Wounded U.S. vet in South Pole: "Big challenge for us"
/ CBS News
Wounded servicemen and women from the U.S., U.K., Canada and
Australia are competing in the 208-mile Walking with the Wounded South Pole Allied Challenge. The charity race in Antarctica aims to raise money and
awareness for disabled veterans transitioning back to civilian life.
Walking with the Wounded in Antarctica15 photosMembers of the U.S. team are filing voice blogs for CBSNews.com.
Below is a dispatch from veteran Mark Wise, who was wounded by an IED in Afghanistan
in 2009:
We just reached the end of day one. We’ve been practicing
and acclimating over the past few days, but today was our first day skiing with
the race under way, and were currently just a little behind the Brits and ahead
of the Commonwealth Team.
Prince Harry on South Pole trek: "So what if it's minus 50"00:31The first full day of skiing has been a big challenge for
us, and I don’t think everybody realized just how heavy the pulks were (the
sleds that the team members drag that carry their supplies), but it’s been
great to work together as a team and get some miles and kilometers underneath
our belt.
I think everybody’s hoping to have some hot chow now and
relax a little bit so we can go ahead and get out and ski again tomorrow. So
thanks for your support, keep watching us, and we’ll keep moving onward.
The three teams competing in the Walking with the Wounded South Pole Allied Challenge: Team U.K. in the red, Team Commonwealth in the yellow and Team U.S. in the blue.
Walking with the Wounded/CBS