South Pole Last Degree - Expedition News - 4th January 2026

Shaun Weston: - Shaun will be raising money for St Clare's Hospice : https://swadventures.co.uk/

17th January 2026 - He made it!

It's the culmination of nearly 2 years of planning and prep work

15th January 2026 - Feeling Good!

We did another 17.5km yesterday. Same again today and we’ll be on the home stretch. 18km then another 10km on the last day!

Slept really well, it’s a beautiful day, ready to bang out some miles and bring it home. Natalia’s feeling much better. Ron’s back is hanging in there. My feet are hanging in there. It’s all good!

14th January 2026 - Focusing on the Charity

The challenges of eating freeze dried food can be testing at the best of times, as Shaun is finding out:

Woke up to a bowl of gross scrambled‑egg breakfast. Proper having to shovel it in 🤣 Motivation has fully evaporated at this point, so I’m very glad I’m here for the hospice because that’s what’s keeping me moving 🙃

We’ve just got into camp. Ended up doing 18.5km today, which is really good going. We’re 50km away now, so about 2.5 days if the weather stays with us 🤞🏻

I’m sharing with Ron now — two per tent. Definitely more space than three people, but also definitely colder 🥶

12th January 2026 - Difficult Times Require You to Dig Deep.

Shaun's personal tracker has stopped working, but he is still able to send messages and photos by using another team members tracker.

The following is from Shaun's update:

Three of the team had to be picked up, so now the team is down to four. We’ve got four more days if we stay on schedule. I was hoping we might be able to push for three, but today made it clear that’s not realistic and that’s okay. We’ve got fuel for ten days, so as long as we stay focused and steady, we should be able to make it without needing to turn back. It’s definitely stressful at times, but I’m trying to keep perspective. I expected this to be a purely physical challenge, but it’s turned out to be much more about coordination, patience, and keeping the whole train moving in the same direction.

I know I could cover nearly double the distance on my own, which is why I’d honestly rather haul Natalia’s kit and help keep us on pace. I didn’t come all this way to fall short and I’m determined that we won’t. We just need to keep working together and take it one solid day at a time.

8th January 2026 - First Day Hauling

We travelled 14km today and the weather was great. The guides have told us off for not drinking and eating enough. Tomorrow we’ll do 17km, so we’re starting to build the distance up now. I’m going to add some extra tape and blister plasters to my feet to keep them in good shape. One of our group seemed very worn out from today’s travel so I’m a bit worried about their ability to finish, but we’ll look after each other!

7th January 2026 - And Now The Work Starts!

Shaun flew to the last degree start point on the 7th Jan and the team began their first day of the journey to the South Pole yesterday. Unfortunately, the map above can't really show the line they are taking towards the pole, so we have transposed the track points onto Google Earth.

Below are Shaun's words on the journey to the last degree:

Landing at 89°S So what a day! The plane we took up to the plateau was a 1942 DC30. This is the plane the US airborne forces used during D-day. Very cool! Landing was something else as well. I’ve never flown so low in a plane before. We came in and reccy’d the landing zone a low level first, then went around a second time before touching down. Best bit of the day. It’s -25 but feels like -40 with the wind. We’ve made camp after an easy first few miles. The distance will get longer from here on out. Time to get a hot brew and a good nights sleep.

6th January 2026 - Expedition Preparations

4th January 2026 - Flying to Union Glacier

After making final preparations and in Punta Arenas and meeting the rest of the team, weather permiting, Shaun will fly to Union Glacier, on Antarctica on 4th January.