From fire to ice, life is all a moment, and it is both abyss and redemption. Colin O’Brady, a contemporary explorer of souls, had burned and wounded legs at the age of 22. He was on the bed of a shabby first aid station overlooking the sea of Thailand and a life as a disabled person. At the age of 33, he reached – the first man to succeed – the Ross Ice Shelf, after having crossed the South Pole alone in 54 days, without supplies or the use of sails or sled dogs. Only Colin, his sled loaded with 170 kilos of food and material, a pair of skis and sticks and all the white in front. A void to be filled with reasons and reason, in order not to be devoured by obsessions and fears, and to reach the goal. Celebrated in the volume An impossible challenge. Solo Antarctica, which is a book of adventure, research and care of the soul. And it is for those who set out on a journey and for those who have fallen, even many times. Colin reaches out his hand and says to everyone: “You’re strong, believe in yourself, get up and push the limit further.” Even if it is only an inch, it will be your victory.
An impossible challenge
Colin O’Brady comes from a corner of the American Northwest counterculture, he was born in 1985 on the futon of a commune in the city of Olympia, while playing in the background Redemption Song by Bob Marley and clouds of marijuana drifted through the room. He loves sport, triathlon is a faith, life as an athlete more than an aspiration after seeing Pablo Morales’ gold in Barcelona 92. Then, that accident in Thailand but in 2016 he sets the Explorers Grand Slam record ( reach North Pole, South Pole and seven peaks from Everest to Elbrus) and Seven Summits. He wants more because “I hear the future calling me, full of unknowns. Winning or losing is the measure of the result, but between these two extremes there often seems to be a whole life, ready to unfold in the minutes to come. Everything is possible”. In 2018 he plans the solo crossing of Antarctica: he is 33 years old, he is strong and fit. He trains in Portland by pulling heavy loads along grassy slopes in parks or holding on for endless minutes with his fists in ice buckets.
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The challenge is for two opponents, Colin O’Brady and Louis Rudd: improvisation and ingenuity would have decided their fate and the result. The crossing takes place in the austral summer in order to complete the expedition before the arrival of the long austral darkness. On November 3, 2018, a plane leaves them at the Messner Start on the edge of the Ronne Ice Shelf: “Now I knew with certainty how infinitesimal and isolated I would be in that vast expanse of ice day and night: 24 hours of daylight under a sun that would not be never set and that would always stretch in front of me, on the horizon ».
A sled and the infinite horizon ahead
The intense cold, between 25 and 80 degrees below zero, stings the face, the incredible brightness leaves you stunned. In the sled is the shopping list: oatmeal and protein powders, dried ramen and freeze-dried meals, but most importantly, purse-sized protein bars stacked like a deck of cards. Under the skis a synthetic fur guarantees a grip that prevents sliding backwards, like the sealskins of the first explorers: “I was terribly alone, a sensation that hit me like a slap in the face as I saw the plane go away” . After a while, one of the four luggage buckles breaks and is the symbol of his new reality, in which he should have been self-sufficient, otherwise he would go bankrupt.
The routine: 12 hours of walking
The days are routine hard and pure: 12 hours of walking, water in the thermos to quench your thirst and bars to support yourself. Average consumption of 10 thousand calories and be careful not to sweat. If you sweat, you die of hypothermia. Then, stop, dig a pitch for the tent, set up the house to sleep, to do the physiological needs, to hang out clothes to dry, to eat. And then call home: the looks of his mother and Jenna await him, the wife he had fallen in love with in Fiji almost only for that thin dark brown line that crosses the iris of his left eye.