{"id":246,"date":"2010-01-16T00:00:59","date_gmt":"2010-01-16T00:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/test\/2010\/01\/other-news-reaching-the-south-pole-cochrane-times-date\/"},"modified":"2010-01-16T00:00:59","modified_gmt":"2010-01-16T00:00:59","slug":"other-news-reaching-the-south-pole-cochrane-times-date","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?p=246","title":{"rendered":"Reaching the South Pole , Cochrane Times, Date: Jan 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reaching the South Pole<\/a>
\nPosted By Brad Herron of The Cochrane Times<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reaching the South Pole\"Three<\/h1>\n

By Brad Herron<\/h4>\n

On. Jan. 2, a Cochrane doctor joined his childhood heroes like Ernest Shackleton, Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen as explorers of Antarctica.<\/p>\n

For 47 days, Bill Hanlon braved temperatures that reached below -50 C and bitter winds to raise awareness for remote-area medicine.<\/p>\n

With two other men \u2014 including one from China who became the first Chinese man to ski to the pole \u2014 Hanlon skied across Antarctica, guided only by a compass, to conquer a life goal and promote Basic Health International, his foundation.<\/p>\n

And while he has accomplished many other feats, including climbing Mt. Everest in 2007 while serving as the expedition’s doctor, travelling across the frozen landscape provided unique challenges not seen in any other locale.<\/p>\n

On days when the wind picked up, Hanlon said travel became something akin to being a ping pong ball inside a lottery machine; directionless and, at time, nearly lost.<\/p>\n

“One day I was navigating where I couldn’t see my skies,” Hanlon said. “It can be nauseating at times, because when you are navigating in a complete white-out like that it is hard to know what’s what.”<\/p>\n

While the trip was going to be a physical struggle from the beginning without added challenges, Hanlon received frostbite on his right thumb during the seventh day of the trek, something he now blames on not heating his core to an adequate temperature before leaving camp. Luckily, Hanlon packed along medication for just this reason, medicine he credits for “saving” his thumb. But enough though his thumb was saved, it made daily tasks difficult for the right-handed man and even two weeks later, the blackened thumb is still sensitive to temperature.<\/p>\n

Putting pain aside \u2014 something each of the man did, as Hanlon said his fellow travelers often received large blisters on their feet \u2014 the crew travelled about 26 to 28 kilometres per day, extending their skiing to 42 kilometres one day and staying in camp due to weather another.<\/p>\n

In constant sunlight, the men rose each morning at 6 a.m. and were on their skis by 8 a.m., travelling into the evening hours before pitching camp and starting the experience over.<\/p>\n

“When your body is wanting to stop or feels that it is time to stop, you have to ignore those vibes and get going. It’s like having a Monday morning experience every day for 50 days,” Hanlon said.<\/p>\n

Just maintaining a steady body weight is an arduous task, Hanlon explained. During the trip, Hanlon increased his diet to 6,500 calories per day, taking in as much high-calorie food as his 55-year-old body could handle, even mixing olive oil and large globs of butter into his oatmeal during breakfast.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“One of the few times in life when you can eat large quantities of chocolate, carbohydrates and fat without feeling guilty about it,” Hanlon chuckled, adding he lost four pounds during the trip, but quickly added them back by dining on Chilean steak and drinking a few celebratory beers.<\/p>\n

After more than a month-and-a-half of travel, the trio spotted the South Pole \u2014 with consists of a ceremonial pole as well as a research station \u2014 nine km from where they had planned to camp. Feeling energized, they continued on and finished their journey.<\/p>\n

Hanlon said it was a “very strange feeling” arriving at the pole, as members of the research team came outside to meet the men.<\/p>\n

“Having travelled, just the three of us for 47 days without any animals or anything, it was very strange. The toughest part was adapting to the change,” he said,<\/p>\n

Within two days, and after letting the icicles from this beard thaw, Hanlon and the others were on a plane to the edge of the continent. From there, they set out on a Russian aircraft that brought them back to Chile and civilization.<\/p>\n

