You may travel by a wide variety of methods and there is not room here to cover all of these. Dog teams, microlights, snow machines, hot air balloons or even motorbikes have been used, but the most common form of travel at the time of writing, and for adventurous activities, is that of manhaul sledging.
In 1993 Mike Stroud and I suffered considerable physical damage crossing the Antarctic continent by manhaul and minimal use of old-style sails that could only use following winds. Our sledge loads, each in excess of 215 kilograms, required brute force to shift, and 16 kilometres a day was a fair average manhaul stint, costing a daily deficit of 8,000 calories and leading to slow starvation.
In 1996, again towing a load of nigh on 225 kilograms, I deployed a 4.5-kilogram kite and managed up to 190 kilometres a day with minimal physical effort and correspondingly less calorific expenditure. My sledge load could be halved in terms of fuel and food. What had previously proved remarkably difficult was now comparatively simple and, in my opinion, could hardly be described as ‘unsupported’.
Polar travel has been truly revolutionised by such wind devices. It is now possible to cross Antarctica in under two months. Of course the element of luck can still play tricks. Broken equipment, unusually bad weather, sudden illness and well-hidden crevasses can all prevent a successful outcome, but at least the reality of polar travel is now within the grasp of the many, not just the few.
To give any practical advice on the organisation of a polar journey would be difficult without lists. Those that follow are the result of a dozen polar journeys in many regions and with differing purposes. I have spent more days and nights out on the Arctic pack and Antarctic plateau than anyone alive, but my kit lists and general tips are by no means infallible. They will not prevent you falling into the sea or an ice crack. You may still become hypothermic, snow blind or lost or be eaten by a polar bear, but I hope they will at least help you get started as a polar traveller of reasonable competence.
First of all, read as much available literature by previous travellers in the area of your chosen trip as you can. Study the annexes at the rear of expedition books. Lists of sponsors and manufacturers are often quoted and can save you time.
Then apply, ideally through the Royal Geographical Society’s Expedition Advisory Office, for information on expeditions currently planning to go into your area of interest. It will help if you have a skill to offer (cook, communications, photographer, mechanic, etc).
Go on other people’s trips to Greenland, Svalbard, Iceland, Norway, anywhere with snow and ice, to gain experience before progressing to the deep south or north and to leading your own projects, eventually to and across the poles if that strikes your fancy.
Here are some guidelines. Feel free to ignore or alter them wherever you can garner more appropriate updated advice.
Equipment
Clothing
1 Fleece jacket with hood.
2 Ventile outer trousers with braces and long-length hooded anorak (baggy).
3 Down duvet jacket with hood attached (for periods when not manhauling).
4 Wick-away underwear (long sleeves and legs).
5 Meraklon headcover.
6 Duofold balaclava with mouth hole.
7 Separate lip protector mouthpiece with elastic to hold in place
8 Ski goggles and ski glacier glasses with nose-protecting felt pad glued in place.
9 1 pair thick wool socks.
10 1 pair thin Helly Hansen socks.
11 1 pair vapour barrier socks.
12 1 pair Dachstein mitts.
13 1 pair Northern Outfitters heavy gauntlets.
14 1 peaked cap, kepi-style and with under-neck strap.
15 1 pair thin working gloves.
16 1 pair vapour barrier mitts (optional). Some folk swear by them.
17 Footwear, as advised by polar travellers of your acquaintance (or from their books!). There are too many alternatives to be specific here. Correctly fitting boots are of great importance.
18 For polar work when using snow machines, skis or dogs, shops specialising in the relevant sports gear will be able to advise you best.
Note: The heavier the weight you tow when manhauling with no wind support, the more difficult the selection of clothing, as you will sweat, despite the cold, when working and various parts of your body, especially feet and crutch, will suffer if your clothing choice is not excellent. Ensure your initials are clearly printed on each item unless you travel alone.
General Items
1 Geodesic dome tents are best (two- or three-man), but beware of the elastic holding the poles together. When cold it loses elasticity so, if you have room on a sledge, keep as many of the pole sections permanently inserted together as possible. Black tents make the most of the sun’s heat and can be seen nearly as well as fluorescent colours.
2 Sledge harness and traces (solid traces are best for crevassed areas). In the Arctic Ocean pack-ice, your sledge should be amphibious. Dry suits can be used to swim over open leads.
3 Skis, skins, ski sticks and relevant spares. (Make sure your ski bindings mate well with your boots.)
4 With your sleeping bag and tent, use stuff sacs that don’t need too much effort to squeeze in. The best custom-made down gear in the UK comes from Peter Hutchinson Designs in Stalybridge.
5 MSR (Mountain Safety Research) cooker. Coleman fuel is best in extreme cold. (Be sure to get a secure cooker fitting fixed to the lid of the box you carry your cook gear in.) Clip the MSR fuel bottle into it firmly before priming. You need a firm base. Take a spare MSR and bag of spares, especially a pricker. (Ensure your MSR fuel bottle tops have winterised washers if you intend to use them in extreme temperatures.)
6 Brush to clear snow (hard bristles).
7 Insulated mug and spoon. Set of cooking pots and pot holder.
8 Zippo lighter and spare flints. Use Coleman fuel.
9 Spare lighter. (Keep warm in trouser pocket.)
10 Silva (balanced) compass and spare compass.
11 Reliable watch and spare.
12 Optional: a light rucksack.
13 Optional: windsail kit and spares in bag (unless travelling ‘unsupported by wind’).
14 2 ice-screws, 1 pair jumars with loops.
