A Portlander Describes What It Was Like to Walk Across Antarctica by Himself

The day after Christmas, Portland adventurer Colin O'Brady finished a journey no one had managed before: He became the first person to walk the width of Antarctica alone, without assistance.

Two days later, on Dec. 28, he had company. Louis Rudd, a British Army captain, joined O'Brady at the final waypoint. The two men had successfully raced across a continent.

"O'Brady lost 20 pounds along the way," The New York Times says. "Rudd lost more than 30, and just when they thought they were finished, poor flying weather forced them to wait two extra days for their journey back to relative comfort and their first shower since Halloween."

O'Brady is the son of grocery pioneer Brian Rohter and former Portland mayoral candidate Eileen Brady. In 2016, WW decreed him "Portland's best explorer."

His record-setting journey had been closely chronicled by The Times. Today, The Times scored a double interview with O'Brady and Rudd.

In it, O'Brady describes a paradox of walking in a winter wonderland.

"You are the only tiny little thing out there in this endless sea of light," he says. "So that makes you feel small. But then when it's whiteout, it's the opposite: It's super myopic, insular. All I can see is my compass a couple inches away from my nose, and the contrast of those two things is so stark, but what is ever-present is that you are just a product of your own thoughts, your own mind."

He also recommends bringing extra skis.