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

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81–90 of 134 posts

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

#81
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

Carbohydrates are 4 calories/gram. Fats are 9 calories/gram. Frosting does not win.

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

#82
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

Appalachian Trail? I did it too!

Fritos and Nutty Buddies were my go-to. I added a few notes about my trip here: https://pkshultz.com/at/

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

#83
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 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?"

What drives someone do to this?

It's fun.

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

#84
post #80

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?"

What now? Time for sun cost fallacy Thinking a lot does that. It's not just searching for meaning of life and a higher purpose but also realizing how this is the only life you get to have and it is very short. I'd compare people who do this to suiciders,they've both contemplated their current lives intolerable and found a way out: One way is through it,the other is around and both routes are one-way.

Sun cost fallacy is when I don't put on SPF protection thinking it won't be that bad out on the beach today.

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

#85
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

Carbohydrates are 4 calories/gram. Fats are 9 calories/gram. Frosting does not win.

I believe frosting is mostly fat by weight. Nevertheless butter beats it, pretty much by definition.

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

#86
post #23

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?"

I have the same thought when I see presidential campaigns. I don't think a balanced person would put themselves and their families through that. You have to be some kind of crazy to do this. Maybe we need these extreme people, but I am not sure we should take them as something to aspire to.

I think about this a lot.

We would have better leadership if it wasn’t such an objectively terrible job.

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

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the concern here. We're not saying Colin didn't cross Antarctica, are we? So it seems like a hypothetical: "If someone takes Ted's Shortcut in the future, will that still count as crossing Antarctica?" Maybe it will count, maybe it won't. But I'm happy to let those future people decide. One thing we do know... If they take the shortcut, they won't get a photo like this: https://static1.squarespace.…

Why can't I simply be curious about the geographical or geometric definition of a crossing? It seems like a straightforward question, but instead of answering it I get six replies about the friends you make along the way.

It's an interesting question, but it doesn't have an easy answer. Words and phrases in English mean whatever you and I and everyone else agree on. And we won't always agree: words and phrases can mean different things to different people.

One person may define crossing Antarctica as a straight line, coast to coast, that intercepts the South Pole.

Another may say the South Pole isn't significant with regard to the continent of Antarctica. It's the South Pole of the Earth, but it's not that close to the geographical center of the continent. If you're really going to cross the continent, you ought to go through that geographical center.

Someone else may ask what is a coast? Do you include the great ice shelves? Do you have to start from the outermost edge of any ice shelf or can you start at the edge of the (smaller) landmass instead?

Another person, perhaps Colin, may say "Talk about this all you want, but here is where I am going. It's close to the route that previous Antarctic explorers have taken. I'm the one putting my life on the line, and I say I'm crossing Antarctica. But feel free to disagree with me."

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

#88
post #79
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

That's way too harsh to describe a man's personal quest for adventure. It's not just vanity. You have no idea how many young minds have been influenced by this adventure. How many potential new startups will come about because someone somewhere out there thinks 'well this guy just gave up his life trying to cross the Antartic, what stops me from doing something perhaps tiny in comparison, but monumental in value, or…

I'd agree but if you were talking about going to Mars or something, but for this particular quest, that seems a bit much. Just look at this list of "first person ever to do X from Y to Z" since 2000:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Antarctic_expeditions#...

I'd liken this more to climbing Mt. Everest: challenging and personally rewarding, sure, but of ever-diminishing inspirational value to the rest of the world.

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

#89
post #65
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.

You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.

Rene Daumal

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

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it's interesting.

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

You can't be serious? We could reduce almost any minutae of life to the uninteresting...

Challeninging yourself, and doing something unique is interesting. I can hardly believe I'm wasting my time typing this out.

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