Antarctica
 

Has anyone recently traveled to Antarctica? I'm looking at taking my bike by plane (cannot disclose how at this point). Has anyone taken a bike. I would be going during the local summer season.

Can't remember the couples name, but on the first Horizons Unlimited DVD there is a couple that have taken their Harley to every country in the world, so I would assume that they have done it somehow. Maybe someone else on hear can tell you who they are (or you could buy the DVD and find out that way :clap:)

Thanks, I'll take a look.

Antarctica ?!!!???????WHY? Just curious.Not exactly:Beach: :palm:territory.
Is there even any road you could ride the bike other than around a few buildings in some of the old whaling stations? Why not take a picture of the bike or a name badge off it with you and call it even.

Your thinking is right along my original thinking. But my stay would be short and as you imply, who would want to do it. I decided that if I can get approval to take the bike, I will. Just because what other fool would do so. Even in the summer, it is still cold. But I'm already riding during winter in Central Illinois. So summer there won't be that much different. Just something to add to my list of places to go. Certainly won't be traveling far on the bike.

The best ride would be to fly to Antarctica, travel a bit, fly to South America, then ride to Prudhoe Bay. A sort of end to end of the world type tour.

When Michael Palin did his trip from the north pole to the south pole (BBC program "Pole to Pole") he flew from Chile to Patriot Hills in Antarctica. Travelling on the same DC-6 and staying at the same camp were some Japanese who were hoping to be the first people to ride motorbikes to the pole. I have no idea whether they made it or not.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), depending on how you look at it, I will not be there long enough to take much of a ride. At best I will only be there a day or so. But at least I would be able to say I rode my bike on that continent.

Check this...

The Antarctic Sun: News about Antarctica - Snowmobile Chopper

And if you want to bring your bike to Antarctica, contact Antarctica Logistics and Expeditions (Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions). They operate the flights from Punta Arenas to Patriot Hills with Illushin transport jets. Return ticket (same day) for one person was 13500 usd about a year ago, so it will cost you a LOT of money if u want to bring your bike! :mchappy:

unurban

I thought I had read that Benka Pulko, a woman from Slovakia, I think, put her bike on a boat and rode a bit on the Antarctic continent. Google her.

And after doing some research I've found that the name of the Japanese man who first rode a motorbike to the south pole was Shinji Kazama.

How on earth will you ride the motorbike in a place with no roads?

Or are you planning on taking one of these?!

Bet you didn't know you needed a motorcycle with a caterpillar track. - Yahoo! Cars

Yes, no roads. Well, I will have to make the best of it won't I. I'm still trying to get the details worked out. By next month, I should know for sure if and when I can go and take the bike. I'm told I can go for free, but the bike is the issue. And of course, I want to go during summer season, which starts next month. It should be interesting.

I am one of the few people who have walked on sastrugi (the mini wave forms of the wind packed Antarctic snow) in every month of the year. I spent 53 consecutive weeks in Antarctica, working at the South Pole Station.

I would have loved to ride on the continent. Coastal areas where the rock pokes through during the Austral summer months would be the best. If you have like hillclimb paddle tires, or uber-wide D606s or similar, you might get better float on the real snow. At Pole, the snow and ice is a mere 10,000 feet deep.

I have ridden a mountain bike, cross country skis, a baking tray, snowmobiles and tracked LMCs (and on a couch being towed behind an LMC) many times on Antarctica. But, never a motorcycle.

There is a story of a guy who worked at Palmer station who had a crated bike shipped as science cargo (exempt from size/weight concerns, unlike Raytheon contractors). He meant to have it stored at the logistics office in Punta Arenas, Chile. Instead, they put it on the vessel and it showed up in Antarctica. So, naturally, they had to take it for a little spin. but, that violates policy and potentially the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, so it is only unsubstantiated rumor.

Posting from the heat of Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, in compensation for all of 2008 on the Ice. Can't say I'm missing it, Bob.
:funmeteryes::Beach::palm::cool4:

Yes, the Treaty. That is one of my questions. Am I allowed to even take the bike? I may not because of the Treaty. :oops2:

I would be highly surprised if any tour company would bring a motorcycle over to allow one to ride around. Possibly a mountain bicycle.

The Antarctic Treaty forbids any despoiling of the continent. In theory, and general practice, one does not spit, pee, or lose engine fluids anywhere on the Ice. If there is an infraction or accident, the response is to shovel it and the surrounding snow into a containment bag, and ship it off continent.

