Aid

Supported or Unsupported?

Will you benefit from any transitory or long-term aid or assistance between the start and end points of your journey?

If not, you are an Unsupported journey. If yes, you are a Supported journey.

UNSUPPORTED

A journey is Unsupported if:

  1. it does not receive any external resupply of food, fuel or equipment, either pre-placed or delivered during the journey. Caches laid by the expeditioner or team during the course of the journey are not considered support
  2. it does not off-load anything but human waste and greywater, except south of 89° in Antarctica. Human waste and greywater collected south of 89° may be disposed of at South Pole as advised by authorities
  3. it does not enter buildings*, aircraft or vehicles, or tents other than their own, during the course of the journey, in particular base camp-style tent (except when instructed to do so as a condition of logistics support, such as at the South Pole)
  4. it does not use any type of road, vehicle track or marked route except when following routes into, out of or around bases, stations and camps as directed by authorities. Use of the Leverett Glacier is classified as support**
  5. it does not use a vehicle that provides physical and/or psychological support
  6. no team members are evacuated

To be classified as Unsupported a journey must deny use of all types of above support for the entire journey.

SUPPORTED

A journey is Supported if:
  1. any person receives any external resupply of food and/or equipment
  2. any person off-loads anything except human waste and grey water (except south of 89° in Antarctica)
  3. any person enters a building*, vehicle or aircraft, or tent other than their own/own team, in particular base camp-style tent (except when instructed to do so as a condition of logistics support, such as at the South Pole)
  4. any person uses any type of road, vehicle track or marked route, including the Leverett Glacier in Antarctica**
  5. any person uses a support vehicle, irrespective of reason or frequency
  6. a person is evacuated

A journey is classified as supported if it receives one or more of the above types of support

The absence of Unsupported in a label indicates that a journey is supported.

Notes

Use of satellite phones, weather and ice forecasting, and advisers on standby etc. are accepted forms of aid and not deemed as support. In many cases an expedition will not be permitted to proceed without multiple means of external communication. See Code of Integrity for advice on usage.

A guided journey is not classified as supported as the guide is not being guided and is therefore not Supported unless other types of support apply. However a journey description must include reference to it being a guided journey. A guided journey cannot be solo.

* The abandoned DYE 2 and DYE 3 stations in Greenland are located on common routes across the ice sheet. These Cold War relics offer historical interest and brief visits inside are not considered support unless used as a weather shelter or removing artefacts (which can be used for repairs to equipment).

** The South Pole Overland Traverse (SPoT) ice road runs from McMurdo Station across the Ross Ice Shelf, up the Leverett Glacier and across the plateau to the South Pole. The ice road is permanently flagged and graded at the start of each season. Any similarly prepared roads constructed in future will be classified as support if used on a journey.

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