American man first to travel solo across Antarctica unaided

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Day 54: FINISH LINE!!! I did it! The Impossible First ✅. 32 hours and 30 minutes after leaving my last camp early Christmas morning, I covered the remaining ~80 miles in one continuous “Antarctica Ultramarathon” push to the finish line. The wooden post in the background of this picture marks the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf, where Antarctica’s land mass ends and the sea ice begins. As I pulled my sled over this invisible line, I accomplished my goal: to become the first person in history to traverse the continent of Antarctica coast to coast solo, unsupported and unaided. While the last 32 hours were some of the most challenging hours of my life, they have quite honestly been some of the best moments I have ever experienced. I was locked in a deep flow state the entire time, equally focused on the end goal, while allowing my mind to recount the profound lessons of this journey. I’m delirious writing this as I haven’t slept yet. There is so much to process and integrate and there will be many more posts to acknowledge the incredible group of people who supported this project. But for now, I want to simply recognize my #1 who I, of course, called immediately upon finishing. I burst into tears making this call. I was never alone out there. @jennabesaw you walked every step with me and guided me with your courage and strength. WE DID IT!! We turned our dream into reality and proved that The Impossible First is indeed possible. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela. #TheImpossibleFirst #BePossible

A post shared by Colin O’Brady (@colinobrady) on Dec 26, 2018 at 12:55pm PST

ANTARCTICA — An Oregon man has become the first person to traverse Antarctica alone without any assistance.

Colin O’Brady, of Portland, finished the 932-mile (1,500-kilometer) journey across the continent in 54 days, lugging his supplies on a sled as he skied in bone-chilling temperatures.

O’Brady documented the entire journey on his Instagram page , and says it came to an end Wednesday after he covered the last 77 miles (124 kilometers) in one big push to the finish line.

His wife, Jenna Besaw, says she and O’Brady’s family stayed up all night watching his progress using an online tracker and that he called as soon as he finished to tell them “I did it!”

Though others have traversed Antarctica, they either had assistance with reinforced supplies or kites that helped propel them forward.