- Who
- Rune Gjeldnes
- What
- first first
- Where
- Antarctica ()
- When
The first solo crossing of East Antarctica (male) was achieved by Rune Gjeldnes (Norway) between 5 November 2005 and 3 February 2006. His route went from Queen Maud Land, via the South Pole (reached on 20 December 2005), and on to the Italian Station (now the Mario Zucchelli Station) in Terra Nova Bay, covering a total distance of 4,804 km (2,985 mi).
Rune completed "The Longest March", a three-month solo ski trek across the South Pole region, becoming the first person to cross that area alone without being resupplied.
The final couple of weeks of the journey had to be made on foot, as Gjeldnes had lost one of his mountain skis off his sled, this before having to descend a glacier of 2,000 m (about 6,500 ft) a.s.l. in order to reach his destination.
The expedition had a scientific element as Gjeldnes took regular blood samples of himself to be used in studies of the human immune system under extreme conditions.
This record was confirmed by the Polar Expeditions Classification Scheme (PECS).
