Nov. 8, 2025, 7:15 AM ESTBy Chloe MelasExplorer Colin O’Brady is surrounded by duffel bags and dozens of neatly labeled bags of dried ramen while sitting down for a virtual interview from his Airbnb in southern Chile. That’s because the 40-year-old explorer is about to set off on what he says is his most ambitious expedition yet.O’Brady will embark on a 110-day, 1,780-mile crossing of one of the most remote places on Earth — the Ross Ice Shelf, a frozen expanse at the edge of Antarctica.“It was pretty funny going through Chilean customs with 14 bags full of protein powder,” O’Brady told NBC News on Oct. 31 as he gestured behind him. “They were like, ‘What the heck is this?’”If successful, O’Brady would become the first person to cross the entire continent, from ice shelf to ice shelf, solo and unsupported. That means no resupplies, no kites and no dogs. It will just be O’Brady, a 500-pound sled and the endless white horizon.He’s calling the expedition Further, which he hopes to begin this weekend.“I’m really curious if I can go back and push myself not just farther in distance … but in a spiritual context — mind, body, soul,” he said days before he set off. “And to me, there’s no better proving ground for that than Antarctica.”Twice as far, twice as dangerousThis is O’Brady’s sixth time on the southernmost continent, and his most perilous trip yet. In 2018, he became the first person to cross the landmass of Antarctica alone and unsupported, a 932-mile journey chronicled in his New York Times bestselling memoir “The Impossible First.” This time, he’s attempting nearly double that distance, roughly 1,800 miles across both the Ross and Filchner ice shelves, plus the landmass in between.