South Pole Trek...

[Whiskey 7]

The Team reached the South Pole

Prince Harry has reached the South Pole after a three-week charity trek with injured military veterans from Britain, the United States, Canada and Australia.

Forget the Prince Harry connection and wounded war veteran cause and consider the adventure.

Does it still rank as a great achievement these days? Discuss.

ABC
CNN

[Plan B]

Does it still rank as a great achievement these days?

No

[GONNAFISTYA]

Does it still rank as a great achievement these days?

You'd have to ask the game designers at Ubisoft, EA or Activision for an answer on that.

[Whiskey 7]

I think yes, it is an achievement and I did day forget the Harry & fund raising connection.
Humans that venture to the polar regions need recognition or their heads read or both.

I asked the question because, the other day I watched a TV special on the Shackleton adventure of 1916. Heard of it?
This is one of the greatest endurance* and heroic rescue efforts of our time IMO.

In 1914, Shackleton made his third trip to the Antarctic with the ship 'Endurance', planning to cross Antarctica via the South Pole. Early in 1915, 'Endurance' became trapped in the ice, and ten months later sank. Shackleton's crew had already abandoned the ship to live on the floating ice. In April 1916, they set off in three small boats, eventually reaching Elephant Island. Taking five crew members, Shackleton went to find help. In a small boat, the six men spent 16 days crossing 1,300 km of ocean to reach South Georgia and then trekked across the island to a whaling station. The remaining men from the 'Endurance' were rescued in August 1916. Not one member of the expedition died.

Source

Shackleton Wiki

His ship was called the Endurance

[GONNAFISTYA]

I'd love to visit the South Pole...just to say I did. But it's not really an "achievement" these days when you can get anywhere by airplane, boat, car or helicopter in a matter of hours.

For me personally, a group of people trekking through and mapping a 1000 mile-long underground cave system is more of an adventure/achievement.

[obsidian]

But it's not really an "achievement" these days when you can get anywhere by airplane, boat, car or helicopter in a matter of hours.

LOL, wut? They walked. For two weeks. Carrying their own packs. Many of them are war vet amputees. No, they're not exploring new territory, but that shit's hard, especially if you have Lt. Dan legs.

[Whiskey 7]

Certainly personal achievements for the participants.

Guess I was thinking achievements for Mankind like the first Moon landing, climbing Mt Everest, first powered flight etc.

I was thinking of the extreme environment and the effect on any team generally. Those harsh conditions and the pain of simply being there. Although not too bad these days of course, it is still an extreme environment.

Yes, these recent guys walked carrying all they had to but knew help was available. Near a century ago the Shackleton expedition had no support. Eighteen months trapped on the ice, ship destroyed, then Shackleton and his rescue mission to save his stranded crew, that was an achievement

I suppose in essence, I am saying just being there is an achievement in itself.

Maybe the achievement here is simply surviving?

[Eraser]

Certainly personal achievements for the participants.

Certainly so.
When I ran 15KM in 1,5 hours a month ago, that wasm't exactly an achievement on a world scale level, but I was damn proud I had made it to the finish line myself

[seremtan]

it'd be an even greater achievement if Harry stayed there

[GONNAFISTYA]

But it's not really an "achievement" these days when you can get anywhere by airplane, boat, car or helicopter in a matter of hours.

LOL, wut? They walked. For two weeks. Carrying their own packs. Many of them are war vet amputees. No, they're not exploring new territory, but that shit's hard, especially if you have Lt. Dan legs.

I didn't know how they got there and didn't read any of the links. I was responding to whether or not reaching the South Pole was really that hard in modern times.