Tuesday, June 16, 2015

The Coldest Journey had to have been ill-fated from the get-go.



I can't tell from the map of the journey where it was STOPPED... is it the yellow flag? 

First Officer Felix who is frequently adding useful insights and comments to many posts here on this blog pointed to "the Coldest Journey" project in my earlier Caterpillar post. I'm not clear on what the intention of the mission was but clearly it was ill-fated since it's apparent that a group decided to "cross Antarctica" during the "winter" and "in the dark". My question: Why? Everyone in Antarctic research KNOWS that everything is easier in the Antarctic summer. What was the point of taking on extra risk unneccessarily?

My tentative answer is that the mission was NEVER MEANT TO SUCCEED... that it could be part of a campaign of brainwashing the world into a belief that Antarctica "can" be "crossed"... when in fact it's an ice rim around Earth Pond that is an infinite plain. The fact that the mission FAILED is consistent with the idea that there is no way to "cross Antarctica" but only to "go outward" and then "come back".
Here's the video First Officer Felix pointed to that documents the decision to "turn around and go back"-- the mission leader saying that the mission was too hazardous to continue.





The Coldest Journey has it's own YOUTUBE page and it's own homepage! One thing I noticed about the couple of dozen video thumbnails is that half of them are "BRIGHT" and obviously not during a 6 month long perpetual night of winter. How can that be? Many of the pictures are in fact in BROAD DAYLIGHT-- BRIGHT DAYLIGHT. If this mission was supposedly conducted during the winter "night" of Antarctica, we should see DIM light or NIGHT. Some pictures DO have complete darkness surrounding the subject matter. I don't understand.

Coldest Journey - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNVRJCNPpPaszObvUh_0x2Q/videos

Home - The Coldest Journey Homepage
http://www.thecoldestjourney.org/








Here's a short description of the mission from the homepage








THE COLDEST JOURNEY
POWERED BY IRIDIUM
Follow the progress of the Ice Team Live with our live map and regular reports on wind speed, temperature, altitude and more...Seeing is Believing

My comment-- This sounds like the type of thing I'd like to do with a CIRUMNAVIGATION... and I too would use the phrase "seeing is believing" as a motto-- since I would have the team prove the distance of the circumference one way or another. In the case of the Coldest Journey, I'm not sure what they were driving at with the motto. 


The official blog doesn't have much technical information. It's all about photos and fun. I'm beginning to suspect that the entire mission was fake-- like the Apollo moon landings and 9/11-- The entire mission could be done in a green screen room-- which is what I suspect is ALSO going on with the Vendee Globe yacht race. 

Here is a suspicious photo of a sun on the horizon that seems much too large. 
Here we see that the entire trip was sponsored. I wonder if the entire thing was a money making scam. Since they failed to complete the mission, did they return the money? Wouldn't it cost more than a "mere million" to do a mission like this with Caterpillar tractors, several men, fuel supplies etc? It seems to me that it's not possible to do a private sponsorship of a mission like this. There is no mention of approval by the Antarctic Treaty Authority either-- which would be the case if the entire mission was done in a green screen room. 




Rick says... Take a look at this guy, Spencer Smirl.

Rick says... I'm not sure what irks me about this photo. He was the chief mechanic hired to maintain the Caterpillar tractors. He's posing AS IF he accomplished a mission but he completely failed at it. If he was actually in the Antarctic at all, he endangered himself and his crew by agreeing to go to the South Pole from an UNTENABLE position-- the OPPOSITE side of Antarctica to McMurdo-- which is the GATEWAY to the South Pole-- during the WINTER. Who would agree to such a suicidal mission. The entire crew are lucky they didn't all die out there, if they went. How did the Antarctic Treaty Board approve this? Why would they? Why attempt this trip AND use it to raise money for BLIND PEOPLE? What the hell is the connection there? There IS NONE. They're making a fund-raising JOKE out of dangerous exploration of the 7th Continent, in my highly opinionated opinion.
Out of Antarctica: Spencer Smirl's role in the Coldest Journey - The Antarctica Issue v8.1 | techlife magazine
http://www.techlifemag.ca/spencer-smirl-coldest-journey.htm



