Camels, Motorbikes and Polar Experts
April 2003. I was killing time, waiting for a flight from the Russian ice station 'Borneo' back to Longyearbyen, drinking instant coffee with 'Mashutka' condensed milk (see pic – you really can find anything on Google these days) . I was chatting with a good friend of mine, Nicolas Mingasson – an old polar hand and someone who has been involved with the logistics of more expeditions than you can shake a stick at. I still crease up at his definition of a 'polar expert' – someone that has done 'less than two, or more than twenty expeditions'. In my opinion, you could safely exchange the word 'expert' for 'explorer', a word that really makes my toes curl.
I'm often introduced as 'an explorer', but I can't stand the word. It conjures up all the wrong images – pith helmets, monied Edwardian gentry (what-ho!), jolly good chaps (leaning on club fender, brandy snifter in hand) recounting stories of far-flung derring-do… It's like being in the Army and calling yourself a 'warrior'; you might secretly hope that's how you go down in the history books, but don't get it printed on your flippin' business cards.
Anyhow, I found a great (albeit rather dated) interview with Sir Ranulph Fiennes t'other day ( he discovered a lost city, so he surely qualifies for the title Explorer). Ran has been a huge source of inspiration to me and I was lucky enough to spend a day with him running on Dartmoor last year. But there was one bit that surprised me:
"I'm not planning polar expeditions because they've all been done: every single one of them has been done. There are only two poles and… the only ones left are gimmicky: you have to go by camel or motorbike or [something] to be first. So the genuine firsts – supported and unsupported – are all now done."
I'm not so sure. Those of you following my expedition this spring, Serco TransArctic, will know that the goal of a solo and unsupported ski crossing of the Arctic Ocean is still up for grabs. There's a whopping great 'unfinished' expedition down South as well. More of that later.
— Filed under Inspiration