Ski-Buggy (photo courtesy of Kieron Bradley)

On 24 December 2002 Brian Cunningham and Jamie Young will attempt to travel across Antarctica from the South Pole in approximately ten days using the power of the wind alone.
The journey normally takes about two months by traditional methods.

For this endeavour the pair plan to use specially designed kite buggys made by Kieron Bradley of Parastorm Ltd. The buggys will also carry all the equipment and food (enough for 30 days - just in case). The buggys will be able to support about 70 pounds in weight each.

Advance kites are supplying the five kites that each person will take, and range in size from 1.9m² to 10m².

For the expedition the team have secured their main sponsorship from Kit Kat.

Brian is no stranger to adventures and has completed polar expeditions before. The width of the buggy was set at 10 foot as determined by Brian's height requirement for the seat in order to avoid spikes of ice.

At the end of the summer specially adapted skis were fitted to the buggy to allow it to run on sand. It was then taken down to Pendine sands for trials. The buggy was towed behind a car and the buggy performed well giving a remarkably smooth ride, even when travelling at high speed across the beach. The Kite Buggy is expected to reach speeds of 40 miles per hour in good winds when travelling across Antarctica.

The distance they will cover will be 650 Miles downhill! The South Pole is 9000 Feet higher than their finishing point.

During the third week in November snow trials took place in Les Diablerets in Switzerland.

The buggys are being shipped out at the end of November and Brian and Jamie will fly out on December 21st.

If the expedition is a success then it could pave the way for such travel in the future and replace what can sometimes be a slow, labour intensive process that involves manually hauling a sledge loaded with equipment over snow and ice.

No matter what the outcome Brian admits that at the end of the day he is just "out to have fun".

Update: The official Ice Kites Expedition website has reported that "On 1 January 2003, Jamie Young and Brian Cunningham had to abort their ice kiting expedition across Antarctica. Since arriving at the South Pole the team have been frustrated by almost windless conditions which consequently made travelling by kite an impossibility."

12/01/2003. The BBC report that Jamie and Brian are considering trying again and making a second attempt.