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Monday, January 13, 2003

By Byron Spice, Post-Gazette Science Editor

Not many people choose to trek 730 miles across the frozen reaches of Antarctica. Even fewer complain that the weather enroute to the South Pole is too balmy.

	Will Cross at the beginning of the trek to raise money for diabetes research. (Photo courtesy of Amy Cross)

But unusually warm temperatures were indeed an obstacle for Will Cross and Jerry Petersen, a pair of Pittsburghers who set out 57 days ago from Antarctica's Hercules Inlet and who now expect to reach the South Pole by this weekend.

Cross, 35, of Morningside, and Petersen, 36, of Jefferson Hills, are each pulling sleds loaded with up to 150 pounds of gear and supplies. When temperatures rose as high as 40 degrees three weeks ago, the snow and ice beneath their feet became so soft and mushy "it was like pulling the sleds through freshly poured concrete."

It was a predictably short-lived problem for the adventurers.

"It's a lot more cold and a lot more windy," Cross said last week via satellite telephone, as he and Petersen prepared to break camp for the day. Since Christmas, the temperature has been around 10 degrees in the Antarctic summer, with a 10- to 20-mile headwind that makes it feel like 20 below zero.

That's more like what Cross and Petersen had in mind when they set out on their expedition, called the Novolog Ultimate Walk to Cure Diabetes, which they are using to raise awareness and money for diabetes research. Cross has type I diabetes and is using himself as a guinea pig to study how a diabetic performs under sustained physical stress.

Petersen's father died of complications of diabetes.

	Online Map: Walking to the South Pole

They've been walking 10 hours a day, covering 12-14 miles a day. Each had gorged on food before the expedition, packing on at least 20 pounds of fat each. Cross said they've since lost all of that extra weight and more.

"We're eating a lot," Cross said, referring to a diet that includes copious amounts of chocolate and involves melting sticks of butter in their coffee, soup, or any hot food.

They are consuming about 6,500 calories a day, a bit more than they had expected. As a result, they ran short of food for a few days before reaching a resupply point in the Thiel Mountains Dec. 18. They had a five-day emergency pack of rations, but elected to save it for a more pressing situation, such as becoming stranded. They instead conserved what they had, reducing their intake for a few days. That left them fatigued and sensitive to the cold, but otherwise healthy.

The physical activity has dramatically decreased his need for insulin, Cross said, because exercise makes the body much more sensitive to insulin and so less is required.

"I'm taking very low doses of insulin," he said, about 10 units a day. That compares with the 30 to 50 units that he would typically take each day back home, where he works as a teacher in the Pine-Richland school district.

He has had a few bouts of hypoglycemia -- low blood sugar -- and his big toes are numb, a possible sign of diabetic neuropathy. But he otherwise feels in good health and has no doubts about his ability to finish the quest.

	Fund-raising efforts lag Though one of the stated purposes of the Ultimate Walk to Cure Diabetes has been to raise money for diabetes research, it's not yet clear how much of the donated funds will be used for research. Richard Danforth, the walk's finance chairman, said about $750,000 has been raised thus far, but much of that money will be needed to underwrite the costs of the expedition itself. The plan is to use the money to pay off the expedition's bills first, with the remainder going to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation/Diabetes UK. "We still have bills to pay," Danforth said last week, adding that he isn't certain how much will be left for research. "We had hoped to raise a million [dollars], but I don't think we're going to get there." Donations can be made through the Ultimate Walk's Web site, www.curewalk.com, or by calling toll-free (800) 533-CURE.

"It's pretty much what we expected," Cross said. Though the Antarctic summer is undeniably cold, it's actually warmer than what they experienced on their 100-mile walk to the North Pole in 2001.

Cross and Petersen had expected to rendezvous on Jan. 5 with two additional trekkers -- Cross' 60-year-old diabetic father, Mike, and Bret Goodpaster, an exercise physiologist at the University of Pittsburgh. The original plan was for Mike Cross and Goodpaster to meet them at 88 degrees south latitude and join them for the last two weeks of the walk.

But the single-engine Otter airplane carrying the newcomers was unable to land near the rendezvous point because of "sastrugi" -- two-foot-high hardened mounds of snow capable of ripping the skis off a plane as it lands. So their pilot flew them 60 miles ahead.

The Otter carrying the pair did take the opportunity to buzz Cross and Petersen at a height of 200 feet before flying on.

"That was really, really satisfying to know the whole team was on the ice," Cross said.

As of last week, the two groups were both on their way to the pole, with Cross and Petersen covering 12-14 miles a day, while the elder Cross and Goodpaster were traveling seven to eight miles a day.

At those rates, the two groups expected to meet up about 3-4 days before reaching the pole.

At the South Pole, the team will hoist an American flag, provided by Sen. Rick Santorum, which they will return to the U.S. Capitol once they are back in the states.

"We'll be off the ice by the 20th," he added.