 5 tiny black specks of the American South Pole station came into sight.  To celebrate New Year I brought a party popper and cracker for each team member to enjoy with some heavenly cherry brandy which tasted like ice cold nectar.  This is the Centenary year of Sir Earnest Shackleton….I wonder what he would have thought of 4 women completing his journey in his honour?!

DAY 22 – 1st JAN 07
SOUTH POLE!!  I’m at the bottom of the world, exhilarated with achievement and slightly in disbelief that I’m actually here!  At 10,000 feet but the polar effects of being at 12,200 feet, I really noticed the effects on my breathing during the last few hours.  We arrived late afternoon, shattered from a long day and hard push to reach the South Pole on New Year’s Day.  I carried a lot of extra weight today to help Carolyn and Ronnie, who were in incredible pain with blisters and back/shoulder ache.  I actually think my sledge is the heaviest it has been all journey which is pretty ironic for the end of a journey!  Temperature is -41 degrees Celsius and gusts of 20 knots wind.  It’s noticeably much colder here.  I am overwhelmed with pride and emotion; pride to be the first military female to the South Pole and pride to be in the Centenary year of the great explorer Shackleton; but a far greater emotion to have done this for so many women to raise the awareness of breast cancer.