Table of Contents

This little table of content is arranged by subject rather than just by order of posts. I hope this helps to navigate the blog. I am now posting to my blog.dan.burton.name blog and keeping this blog just for the South Pole expedition. Need bike parts? go to www.epicbiking.com

YouTube playlist of the expedition.

Hire Dan to speak to your group, click here.

Book now available. Click here. Daniel is now selling his own brand  of fat bike the South Pole Adventurer

The Early Planning The Plan Why The Expedition Leaving Utah In Chile Arrive in Antarctica First Day of Expedition Finished First 30 Miles 1/4 of the Way 1/2 of the Way 3/4 of the Way Final Degree At the South Pole! Legacy Daniel Boone Alaska More Alaska Sir Earnest H. Shackleton Antarctica Information Katabatic Winds Crevasses Polar Icecap Sunrise Sunset Desert Wildlife  Top of the World? Yukimarimo Training Bonneville Shoreline  Mental Training Jacob's Ladder White Rim in a Night On the News Good Morning Utah  KSL

Adventure Gear Expo

I have been invited to speak at the Adventure Gear Expo tomorrow at 7pm. Fox ran a little story about me and the expo.

http://fox13now.com/2014/05/08/utah-man-bikes-to-south-pole-2/

My Relationship to Sir Ernest H. Shackleton

Assuming I did this right:
Ernest Henry Shackleton Sir (1874 - 1922)
  is my 8th cousin 5x removed

Henry Shackleton (1847 - 1921)
  father of Ernest Henry Shackleton Sir
Ebenezer Shackleton (1784 - 1856)
  father of Henry Shackleton
Abraham Shackleton (1752 - 1818)
   father of Ebenezer Shackleton
Richard Shackleton (1726 - 1792)
   father of Abraham Shackleton
Abraham Shackleton (1696 - 1771)
   father of Richard Shackleton
Richard Shackleton (1643 - 1705)
   father of Abraham Shackleton
Roger Shackleton (1616 - 1677)
   father of Richard Shackleton
John Shackleton (1584 - 1634)
   father of Roger Shackleton
Rodger Shackleton (1555 - 1597)
   father of John Shackleton
William Shackleton (1586 - 1629)
   son of Rodger Shackleton
Roger Shackleton (1609 - 1636)
   son of William Shacleden Shackleton
John Shackleton (1635 - )
   son of Roger Shackleton
Roger Shackleton (1663 - 1732)
   son of John Shackleton
John SHACKLETON (1687 - 1733)
   son of Roger Shackleton
Christopher SHACKLETON (1723 - 1746)
   son of John SHACKLETON
Agnes (Nancy) SHACKLETON (1760 - 1836)
   daughter of Christopher SHACKLETON
Stephen Longstroth (1788 - 1861)
   son of Agnes (Nancy) SHACKLETON
Nanny Longstroth (1828 - 1911)
   daughter of Stephen Longstroth
Alice Ann Richards (1849 - 1940)
   daughter of Nanny Longstroth
Willard Richards Smith (1872 - 1951)
   son of Alice Ann Richards
Maud Smith (1898 - 1990)
   daughter of Willard Richards Smith
Sheril Dale Burton (1935 - )
   son of Maud Smith
Daniel Paul Burton
   son of Sheril Dale Burton

National Geographic Inteview

I'm often asked if it was worth it to bike to the South Pole. I half jokingly say getting interviewed by National Geographic made it all worthwhile.

Here is the interview: National Geographic Weekend

KSL News

Jed Boal of KSL always does a good job with his news stories. He is also great to talk to when he interviews me. Anyway here is the latest news story. http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=210&sid=28803794

Not Puffy Clouds

This may not be as interesting to you as it was to me. This short video shows the "landscape" of the Antarctic ice cap. I didn't realize how much I would be going up and down over and over. It was frustrating to climb a couple hundred feet only to drop back down. Especially since the downhill seldom felt like I was going down. When I was flying back I took this video out of the airplane window thinking I was filming clouds. After a while I realized that this was the ice I had been biking over. Even though I had been biking in this for nearly two months I didn't really understand it until I saw it from the air.

Crevasse!

This may be hard to see and understand, but the hole just left of the sled is the crevasse I fell into. The scary thing about this picture is that without the hole you would never know that this is a snow bridge across a crevasse. 