From his doctor’s office in Cochrane, Hanlon said the trip taught him new lessons in “teamwork and endurance,” lessons he believes he can use in his daily life and potentially pass on to others.<\/p>\n

“One of the nice things I really love about expeditions is it really pares down the extra stuff in life and you are down to basics, like survival, food, shelter and a stove to melt snow,” Hanlon said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reaching the South Pole Posted By Brad Herron of The Cochrane Times   Reaching the South Pole By Brad Herron On. Jan. 2, a Cochrane doctor joined his childhood heroes like Ernest Shackleton, Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen as … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[9,13,17],"class_list":["post-246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-expeditions","tag-local-news","tag-south-pole"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4UPJH-3Y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":254,"url":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?p=254","url_meta":{"origin":246,"position":0},"title":"Calgary Herald: Albertan skis to South Pole for a cause, Jan 27, 2010","author":"","date":"27 January 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Albertan skis to South Pole for a cause Cochrane doctor takes health care to the poor Valerie Berenyi Calgary Herald Wednesday, January 27, 2010 \u00a0 I t's not easy to sum up Dr. Bill Hanlon's remarkable ski expedition to the South Pole in a single news story, so here are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Expeditions\"","block_context":{"text":"Expeditions","link":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?tag=expeditions"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/basichealthinternational.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/calgary-herald.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":243,"url":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?p=243","url_meta":{"origin":246,"position":1},"title":"Healthy Remote Communities \/ Save the Poles Expedition (Nov – Dec 2009)","author":"","date":"1 December 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr. Hanlon is one of only three expedition members on the Antarctic leg of the\u00a0Save the Poles Expedition\u00a0beginning November 7, 2009. See the\u00a0South Pole \/ North Pole News and Guide\u00a0for additional information. This is a link to the start of the\u00a0adventure on Eric Larsen's (expedition lead) Trip Blog","rel":"","context":"In \"Expeditions\"","block_context":{"text":"Expeditions","link":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?tag=expeditions"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":183,"url":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?p=183","url_meta":{"origin":246,"position":2},"title":"Other News: Hanlon reaches the top of the world, Cochrane Times, Date: 2007-05-30","author":"","date":"30 May 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Hanlon reaches the top of the world Cochrane Times, Date: 2007-05-30","rel":"","context":"In \"Everest\"","block_context":{"text":"Everest","link":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?tag=everest"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cochranetimes.com\/images\/www.cochranetimes.com.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":190,"url":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?p=190","url_meta":{"origin":246,"position":3},"title":"Other News: Hanlon bringing Everest to Cochranites, Cochrane Times, Date: 2007-09-12","author":"","date":"12 September 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Hanlon bringing Everest to Cochranites Cochrane Times, Date: 2007-09-12","rel":"","context":"In \"Everest\"","block_context":{"text":"Everest","link":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?tag=everest"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cochranetimes.com\/images\/www.cochranetimes.com.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":196,"url":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?p=196","url_meta":{"origin":246,"position":4},"title":"Other News: Hanlon laments completion of Chinese highway, Cochrane Times, Date: 2008-04-23","author":"","date":"23 May 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Hanlon laments completion of Chinese highway Cochrane Times, Date: 2008-04-23","rel":"","context":"In \"China\"","block_context":{"text":"China","link":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?tag=china"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cochranetimes.com\/images\/www.cochranetimes.com.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1502,"url":"http:\/\/basichealthinternational.org\/?p=1502","url_meta":{"origin":246,"position":5},"title":"Dr. Hanlon marks 30 years spreading medical knowledge around world","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"7 September 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"By David Feil, Cochrane Times Monday, June 12, 2017 9:02:26 MDT AM \u00a0 Local physician Dr. William Hanlon recently returned home to Cochrane after spending about a month on his own in Siberia to provide medical support to the Buryat near the Mongolian border. 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