Here's a cute video Dave Holden complete with a theme song "Colder than Ice". This entire mission needs to be "fact checked for fakery" in my opinion. One thing that struck me right away about this particular "Cat" tractor modified for the Antarctic was that the tractor-treads themselves looked to me, on this video, to be sheer painted metal-- which would slip on snow. All other Antarctica machinery I've seen use a black rubber /metal combination of some sort. I'm not expert and I could be wrong but take a look for yourself-- at the treads of this tractor and see if they make sense to you for crossing ice and snow.  Just so the reader knows, I'm proposing that we fact-check the hell out of all of these apparent missions since so much is being faked in the media today that it is definitely possible to fake an Antarctic mission.




I'd like the reader to compare the video above-- promoting the Cat machine-- to the LEM lander critique by Jungle Surfer. The entire Apollo moon missions were faked. If they can fake that, they can fake anything. Jungle Surfer looks at this LEM in the following piece, with a critical eye of a fakeologist.





NASA' S DIRTY PAWS ALL OVER ANTARCTICA-- is an ongoing surprise to me.

Rick says... I guess "space" isn't working out for NASA. Now that their space hoax has been uncovered, they're into Antarctica WAY more than I had at first imagined. This means that we've got a whole new level of problem on our hands. NASA is completely totally 100% discredited-- so therefore ANY involvement in Antarctica MUST be looked at with a super critical and contemptuous eye.  There are almost 2 million hits on Google for nasa and antarctica.
nasa antarctica - Google Search
https://www.google.com/search?q=nasa+antarctica&btnG=Search&num=100&newwindow=1&safe=off&hl=en&gl=us&authuser=0&tbas=0

NASA was, in some circles of conspiracy thinkers, created to DISTRACT us, in the 1950's, from an infinite Antarctic plain by CREATING the "myth" of "space" as a "final frontier". The true final frontier has been ice rim Antarctica all along. So now NASA is being used to further the goal of brainwashing us into thinking Antarctica is an island of ice and snow when, in fact, it may very well be the NEW frontier across which we have NO IDEA what lies.



SEEING IS BELIEVING as the motto of "The Coldest Journey" is HIGHLY SUSPICOUS

Rick say's ... Even Wikipedia-- the CIA controlled "encyclopedia" has it's own "seeing is believing" page! What? A page for a "phrase"? Yup. It's that important to "them", the "controllers".

quote

Seeing Is Believing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Seeing is believing is an idiom first recorded in this form in 1639[citation needed] that means "only physical or concrete evidence is convincing". It is the essence of St. Thomas's claim to Jesus Christ, to which the latter responded that there were those who had not seen but believed. It leads to a sophistry that "seen evidence" can be easily and correctly interpreted, when in fact, interpretation may be difficult.

Complete Idiots or Complete Hoaxsters?-- it's still undecided.

The Coldest Journey officially begins | Seeing is Believing


‘The Coldest Journey’ winter traverse of Antarctica begins today, at the March equinox. A team of five men aim to complete the first ever trans-Antarctic crossing during the polar winter.

The expedition will take place between the two seasonal equinoxes, 20 March – 20 September, with Ice Team members Brian Newham, Ian Prickett, Spencer Smirl, Richmond Dykes and Dr Robert Lambert travelling from Crown Bay to Captain Scott’s base at McMurdo Sound – via the South Pole. During this six-month period the expedition team will travel 2,400 miles in temperatures approaching -90°C and in near permanent darkness. The expedition team will be entirely self-sufficient, with search and rescue capabilities severely constrained due to the hostile winter conditions.


