Sebastian Copeland and Eric McNair-Landry made history with their 3rd consecutive polar first in as many months. The Antarctica Legacy Crossing, led by Copeland, successfully completed a three-month transcontinental crossing of Antarctica. The team started on November 5th, 2011, on the east coast of the continent and in total covered 3,854 km (approx. 4100 adjusted km or 2,600 miles) on skis and kites, in 81 days. A book and documentary will be forthcoming chronicling that mission completed on the centennial of the South Pole.

The 1st record of the expedition came on December 27^th, 2011 with the team’s reach of the Pole of Inaccessibility (POI) 57 days after leaving the coast from the Novolazarevskaya Russian base station, some 1,170 miles to the north.  The successful completion of that crossing made them the first team in history to reach the POI from the Eastern Coast of Antarctica, without outside support or motorized transportation. The POI is the farthest point from any coast in Antarctica and is arguably the most remote place on the planet. It is considered the hardest place to reach in Antarctica, A bust of Lenin, facing Moscow, is all that remains of the buried Russian station that was abandoned since the late 1950’s,

The 2^nd of Sebastian and Eric’s polar firsts was to link the POI to the geographic South Pole effectively opening that.880 km route for the first time without motorized transportation or outside assistance

100 years ago explorers Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott made history with their first reach of the South Pole. The Antarctica Legacy Crossing commemorates their extraordinary feat and courage, with a historical crossing opening a never-before traveled course linking the Antarctic coasts east to west via two of its poles. That challenge was met on January 23 2012.^. The trip began in Cape Town on November 4^th 2011; from there a Russian Ilyushin 76 transported Sebastian and Eric, and their 800 pounds of food and gear to the eastern coast of Antarctica at Novolazarevskaya Station where they set off on their three months journey, across the coldest continent on Earth. Among the many challenges they faced was the herculean effort of pulling 400 pounds each up the glacier from sea level to 9500 feet through treacherous hidden crevasse fields; -40C to -30C degree average temperatures outside of wind chill; frostbite; broken ribs; altitude sickness; changing weather patterns that left them virtually windless or pinned down by multi day storms; the bone rattling hard ice and the sastrugi they skied over at high speeds with their kites; and much more. How Sebastian and Eric overcame these challenges has been documented daily with photographs, on HD video, and the blog, and will now be assembled into a documentary.

“There are few places on Earth that instantly conjure awe and a quiet respect. In 1911-12, Scott and Amundsen etched their names in history by being the first to conquer the South Pole. This Legacy crossing aims to honor their memory by linking, in one continuous trip, an East/West traverse of the most inhospitable environment on Earth, setting tracks where no man has been before.”

Sebastian used iridium satellite technology to blog daily onto his website. Along with the daily entries, a GPS signal also tracked the expedition’s progress onto a dynamic map. The daily entries with photos, and the dynamic map are posted on his website at www.sebastiancopeland.com .

A tree will be planted for each kilometer traveled on this expedition, and the trip will be made Carbon Neutral thanks to Climate Partner.