How big and deep is this crevasse? I don't know. I wanted to go back and get a better picture, but I was too scared to get any closer to it. Also interesting in this picture is the number of ski tracks going over the crevasse. All the other expeditions skied over this. In fact Richard Park skied over this just about 30 minutes before I fell into it.

Three Great Explorers

There are a lot of amazing explorers in this world. I met a bunch of them in Antarctica. I felt like a midget amongst giants when I would sit down with seven submitters and amazing mountaineer and polar adventurers.

However there are three great adventurers that were the inspiration for my expedition. 

Eric Larsen
In December 2012, just as I was getting into snow biking Eric started his expedition to bike to the South Pole. I followed his expedition. In 8 days he traveled 1/4 of the way to the South Pole.  It took me 16 days to cover the same distance. 

I would never have even thought about biking to the South Pole if I hadn't heard of Eric's expedition. I studied his blog to learn as much as I could about biking to the South Pole. While I was on my expedition I would often remember things I had read in his blog, and think that now I understood what he was talking about. Eric is a true inspiration and his expedition convinced me that biking to the South Pole was possible. 

Hannah McKeand 

Hannah use to hold the record for the fastest solo expedition to the South Pole. I read her blog and learned a lot about polar expeditions from it. I was very honored to have her bring me food when I ran out one day before I reached the pole. 

Aaron Linsdau

Aaron set the record for the most days to get to the South Pole. He took 81 days to get to the pole. When most people would have given up he continued on. I felt I needed to train myself mentally to be prepared to continue on no matter what. This was as important, or maybe more important than any physical training I could do. I wanted to have the perseverance of Aaron. I had to draw on that mental preparation in order to finish

There are many great explorers but those three are the ones that inspired me the most as I biked to the South Pole. Thanks Eric, Hannah, and Aaron!

I Miss My Bike

My bike is still in Punta Arenas. In order to get it shipped home I have to provide a list of everything in the box it is being shipped in. I sent the packing list to Mark at ALE twice but somehow he never got it. I'm betting it is a spam filter issue. 

Borealis was very generous and sent me a demo bike to use while I wait for my bike to get back from Chile. I still had my  old Moonlander at home so I rode it to the store this morning, and rode the Borealis home tonight. The Borealis is so much nicer in every way. However, the handling/steering of the Borealis vs the Moonlander is probably the biggest thing I notice. The Borealis just feels like it should and the Moonlander just has a funky feeling to the way it steers. 

Anyway the demo Borealis is great, but I miss my bike. I spent a lot of time with that bike and I like my custom build. I will be so glad to get my bike back. 

Welcome Home Party

On Saturday, February 8, 2104 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm we will be having a Welcome Home reception with light refreshments. At 7 pm we will have a video presentation after which Daniel will answer some questions about the expedition. All are invited to come and welcome Daniel back.


Schedule:
Reception and visiting 6 - 7 pm
Presentation and Q&A 7 - 8 pm

Location:
LDS meeting house located at
9475 Mustang Way, Eagle Mountain, UT 84005
http://binged.it/1cLkNiy
(note Google maps does not map this address correctly)

Cold tiles

Cold floor tiles in the morning are no problem when your feet are mostly numb.

I stayed up all night talking to my daughter's boyfriend. I really should get more rest. Today I need to get all my stuff into a box a shipped back home, and then catch a flight home myself. Oh yeah, and see if I can get someone to ask the firgadorific company, in Spanish, if they can help me find my gps. I'm pretty sure the security guards picked it up but don't know enough Spanish to ask if they found it and to offer them a reward for its return. 

The Body Strikes Back

I think my body is still in rebellion. My pants fit like I'm Harry Potter and my pants are Dudley hand-me-downs. My few hour bike ride today has made my legs very weak and tired, and this morning I about passed out on the way to breakfast. A little orange juice fixed this morning's problem.

Before I left Chile for Antarctica one day I had ice cream for lunch and ice cream soup for dinner. I went and had pizza with Vesa just a little bit ago, and was very full. But now I am already hungry again, so I am doing the ice cream/ice cream soup thing again tonight. I also got a few other high sugar items to keep me going until morning. It is just too long between meals right now to go all night without eating. 

Penguin hunting

My penguin hunt turned out to be a disaster. 