Raising funds to tackle avoidable blindness

As well as aiming to complete the first ever trans-Antarctic crossing during the polar winter, the expedition is attempting to raise US$5 million for Seeing is Believing. All donations will be matched by expedition sponsor, Standard Chartered, to take the fundraising target of the expedition to US$10 million.

Rick's comment-- Aha. "Standard Chartered" is a sponsor. What the hell is that? 


Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Expedition Co-Leader, was forced to pull out of the traverse at the end of February due to frostbite. Sir Ranulph continues to support The Coldest Journey by fundraising for Seeing is Believing and promoting awareness of the expedition.

He said: “Today my colleagues begin what will be a significant and life-changing challenge. They are the first people ever to try to cross the Antarctic continent during the polar winter – it is a huge feat of exploration and daring.

“It is a fantastic adventure and I am sure that it will succeed. Whilst the team are out there on the ice making history, I am proud to be here doing all that I can for the expedition and for Seeing is Believing, which is an incredibly worthy charity.

Rick's comment-- If they actually tried this, it's a STUNT, like Evil Knieval's jumps across a group of parked busses. on a motorcycle.  And it's stupid, not daring. And they didn't even make it-- so I'm right. 


Fifty-four year old Brian Newham takes over as Expedition Leader on the ice; Brian has considerable polar experience having spent more than 20 seasons in Antarctica, and having made nine visits to the Arctic.

Brian said: “Having worked for the British Antarctic Survey as a Field Assistant and as a Base Commander, I feel very at home in Antarctica. Granted, I haven’t attempted to cross the continent during winter before – no-one has!

Rick's comment- Yeah sure. Nobody has crossed the continent during summer either-- according to Math Boylan-- because it's not a continent and it can't be "crossed". It's an infinite ice rim around an Earth pond.


Raising funds to tackle avoidable blindness

As well as aiming to complete the first ever trans-Antarctic crossing during the polar winter, the expedition is attempting to raise US$5 million for Seeing is Believing. All donations will be matched by expedition sponsor, Standard Chartered, to take the fundraising target of the expedition to US$10 million.

Rick's comment: Why? I mean--- WTF?  What's the connection? I don't get it.







12 comments:

  1. To be fair, Rick, Prickett does add some very low sun photos on July 29 2013, saying he hasn't seen the sun since May 9 [I know it's not watertight...]
    https://www.facebook.com/TheColdestJourney/timeline/story?ut=43&wstart=1357027200&wend=1388563199&hash=5348888082467511617&pagefilter=3

    Some more were posted on May 29 2013

    I didn't mention the departure from the exhibition of the most experience explorer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes.....through frostbite... before it even started.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21844634

    http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/304/media/images/66476000/jpg/_66476770_66476769.jpg

    http://i2.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article1742572.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Sir%20Ranulph%20Fiennes%20frostbite.jpg
    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sir-ranulph-fiennes-pictures-show-1742711
    The frostbitten hand of Sir Ranulph
    The 68-year-old lost the fingertips and tip of his thumb on his left hand in an expedition 13 years ago - and is now facing even more surgery.
    Doctors have told him they may have to operate on two of the damaged fingers.
    Sir Ranulph arrived back in Britain today after pulling out of his Coldest Journey trip across Antarctica, which was five years in the planning.
    He was injured in a fall while skiing during training at a base camp and developed frostbite after taking off his outer gloves to fix a ski binding in temperatures of around minus 33C (minus 27.4F).



    A strange old expedition altogether...
    his expedition will include two modified Caterpillar D6N bulldozers, two cabooses on skis, and some 112,600 litres of fuel towed in huge bowsers. Two skiers - Fiennes and Prickett - will lead this procession across the ice, pulling a ground-penetrating radar system that can detect crevices to help keep the machines rolling.
    Lots more images of CAT dozers...
    http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/ranulph-fiennes-antarctica-expedition-2012-12-06

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  2. A further fuel depot may be laid further south at around 75S.
    It's a bit casual, isn't it?

