Ben Saunders

More good stuff from Andy Kirkpatrick – this time "Eight ideas that will make life easier when living out of a tent" including a few that were new to me. "Finally don’t forget to add cord or bungee to all main anchor points so you can attach them to rocks, skis or tortoises."

— Filed under Aside

Andy Kirkpatrick has posted a great video from the Hands and Feet Across Greenland expedition this year, when a six-strong team made the first crossing of the Greenland icecap by a paraplegic (the amazing Karen Darke, who called it "The toughest physical and mental challenge I've ever voluntarily undertaken").

— Filed under Aside

Thunderstorms and Gutter Theory

Jon Gisby has unearthed a gem of an essay in an out-of-date magazine:

"Safety is a fine thing, but as an obsession it rots the soul. If I should live to be 90, and I am called upon to attest to the other nursing-home residents that my life was about something racier than guessing right on the butter-v-margarine conundrum, I will speak of that thunderstorm on Lake Superior. I’ll describe the touch-and-go struggle to keep the boat pointed just enough off the wind to maintain headway, and the jackhammer pounding of a madly luffing mainsail trying spill a 75-knot gale. I’ll talk about the way we huddled in the cockpit with our eyes rigidly forward because looking aft would mean another lightning-illuminated glimpse of the dinghy we towed, risen completely out of the water and twirling like a propeller on the end of its line. Pleasant though many of them were, with the cheese and crackers and such, I doubt I’ll have much to say about the hours I spent on Superior with the sails furled, motoring in perfect safety through flat water and dead air."

This remonds me of something I read recently in Laurence Gonzales' fabulous book Deep Survival (Amazon UK / US):

"I adhere to what my daughter Amelia calls the Gutter Theory of Life. It goes like this: You don't want to be lying in the gutter, having been run down by a bus, the last bit of your life ebbing away, and be thinking, "I should have taken that rafting trip…" or, "I should have learned to surf…" or "I should have flown upside down – with smoke!" Pete Conrad was the third man to walk on the moon. He died in a motorcycle accident on an ordinary day. It took him a while to die as he went to the hospital. I wonder what he was thinking. I hope it was: I did it all."

— Filed under Inspiration

Police State

Metropolitan Police threaten to arrest "several hundred" cyclists in my local training haunt, Richmond Park, for breaking the 20mph speed limit (a limit that the local motor traffic seems to routinely ignore). London's racing cyclists will be turning out en masse next Saturday and envisage a slapstick police response. "I don't see how they're going to be able to stop all of the cyclists, are they going to chase us in police cars? Certainly not on bikes, judging by the size of some of the waistlines I've seen on the cyclist cops. I have a image of a Benny Hill chase sequence." Naturally, I'll be there with my camera.

On a serious note, anti-cyclist sentiment seems to be at an all-time high in London right now, and this sort of harebrained "clampdown" isn't going to make the world a better place for anyone.

— Filed under Cycling

"Speedflying"

François Bon and Antoine Montant tackle the North Face of the Eiger in a slightly unorthodox way. They call it "speedflying" but I'm sure there's got to be a better name for it than that. Undoubtedly the most hardcore thing I've seen for a long time.

There's another video here, and according to their website, the helicopter pilot that should have been filming the attempt couldn't follow the pair as they were "too fast". Brilliant.

— Filed under Other expeditions

Published!

I've contributed to a couple of amazing books recently. The first is The Lonely Planet Guide to the Middle of Nowhere, "An inspirational book to foster the spirit of exploration and travel… about appreciating and seeking out adventure in all travel experiences, whether in the remote regions of Russia or the chaotic streets of Shanghai." I wrote a short piece for the book on my 2004 solo North Pole expedition and was hugely flattered to then be asked to write the introduction to the book itself. The photos are glorious, and the stories are spellbinding (apart from mine, because you know that one already, right?) (Amazon UK / US)

The second is Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century. I've been a huge fan of Worldchanging since I met the founder Alex Steffen a couple of years ago and this book is testament to just how much effort and passion he's poured into this incredible movement. It's "a groundbreaking compendium of the most innovative solutions, ideas and inventions emerging today for building a sustainable, livable, prosperous future" and I'm honoured (and still stunned) to see my name alongside contributers including Al Gore, Cameron Sinclair, Andrew Zolli, Ethan Zuckerman, Cory Doctorow and many more. Al Gore calls it a work "about rising to meet the great challenges of our day" and it's a very special book indeed. (Amazon UK / US)

— Filed under Miscellany

When in Doubt

Ten to six on a Sunday morning. Terminal one, Heathrow. The cabbie held the door open. "Where to, mate?" "Putney", I said, before chipping in, "There are several ways to get there". Immediately I felt like a tit. London taxi drivers rarely need navigational assistance. He looked dead ahead, out of the windscreen. He was a big man, with the air of a retired heavyweight boxer; grizzly bear shoulders, pancake nose, sausage fingers gripping a tiny steering wheel. "Which do you prefer, sir?" "I'm never really sure which is best. What do you reckon?" He turned to face me, his head nearly brushing the ceiling. "'Ammersmif Bridge is the prettiest".

— Filed under Rumination

Team Hoyt

As a phlegmatic sort of chap, it's rare that I'm genuinely moved by something. It's rarer still that it happens thanks to a YouTube video clip with a cheesy soundtrack. The video is below, and the story behind it is amazing.

Dick Hoyt (now 65) and his son Rick have competed together in more than 900 endurance events, including six Ironman triathlons and 64 marathons (with a best time of 2:40:47). In itself, that's pretty remarkable, but there's more: Rick is a quadraplegic with cerebral palsy. He can't talk or walk, and he's confined to a wheelchair. For every race, he has been pushed (in a wheelchair), pulled (in an inflatable boat) or carried (on a specially-built bike) by his dad. When they started racing together, Dick was in his forties and he'd never run before. "Then it was me who was handicapped," he said. "I was sore for two weeks." Dick went on to run the Boston marathon in a time that was just 35 minutes off world record pace. Pushing a wheelchair. I've never felt more humbled, or more inspired. You can read more at the Team Hoyt website.

— Filed under Inspiration

Mountain Air, by Dave Brosha. Sat here in London, I'm suddenly craving a fresh air fix…

— Filed under Aside

In case you were wondering where all the stuffed polar bears in Britain are, worry no more.

— Filed under Aside

To Boldly Go…

The presentation I gave at the 2005 TED conference in Monterey, California has just been posted on the TED Talks website (alongside a talk given this year by one of my heroes, Burt Rutan). I think nerves got the better of me at the very start and there a couple of howlers – the Arctic Ocean isn't 5,500 square miles, it's 5.4 million. D'oh.

Anyway, you can watch my talk online, or download the audio as an mp3 (which means of course you'd miss out on my holiday snaps).

— Filed under Speaking

"Scary monsters, man!". Will Gadd climbing icebergs.

— Filed under Aside