During his 70-day, record-setting expedition skiing across Antarctica, Ryan Waters burned 7,000 calories a day, fixed a broken tooth and never fought with his partner.

Waters, of Boulder, and his partner Cecilie Skog, of Norway, completed the first unsupported, unassisted -- no food stashes, no wind-assisted kite skiing -- crossing of Antarctica on Jan. 21.

Back in Boulder on Tuesday, Waters, 36, sported shaggy hair (soon to be cut) and the steady, unflappable countenance one might expect of a person who had followed a rigid schedule across 1,100 miles under the midnight sun to do something no one had done before.

"The physical stuff, you can either do it or you can't," Waters said. "We felt very good, we felt strong, we knew we could do it physically. But the part we didn't know was, there are so many things that go wrong that could end the trip."

Read the rest of Waters' account of his trek at ColordoDaily.com.


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