52 days to cross Antarctica? ha ha ha ha ha. Man this is getting ridiculous. Even according to Globe earth Antarctica is a massive continent it is the size of United States and Mexico combined.
"Massive continent"? Antarctica is second smallest continent (Europe and Asia are actually one single continent) with less than 9% of earth's land area. Only Oceania (Australia and nearby islands) is smaller.
There were people in the past that walked from New York to Los Angeles and it took them many months to do so.
So what? Coast to coast across the US is more than 3,000 miles, three times as far. And there are some that do it slower than others.
Here's someone who did that in 81 days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_have_walked_across_the_United_States#Mark_BaumerColin O'Brady, a 33-year-old American adventurer, just became the first person to cross Antarctica alone and unaided.
O'Brady finished his 932-mile, 54-day journey on Wednesday.
932 mi / 54 days = 17.26 mi/day.
Even I can walk 18 miles in moderately flat open terrain in less than 8 hours, assuming no traffic, river crossings, or similar obstacles, and I'm not nearly as young and fit as Mr. O'Brady is. As recently as a few years ago, I completed the Keyhole Route to the summit of Longs Peak in Colorado and back, a 15-mile round trip in about 15 hours at age 60. The 14,255-foot summit is almost 5000 feet above the trailhead. No, I wasn't hauling 400 pounds of gear, but I wasn't using a sled, either, and I wasn't on skis.
Mark Baumer averaged 3000 mi / 81 days = 37 miles per day. Twice as far each day as Mr. O'Brady. And he was walking, not skiing.
Now between New York and LA there is civilization, normal weather, highways, restaurants, hotels, shops and everything in between.
Sometimes that stuff slows you down. It does mean you don't have to carry as much stuff, though, which is good, since using a sled to transport it would be impractical.
In Antarctica there is none of it, there is bitter cold temperatures, making all travel impossible, needless to say walking.
Travel in Antarctica is by no means impossible. Even walking. He was doing this in the milder part of the year. It is cold, but that can be both good and bad. The surface is mostly packed snow, which makes it easier if you use a good sled and skis.
To cross Antarctica you will also need to be a professional mountain climber because there are several mountain ranges you need to climb over, with no fancy highway going around them as in the case of North America.
Actually, there was only one mountain range, and his route took him down that one on a glacier. Pretty smart, huh? It's almost like he thought out his route and carefully planned it before even setting out! Glacier travel is not to be taken lightly, of course, but many people are very accomplished at it and he is a skilled mountaineer.
If any of you actually believe that its possible to walk across Antarctica you are indeed lost.
There are lots of things that are not even particularly difficult to do that many people can't do. Just because
you can't accomplish something does not mean it's impossible.
[Edit] Remove spurious /quote tag and typo.