[gumby]

At first I was shocked by how large a sled he dragged. I use a much smaller sled (just a deer sled). Then I saw how smooth the terrain was at least where the photo was taken.

Then I read that he was out for 53 days. And of course his conditions are far, far more grueling than I have ever faced (all in North America). So then I was shocked at how little he had with him!

[lostlogin]

I talked to a guy who tried to cross it once. To get the huge number of required calories in a compact form they drank olive oil. He didn’t like it and it sure sounds nasty.

[Fricken]

O'brady describes his diet here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqOWpIMl7Si/?utm_source=ig_share...

7000 calories a day!

[pastor_elm]

Truly amazing this guy is crossing Antartica and plugging for a nutrition bar brand at the same time. I wonder why Red Bull didn't sponsor him.

[Alupis]

> To get the huge number of required calories in a compact form they drank olive oil.

Eating sticks of butter is common too.

[komali2]

Thru hikes sometimes it's peanut butter and Nutella

[bacon_waffle]

A few weeks in to my first long trip, a mentor said in a grocery store in Franklin, North Carolina: "You'll become one of two kinds of hiker: you'll count calories per pound, or you'll count calories per dollar. Either way, you win with cake frosting".

[x43b]

Carbohydrates are 4 calories/gram. Fats are 9 calories/gram. Frosting does not win.

[gumby]

I believe frosting is mostly fat by weight. Nevertheless butter beats it, pretty much by definition.

[peterkshultz]

Appalachian Trail? I did it too!

Fritos and Nutty Buddies were my go-to. I added a few notes about my trip here: https://pkshultz.com/at/

[bacon_waffle]

Yep! Dropping out of high school to go backpacking on the AT was one of the better decisions I've made. It's been a decade and a half, and I'm still making connections through the trail network.

Since you're such a recent finisher; Springer Fever is a real thing, and I think it's best not to suppress it too much.

[gumby]

I struggle with his on through hikes bc as a diabetic I can’t eat a lot of the standard calorie dense foods. A lot of fats is really all that works for me :-(.

[hanley]

> Then I saw how smooth the terrain was at least where the photo was taken.

If you look through Colin's earlier instagram posts [1] you'll see that the terrain was not smooth for much of his journey. The terrain is covered in sastrugi [2] and this year was marked with unexpected higher temperatures and snowfall which made the skiing very slow for Colin and all the other explorers out there. Explorers Web has a good collection of blog posts about the various expeditions that are happening this season [3].

[1] https://www.instagram.com/colinobrady/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sastrugi [3] https://explorersweb.com/category/poles/antarctic/

[gameswithgo]

For long stretches the terrain was awful, as well there was climbing up to ~8500 feet or so

[gumby]

All solo...truly amazing!

[dana321]

That's got to be the best place in the world, imagine the solitude, the quietness and amazing scenery. Must have been an amazing experience.

[maxxxxx]

I have read Shackleton's book and also one by a member of Scott's expedition. From that I got the sense that it's a place of wind, danger and misery. It's not a quiet stroll after fresh snowfall.

[lostlogin]

If you haven’t already, have a read of South, by Shackleton. It can be pretty unpleasant and far from quiet.