Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Colin O’Brady Completes Crossing of Antarctica with Final 32-Hour Push

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 134 posts

Re: Colin O’Brady Completes Crossing of Antarctica with Final 32-Hour Push

#61

Post by aedocw »

curiousgal wrote: post #6

Tangent. I once met a guy who told be about a historical book of, as far as I can remember, 2 or 3 explorers who were friends (?) and were racing to explore Antarctica. Does anyone happen to know the name of said book? It's been my white whale.

Not the book the guy told you about, but one of the finest memoirs ever written about exploring Antarctica - The Worst Journey In The World.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Worst_Journey_in_the_World

It's a fantastic read, written by Apsley Cherry-Garrard who was part of Scott's expedition. Such an amazing story, and to think they were doing this in a day where sat phones and GPS were not a thing (not even flashlights!)

Re: Colin O’Brady Completes Crossing of Antarctica with Final 32-Hour Push

#62

Post by setr »

ForHackernews wrote: post #35
NikolaeVarius wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it's interesting.

Is it interesting? It sounds mind-numbingly dull trudging across 921 miles of ice.

I think the interesting part is that any extreme scenario requires very specific and likely innovative solutions — its a difficult optimization problem that any engineer would recognize as strangely santisfying. Actually executing the task with your own life at risk is outside of the standard engineering experience, but to have both must make success outstandingly satisfying

Re: Colin O’Brady Completes Crossing of Antarctica with Final 32-Hour Push

#63

Post by bacon_waffle »

tedunangst wrote: post #53
Stratoscope wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His website has a map and discussion of the route: https://www.colinobrady.com/theimpossiblefirst

That doesn't really explain the definition of crossing. If crossing a continent invokes going from one point to another, as one might reasonably assume, then why the detour to the South Pole? Why not simply go in a straight line between those points?

Because South Pole has an airstrip and a summer tourist camp, in addition to the chrome ball to get your hero shot beside, being a place of geopolitical import, etc.

In general though; "simply" going in a straight line between two points isn't often the easiest (nor most interesting) way to get between two points.

Re: Colin O’Brady Completes Crossing of Antarctica with Final 32-Hour Push

#64

Post by bacon_waffle »

komali2 wrote: post #44
Alupis wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To get the huge number of required calories in a compact form they drank olive oil. Eating sticks of butter is common too.

Thru hikes sometimes it's peanut butter and Nutella

A few weeks in to my first long trip, a mentor said in a grocery store in Franklin, North Carolina: "You'll become one of two kinds of hiker: you'll count calories per pound, or you'll count calories per dollar. Either way, you win with cake frosting".

Re: Colin O’Brady Completes Crossing of Antarctica with Final 32-Hour Push

#65

Post by tootie »

maxxxxx wrote: post #5

Just this week I read a story about Henry Worsley who died trying the same thing: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/12/the-white-dark... . After reading, I wonder if you have to a certain level of insanity for doing something like this.

I read that and just thought this guy is a moron. There's no discovery, no profit, just vanity.

Re: Colin O’Brady Completes Crossing of Antarctica with Final 32-Hour Push

#66

Post by tootie »

basementcat wrote: post #52
maxxxxx wrote: post #5

Just this week I read a story about Henry Worsley who died trying the same thing: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/12/the-white-dark... . After reading, I wonder if you have to a certain level of insanity for doing something like this.

This level of insanity is not as foreign as you might think. The feeling of accomplishment I get from climbing a mountain, finishing a marathon or a long bike trip is comparable to the feeling I get after taping out a chip, shipping a major software release or delivering first-of-a-kind hardware to a customer. For some of us, getting Tetris to work in Conway's Game of Life is insanity. For other people, walking acros…

Except that guy literally died. Nobody dies playing on a computer and it's pretty rare to die from running or biking in civilization.

Re: Colin O’Brady Completes Crossing of Antarctica with Final 32-Hour Push

#67

Post by wallflower »

avip wrote: post #34
FPGAhacker wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know, but it's an interesting thought. What drives someone do to this? I'm in awe of it. It seems to me that it has to be tied to finding meaning in life one way or another. I have to wonder though, how long does it take for the afterglow of such a massive accomplishment to wear off and to start asking yourself "what now?"

There's an interview with Alex Honnold where he says he was already thinking about his next challenge during the last stretch of El Capitan. I personally can't understand these ongoing Bernoulli experiments, surely something in these people's mind differs profoundly from mine.

If you have not yet seen "Free Solo", it is an interesting movie because it delves into the relationship between him and his "I just want to be happy" girlfriend which touches on some of his mindset to pursue perfection.

Re: Colin O’Brady Completes Crossing of Antarctica with Final 32-Hour Push

#68

Post by landryraccoon »

maxxxxx wrote: post #30
eismcc wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having been part of the Ironman community for a while now, I can say endurance folks are definitely different than your average person. Often very humble, they like meaningful, big, challenging goals that redefine “normal.”

Do they get a kick out of overcoming suffering,.doing something really difficult or what drives them? In the end they don't achieve anything useful. I can relate to it somehow. When I did kickboxing I sometimes wondered why I let myself get beat up for no money, fame or any other reward. Never really understood my motivation other than that I had it.

Is it really that weird? We are all going to die eventually someday. If you want to risk your life doing something you love I think that’s your call, as long as you don’t risk hurting other people in the process.

I mean, what do you think you keep after you die anyway? Does it really matter in the end if you sat at a desk for 40 years and then died quietly in your bed as opposed to falling off a mountain at 40something?

Re: Colin O’Brady Completes Crossing of Antarctica with Final 32-Hour Push

#69

Post by sky_rw »

tunesmith wrote: post #32

Is it easier now because of climate change? (Not to take anything away from the accomplishment, it might actually be harder due to how climate change works.)

As I understand it, a big part of the challenge that is mitigated by technological advancement is nutrition. It is incredibly difficult to carry enough calories with you to support the journey. Colin's food supply was largely custom made by a nutrition company named Standard Process.

Re: Colin O’Brady Completes Crossing of Antarctica with Final 32-Hour Push

#70

Post by sharkweek »

tootie wrote: post #65
maxxxxx wrote: post #5

Just this week I read a story about Henry Worsley who died trying the same thing: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/12/the-white-dark... . After reading, I wonder if you have to a certain level of insanity for doing something like this.

I read that and just thought this guy is a moron. There's no discovery, no profit, just vanity.

Yeah, maybe. But I also think it’s cool to see humans push the boundaries on physical and mental limitations in these types of ways.
Post reply on HN