    Hard to say where the alleged turnaround point was on the map - over 300km covered out of 2223km to the pole

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kfIP0rq9lc
    Engineers Spencer Smirl from Alberta, Canada, and Richmond Dykes from Portadown, Northern Ireland - Dykes' story says they only covered 160 miles inland,not 190 - less than 260 km.
    http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/features/how-camaraderie-and-lots-of-tea-helped-richmond-dykes-survive-126-days-in-a-steel-hut-in-the-antarctic-29827908.html

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  3. quote
    Despite spending 307 days on the ice, the Coldest Journey team only travelled roughly 160 miles inland. However, each of the tractors clocked up 1,250 miles as they transported loads backwards and forwards around the crevasses.
    unquote

    That tiny distance makes this mission a total utter failure... and yet they say the raised 2 million for blind people in Bangledesh or something? What the hell? This smacks of a hoax to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Spencer Smirl, chief mechanic, claims they travelled 400 km.

      quote
      In the end, navigating across difficult terrain took its toll. On April 17, four months after our arrival, we called a halt to the expedition. We'd travelled less than 400 kilometres, not even a tenth of our goal (though we'd achieved 95 per cent of our expected altitude).
      unquote
      source http://www.techlifemag.ca/spencer-smirl-coldest-journey.htm

      BAD ATTITUDE
      quote
      For weeks we battled our way across blue ice lakes and crevasse fields. As you travel through Antarctica, the landscape surrounds and consumes you - and resists you, too. You are the sole source of human disturbance in an untouched part of the world but Mother Earth soon completely erases any trace of your existence. It's a powerful kind of beauty.
      unquote

      Rick says... So... "Mother Nature erases any trace of your existence... that's a kind of beauty". Really? That's just great.

      CONFLICTING FUND RAISING AMOUNTS
      quote
      Some would say the Coldest Journey failed. In its pursuit of a first-ever winter crossing and world record, I see their point. But when I look at the scientific data we collected and the nearly US$3 million we raised for Seeing is Believing, I view it as a huge success.
      unquote

      Rick says... so now it's 3 milllion. First it was a million, then 2 now 3. Note how they measure success and failure. They didn't "fail" exactly, they say. Not meeting your mission seems like "failure" to me. It's pretty clear to me they "fai... fa... fai...."--- the didn't succeed. .



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  4. It's certainly a strange and unlikely career path for Richmond Dykes to be plucked from Northern Ireland to work with the US Army at 21...the US army recruiting by placing adverts in local UK newspapers???

    http://www.ourcoldestjourney.com/index.php/finning-engineers/richmond-dykes/112-getting-into-heavy-plant
    Richmond came across an advert in the local paper looking for heavy track machine mechanics in America.

    "After I applied for the job, I received a call the following day and I was informed that I had been selected for the position with a number of other applicants. I was then surprised to hear that the position would be within the US Army. Due to this, all applicants had to be thoroughly checked and visas had to be organised."
    "I didn't hear about the job for about five months and then I received a call informing me that my visa was ready to be collected from Frankfurt, Germany. I was flown out to Germany and returned with my America visa and was at Birmingham Airport the next month ready to fly out to America."
    Richmond was joined by his friend Peter and eighteen other engineers for the flight to America. During the trip, five of the engineers decided that the position was not for them and after a stop off in New York; they decided to board the next plane back to the UK.
    Richmond proceeded to work for the US Army in Fort Stewart in Georgia for almost 3 years. During his time at the base, Richmond built up experience working on a full range of equipment.
    The rapport he built up with everyone on the base allowed him to move up through the engineering ranks to become a highly respected member of the engineering team.
    After about three years, Richmond was transferred to Ft Carson in Colorado where he undertook a communications upgrade engineering post, which dealt with the maintenance and upgrades of essential communication equipment from tank navigations systems to radios.