So, when a worst case scenario is a tour company dealing with an oil or coolant spill on continent, cleaning up after a customer, I would think that unless the reward was very high, the risk wouldn't be worth it. In my mind, I might bring my own motorcycle, but I would never haul one for Joe Customer.

Best of luck with the plan, though. It is always worth a try.

Well I don't know if the rules have changed or were ignored, but as mentioned earlier, it's been done before.

Shinji Kazama had his motorbike flown to Patriot Hills from where he rode to the south pole in 24 days, arriving in January 1992.

Apparently he rode to the north pole in 1987.

If riding a motorbike in Antarctica breaches the treaty, then surely driving any motor vehicle or landing any aircraft there or going ashore in a powered vessel would also be a breach.

This calls for more research, not that I'm planning such a trip myself.

Research
 

Hey guys/gals and GSARiderOne. A little bit of googling and the Antarctic Treaty can be found.

The Articles are listed as well. The long and short of it is no hostile action, military testing and abuse of lanscape it allowed. Several states claim territory on the Antartic Continent and the treaty stops new claims from being made. It seems that these divisions are space allowed for scientific research and not states themselves.

Try contacting your particular countries base out there and see if they can sign a permit to let you ride in some sort of 'research' capacity, otherwise realise that Antartica is esentially a scientific research area which as it has no natural population (other then pingu and his mates) you may find it hard to ride there.

Best of luck.

I'm inclined to agree with some of the others.

Leave the bike on the South American continent. Go to Antarctica, see what most of the world will never see and enjoy the moment.

So you won't stand out in the crowd or have the kudos value of saying you've ridden a bike there.... compared to what leaving the bike behind would help protect, I think it's a small price to pay.

You might get approval, you might be able to ride a mile or so and the likelihhood is nothing would go wrong...but what if it did? What a shame that would be....

Go on your tod (alone), take some breathtaking pics and post them here: they'll be plenty of jealous readers, me amongst them.

Just my 2p

Just an update for those of you whom may be interested. IF I can take the bike, it will be put on a plane in Central Illinois and flown to Antarctica. This is a military plane. The only stops would be for refueling. I would only be there during the period of time it takes to offload supplies and such, so I must take that into consideration as far as what "supplies" I want to travel with. Certain ones may take more time to offload.

There are a lot of things to be worked out. As I said before, the cool thing is I can go for free. But can the bike? As others have posted above, there has been several instances of people taking motorbikes to Antarctica. So I am no longer concerned with the Treaty. Now it is up to military officials to decide. Stay tuned.

I've essentially said this already, and I get the impression that it is not a priority, but I'll say it again in plain English.

Just because you can go, doesn't mean you should go.

It will not make the things you see in Antarctic any more interesting to do so from the saddle of a motorbike.....

Leave it alone!
 

Interesting concept, but somewhat concerning.....I recognize the urge to 'go where no one has gone before' but wilderness is extremely valuable - simply because it's not populated with humans.

And, I know that Antarctica is far from pristine with all the previous whaling and other motorcycle trips, not to mention the research stations and now tourism ships.

However, I'm wondering why we seem to have a urge to despoil (and even trying to tread lightly causes problems) that which we value and know is vulnerable, threatened and impossible to recreate. For personal 'glory' and a good story to tell down the pub?

Perhaps our generation doesn't need to do everything...maybe we can leave some parts of the planet 'undiscovered' and 'undeveloped' so that future generations can have opportunity to experience joy that goes with knowing there are places where no one's been.

Don't get me wrong, I like travel, and I have travelled to a number of places that I continue to feel very priviledged to have had a chance to experience. However, I'm with the other folks here who support leaving the continent as alone as possible and urge you to give some really serious thought to keeping Antartica as motorcycle free as possible.

Next thing you know, Willie Davidson will be renting the space shuttle to take a bike for a space ride. Heavens...

Stephen

I agree with Mick O'malley, Warthog and STG06, However I would go a lot further and give the view - There are precious few places left where man has still not managed to destroy the complete environment - To go there to collect the t shirt - to tick it off as done is both a reckless and selfish act. Its not necessary it achieves nothing other than boosting your own ego leave it well alone and spend the vast sum of money it would cost you on some worthy cause.
(Oh bye the way yes I have been there many years ago working alongside the British Antarctic survey team - hopefully doing some good for a reason and yes it was wonderful - mainly because so few people had been there - now even tourist boats go down there - nothing is sacred to the parasites that we have become)
There that's off me chest now.