I got some food and supplies, loaded up my panniers and headed out to see if I could find Seno Otway where there is a penguin colony. I rode down to the Strait of Magellan and then headed north. The wind was at my back and I was cursing along knowing that eventually I would have to bike back into the wind, but hey I had biked to the pole and I was on a penguin hunt. 

The instructions I had found were that you turn left on a dirt rode after the police police check point. So I'm not sure how far this is and I stop at the security booth for Frigorifico Simunovic S.A.

I talk to a couple of young men and figure out I am still heard the right direction. A little after I leave them I look down and my gps is gone. It must have fallen out when I was layer the bike down to talk to them. So I go back, they are gone and some older gentleman is there. I can't figure out how to get him to realize that I had dropped the gps and the other two must have picked it up. So I lost the gps with all my South Pole trip data on it! I want that back so much! If I could figure out how to offer the security guards a reward for the return of the gps I would. 

I eventually give up and in a bit of a sad mood continue on. It is windy. It is always windy here. The tailwind turns into a crosswind with a bit of headwind. I remember why I got rid of the panniers at Thiels. They are so hard to move into a headwind. I am biking with a 30° lean to the left and keep,getting bown off the street. I realize I am not enjoying this. I biked for two months with bad winds and no penguin is going to be cute enough to make this worthwhile. So, at about half way to the penguin colony I turn back, lean 30° to the right and pedal along. When I get to the airport I grab a taxi and go back to the hotel. 

No penguin pictures, no fun, and now no gps data. :-(

In Chile for Another Day

Looks like I have to book a new flight. Orbitz quoted us a price then when we tried to book it the price they charged was higher than what was quoted. Then we got an email saying that the booking failed and now the price has gone up again. Not too happy with orbitz right now.

My Spanish Sucks

What I thought was shampoo turned out to be hair conditioner. So now what is suppose to be my long scraggly expedition beard is not only short and pathetic, but is also nice and soft. 

What is the deal with people always posting pictures of themselves in front of the bathroom mirror anyway? Oh well, I finally broke down and did it. 

Tent Drying

The tent I have have been using is awesome. Even when it was so cold it would freeze a coke so fast it was like one of those science demonstrations where they show how fast liquid nitrogen freezes stuff,  my tent was usually nice and warm inside. So to make sure it is dry before sending home and stays free of mild I had to set the tent up one last time... in my hotel room. Here it is drying out. 

Too much time bogging and sending pictures. I need to go find a charger for my iPad. It is too cloudy here to get a charge from the solar panels. 

Pictures

All these are from my wifi enabled camera. Photos from other cameras will have to come later. 

Picts from the first and so far only real bike expedition to the South Pole:

At the pole calling home. Thanks SatPhoneStore!

The End of a Very Long Day

I feel like Phil in the movie Goundhog Day. This is the end of a very long day it started almost two months ago and finally it is dark. The first night I have had since last November. Yet I have been spending so much time posting replies to comments and posting pictures to Facebook and stuff like that that I am still awake 3:34 am. I need to get to bed. Soon. Mike says I look like a homeless dude and he wants to give me $5. I'll take it.

But whether my wife likes it or not the beard stays until I got to church at least once. It is a bit of an expedition trophy. I have my tent and everything spread all over my room here in Punta Arenas to dry out. When they brought my bike to my room I went down to the bike shop where a cassette and cassette lock ring took were purchased to thank them and to get a bolt I,lost on the trip. I tried to tell them thanks and let them know they are part of history by making the first bike expedition to the South Pole a success but I don't think they understood what I was saying. I love Punta Arenas, but it is sometimes hard when my Spanish is near zero and people don't speak English here. 

I'm tired and going to get some sleep, I'll start adding pictures into the blog posts tomorrow. In the mean time I posted some higher res pictures on Facebook. 

Crevasses

I fell into one crevasse. Only one leg fell in and I used my bike to pull myself back out. I got away from it as quickly as I could and then wanted to get a picture of it, but I didn't dare get close enough to it to be able to see how big or deep it was or to get the picture. This is a picture of a small crevasse with my glove to show the size. I biked over hundreds of these. One day I ended up setting my tent up with the tent on one side, and the rope holding the tent down staked to the other side of a small crevasse like this one.

Sastrugi

It was hard for me to get a picture that truly showed the size of the sastrugi that I was biking in. Here the sled has turned over as I went through a sastrugi that was about 6 feet high.