    There are a few - about 2 in reality - "scary" incidents here involving the CATs which Richmond would no doubt have sorted out...
    http://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/the-digger-blog/view/scary-photos-from-the-coldest-journey
    Only now that they are all safely out of there can these hairy photos be shown. The fear was that the families of the crew would not be able to sleep for worry if they saw the hazards being faced down there.
    November 25 2013
    http://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/the-digger-blog/view/scary-photos-from-the-coldest-journey

    The whole thing does seem a psy-op. Perhaps because it is impossible.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The photos look possibly faked-- I'll do an analysis with fotoforensics.com later.

      Delete
  5. Shortly after the aborted journey, our friends at NASA discovered - with a "satellite" the coldest place on earth in Eastern Antarctica
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp6wMUVb23c

    image: http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2013/12/10/coldestplacerecords_strip.jpg
    source: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/09dec_coldspot/

    Although they announced the new record this week, the temperature record was set on August 10, 2010.
    yer what???
    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131210-coldest-place-on-earth-antarctica-science/
    December 11 2013
    No rush, then, to put out the good news...saved 3 years for the AGU in SF.
    The study is an example of some of the intriguing science possible with Landsat 8 and the TIRS instrument, which was built at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,

    Once again Ted Scambos from the NSI in Boulder is in the thick of the action.
    But the lowest low was only half a degree lower apparently than that which occurred during the Coldest Journey although much closer to Dome A / Argus.

    Allegedly, a Chinese team reached Dome A after 21 days in January 2008,1200 km inland
    http://www.explorersweb.com/polar/news.php?id=16912
    The first attempt to reach the spot was in 1997; it failed after 300 kms and 13-days, however marking China's first Antarctic icecap expedition. Several more attempts followed, until on Jan. 18, 2005, 13 expedition members made the first ascent of Dome A.
    Where did the Chinese set off from? I skimmed a published Chinese paper on Dome A [ 80.22'S
    77.22'E] and I discovered nothing about how they arrived there.
    http://www.ccaa.pmo.cas.cn/kycg/cstarcg/201503/W020150312364375505567.pdf
    In this later 2010 paper, it appears the traverse is from Zhongshan 69.22'S 76.22'E [see p.444 in the link below]
    http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=7843113&jid=ANS&volumeId=22&issueId=04&aid=7843111
    1228 km, 4078m of climbing, with two other automatic weather stations en route.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. The Chinese have no ethics either because they obviously fake their moon and space missions-- rather badly by the way. They're likely faking Antarctica missions as well, in my opinion. EVERYTHING claimed by official sources is going to have to be double checked just as normal science is done with double blind studies. Nothing that is "mediated" can be taken at "face value". I'm disappointed in the Chinese on this matter because I thought they could be a "new culture" to the human community scene in some sense that would offer a new perspective. It turns out they're as prone to doing media fakery as the rest of the world's powers.

      Delete
    2. That study you pointed to has excruciating detail that seems pointless...

      quote
      The measured in situ surface snow density at LGB69,
      Eagle and Dome A is 406.67, 336.67, and 265.56 kgm-3,
      respectively. The water equivalent accumulation record at
      the three sites calculated from these average densities is
      shown in Fig. 15b. The overall accumulation was 525mm
      w.e. over two and a half years at LGB69, and 306 and
      93mm w.e. over the three years at Eagle and Dome A,
      respectively.
      unquote

      My comment-- Ok that's "fine and dandy" but so what? Are we considering a fresh water flexible pipeline from there to California which is parched right now? If not-- then what the hell is the point? Is anyone building a saloon and a brothel with a Penguin Meat Restaurant-- again... why not? If there is that much fresh water accumulation, it seems to me to be a perfect place to settle.

      NOTE that the CHINESE diagram shows a CONVERGING set of LONGITUDE lines which means-- if the earth is flat-- they too are doing the math transformation to make us think we're on a little ball of mud and that we're meat-monkeys with no soul. THEY TOO are "in on the action" of killing off most of humanity by getting us depressed about being meat-monkeys on a tiny ball of mud in a giant universe.