[quote=GSARiderOne;259670]Yes, the Treaty. That is one of my questions. Am I allowed to even take the bike? I may not because of the Treaty. :oops2:[/quotI should imagine the standards of the hotels not to be up to much. Are there many 'Shell' garages down there?

Thank you all for your comments. I do agree with you in that Antarctica is a special place and maybe I should consider not taking the bike, even if I am allowed to. You all bring some very good points. So maybe I will consider going without the bike, knowing I will not have to worry about causing any damage. The offer to go for free is still a fantastic offer. And as said above, there are really no roads to speak of, and the scenery will not change if I view it without the bike. Thanks again for your comments, and I will be sure to do a "ride report" even if I'm not on the bike.

Thoughtful Reply...
 

Jim...appreciate your thoughtful reply to the cautions expressed.

Maybe you could take a model motorcycle and then set up the type of shot on the ice (e.g. bike in foreground, you in back) that makes the bike look regular size.

Only us funbusters on the HUBB would ever know...

Stephen

We travelled to Antarctica in 2007.
I tried to get my bike on our ship but had no luck.
The expedition leader on the ship had taken his bike to Esperanza, the Argentinian base, a few years before, and had ridden around the 100 meters or so of the horrible gravel roads there.
After being in Antarctica I was glad that I had not gotten the bike there.
It truly is a special place.
I do understand how cool it would be to have ridden on all seven continents, but anyone who has been to Antarctica would wonder why you had gone to all the effort to get your bike there.
Go without it and enjoy the trip. Get a sticker for your bike. That is still pretty cool.
Suerte

I've had many different recommendations regarding the trip to Antarctica. They range anywhere from take an electric bike to take your bike sans gas and oil. Just push it off the plane and take some pics. Push it back on and head back home. I believe it was also recommended to me by someone on this site to take a picture of my bike and leave the bike at home.

All interesting ideas and thoughts. The last recommendation I received had to do with the Discovery Channel going along. But I am not making a big deal about the trip and I don't see where it would even remotely be anything Discovery Channel would be interested in.

At this time, I am still waiting to hear if I can take the bike if I want to. But I am more inclined to not bother as I do not want to risk having any issues with potential spoilage of the land. Antarctica is a the one special place in our little world where we are at least trying to protect the land. I had not given that any thought before. And most people around me are all for my taking the bike. But here on the Hubb, most of the members have offered solid reasoning against taking it.

I am relatively new to the Hubb and to adventure touring. And I value the opinions of the members here on the Hubb. Many of you are world travelers and view the world in a different way that do those who only see the world thru the pictures on TV, movies, or magazines. Because of that, I put more weight on your collective opinions.

So while I will not rule out completely taking the bike, rest assured that if it goes, it will not be able to "spoil" Antarctica. Still pictures are just that, still. The bike does not have to run to look good in the pictures. And for those who may think that is a lot of work to do just to say your bike went to Antarctica - remember all I'm doing is putting it on a plane, taking it off the plane, and putting it back on for the ride home. I'm going myself regardless. And an R1200GSA does not weigh that much. The worst part of the trip is the long cold ride in the C130.

Hi GSAriderone,
You are lucky to have an opportunity to easily get your bike to Antarctica.
If you really want to do it go ahead. It would be a pretty cool thing to do.
Then the hard part(and Fun) is riding on the six other continents.
And as for a 1200gs not weighing that much, just wait until you have to load it into a canoe and then drag it up a 15 foot river bank:lol2:.
Cheers

Gsa I am glad you have decided to listen to views of people who are from outside your peer group and that you recognise that even small actions of your own doing have a larger effect on the lands you visit - I really appreciate the fact that you have taken notice of many comments some of which may seemed harsh - but display the feeling of people from various backgrounds - I may not agree with your planned trip but wish you well in your travels.

Your right there. I would huff and puff for sure. But rolling it in and out of any airplane would not be that hard. On this trip, even the panniers could be mostly empty.

My intent is to have fun and go somewhere where not many people have the opportunity to travel. As my GSA has become somewhat of a "friend" to me, I would like to take it. But I never intended or would want to cause any issues, especially in Antarctica. WE need to preserve it and in fact, treat more of the world in a similar manner. As I am also a Cub Scout Leader, I am an advocate of the :Leave No Trace" belief. I teach this to my scouts. So believe me when I say I will be careful not to create any issues. Like I said above, I 'm not above taking it with all fluids and such removed. In fact, as I see it, this would bring light to the fact that we need to treat Antarctica differently. So while we ride about the rest of the world on our motorbikes without much care, in Antarctica, we push our bikes. Boy does that seem strange.