15 Ice-axe (very small, light model).
16 16-metre length of para cord.
17 30 metres of thinnest relevant climbing rope.
18 Optional: foldaway snow shovel.
19 Karabiners.
20 Karrimat.
21 Sleeping bag with inner (and optional outer) vapour barriers.
22 Pee bottle (Nalgene or Rubbermaid).
23 PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) and spare lithium battery.
24 GPS (Global Positioning System) and spare lithium battery.
25 Optional: HF radio and ancillaries (or Global Satellite mobile phone).
26 Video and still camera kit. Polythene bags to avoid misting up.
27 Steel Thermos.
28 Rations (high-calorie and low-weight). Pack as for a twenty-four-hour day per tent.
29 Personal bag. This may contain: small adjustable spanner, pin-nose pliers, dental floss, needles, thin cord, Superglue, wire, diary and pencil, Velcro, charts and maps, Swiss Army knife (with all necessary tools) and spare underwear (optional).
Medical Kit
This should include all that polar travellers advise, and may well include:
• Pain: paracetamol for mild pain. For more severe pain and when inflammation is involved, use Ibuprofen. For severe pain, mst tablets or Buprenorphine or morphine (on prescription). Voltarol suppositories are a good additional pain-killer. Be sure to study the instruction paper that comes with each of the above.
• Infections/Antibiotics: Augmentin for dental and chest infections. Ciproxin is excellent for severe spreading infections of skin or gut or anything non-responsive to Augmentin. Cicatrin powder for dressing superficial cuts and rashes. Chloromycetin for eye infections. Flucloxacillin is powerful. Go
od for painful frostbitten toe areas.
• Wounds: for deeper wounds, take threaded surgical needles. Take Lignocaine for self-injection for local anaesthetic. Use Steristrips for smaller wounds. For open blisters, burns and frost injuries, Flamazine cream is effective. Take alcohol swabs to clean wounds. Tegaderm second-skin dressings are useful. Granuflex dressings are good for open blisters and frostbite areas. Canesten powder for crutch fungal infection.
• Sickness: Immodium is best for diarrhoea. If not effective, use Ciproxin. Buccastem is good for nausea (absorb in mouth, don’t swallow).
• Sunblindness: take Amethocaine drops.
• Teeth: take oil of cloves. Also dental cement pack.
• Other: Jelonet dressings for burns/scalds. Rolls of sticky plaster and gauze dressings. Bonjela for mouth ulcers. Neutrogena for hand sores. Anusol for haemorrhoids. Compeed for smaller blisters.
• Treatment for your own personal health needs.
Other Considerations
Remember that insurance, fully comprehensive and including possible search and rescue costs, is mandatory and always sensible.
In Antarctica the best air charter company, Adventure Network International, will give you all the necessary advice on every side of your expedition. In the Canadian Arctic, First Air is the best (based at Resolute Bay, NWT). Remember that your cargo will cost a great deal at both ends. (In Antarctica, count on an extremely large cost per kilogram above your basic allowance to get you there from Chile.)
You can usually locate the very cheapest but suitable flights to Santiago or Cape Town (if Antarctic-bound) or various Canadian/Russian airports (if headed to the Arctic) through the London offices of WEXAS (World Expeditionary Association).
Final Advice
Always train hard and, where possible, with your prospective expedition colleagues to ensure that everybody involved has as much experience as possible. (It is best to be sure that first-time members of your team really are as good as their CVs state, since you will only progress as fast as your slowest member.)
Don’t go to Greenland, Iceland, the Arctic or Antarctica to do difficult journeys with folk you don’t really know. They should be reliable, easy-going and experienced. You can get to both poles by paying expert guides to help you there. Some are to be avoided. Others are excellent. All are expensive. Pay more and an aircraft will take you all the way to either pole and allow you an hour or two there, before whisking you back to warmer climes.
Never leave litter nor harm life in any form while you are there. Some Everest climbers have polluted their grail. Keep our poles clean.
Plan with great care and never rely on gizmos working, plbs and gpss for instance, or count on immediate rescue, since storms can keep search planes away for days, even weeks, so play safe.
If you aim to join the ‘way-out’ section by bicycling across Ellesmereland or ‘collecting’ different poles (geomagnetic, magnospheric, lesser accessibility, etc) then plan accordingly. For example, if you intend doing the South Pole on a pogo-stick, don’t forget lots of low-temperature grease and your haemorrhoid cream. Have fun and stay cool.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes was the first man to reach both poles by surface travel and the first to cross the Antarctic Continent unsupported. In the 1960s he was removed from the SAS Regiment for misuse of explosives but, joining the army of the Sultan of Oman, received that country’s Bravery Medal on active service in 1971. He is the only person yet to have been awarded two clasps to the Polar medal for both Antarctic and the Arctic regions. Fiennes has led over 30 expeditions including the first polar circumnavigation of the Earth, and in 2003 he ran seven marathons in seven days on seven continents in aid of the British Heart Foundation. In 1993 Her Majesty the Queen awarded Fiennes the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for ‘human endeavour and charitable services’ because, on the way to breaking records, he has raised over £10 million for charity. He was named Best Sportsman in the 2007 Great Britons awards.
Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know Page 39