      Delete
  6. The Chinese seem to have got into bed with the Australians over at Dome A and will do so again at their next planned station...
    http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/08/china-antarctica-trip-icebreaker-snow-dragon
    November 8 2013
    ...the country's fourth Antarctic research station Taishan, which is to be located in Australian-claimed territory

    [Taishan] has been built [in 45 days] has been built between Chinese research stations Zhongshan and Kunlun, at an altitude of 2,600 Chinese research stations Zhongshan and Kunlun, at an altitude of 2,600 metres
    http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/china-opens-ufo-shaped-taishan-space-research-station-antarctica-1435800
    Feb 10 2014

    522 km and 600 km to Zhongshan and Kunlun stations respectively 76 degrees 58 minutes east longitude, 73 degrees 51 minutes south
    http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/ziliao/2014-02/08/c_126102061.htm

    What's in it for Australia? If the Chinese had landed at Halley, for instance, would they be allowed to set up a research station in the UK claimed sector? Why not go to the unclaimed sector and start building? Who says you need to claim it first?

    Small question - why did Norway not claim all their sector right to the pole?
    http://wordpress.mrreid.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/antarctica-norway-france.png
    source: http://wordpress.mrreid.org/2012/02/27/unclaimed-antarctica/

    I can't find a map showing the exact location of the inner Norwegian boundary.
    By chance I found this account of a Norwegian who first attempted then apparently succeeded in crossing Antarctica,
    Børge Ousland
    On 15 November, I stood on the north-eastern corner of Berkner Island......The route I had chosen, based on aerial photos, took me up through the Dufek Massif, part of the Pensacola mountains in eastern Antarctic.....I knew the South Pole base would be a potential trap and decided not to stop there. If I let myself go inside and feel cosy it could be difficult to get going again. The base doctor wanted to check me out, but I declined and kept going.To go down between the mountain ranges, I opted for the Axel Heiberg glacier, a route about 124 miles longer, than the heavily crevassed Baerdmore glacier, but safer. This was also the route Amundsen took in 1911 I reached Scott Base on 17 January, after travelling 1,864 miles.[=3000 km exactly....] By chance, I arrived in time for the celebration of the base's 40th anniversary. Sir Edmund Hillary was there for the event, and I flew back to the South Pole with him. It took just two-and-a-half hours to fly the distance it had taken me more than a month to walk. Once there, amazingly, I met Marek Kaminsky, who had given up after reaching the Pole. Ranulph Fiennes had abandoned his expedition a few weeks in on medical grounds. [kidney stones, apparently]
    http://www.mapsofworld.com/on-this-day/january-18-1997-norwegian-adventurer-brge-ousland-completes-the-first-solo-crossing-of-antarctica

    This is crackers - he reaches the Pole, with all its permanent residents and doesn't want to stay? Then he adds on another 124 miles due to crevasses which Amundsen had overcome. [This relates to 1996-7, reprinted from a book]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Berkner Island is the large red island in the UK claim in this map in the middle of the Ronne Ice Shelf
      http://wordpress.mrreid.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/antarctica-united-kingdom.png

      So his alleged journey is unrelated to the aborted 2013 trip by CATs.in the Coldest Journey.
      I'd still like to find a route map of Ousland though.

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    2. Well, here's what I found [LOL!]
      http://www.polartrec.com/files/members/355/33392/images/ousland_map.jpg
      source: http://www.polartrec.com/expeditions/weddell-seals-in-the-ross-sea/journals/2012-01-19
      "approximate route"

      Strange thing is, nobody wants to repeat it. [unlike climbing Everest, for example]

      Delete

Hi, I'm Captain Rick of the Virtual Circumference Voyage of Antarctica. I intend to prove definitively if Earth is flat or a sphere by paying careful attention to how many miles we cover as we travel "around" Antarctica. Flat earth theory says it's 50-60,000 miles. Spherical Earth theory says it 14,000 miles. Join me and ask any questions that you think would help our mission.