20 YEARS OF POLAR EXPEDITIONS

I’ve led 12 major expeditions and have covered just over 4,500 miles (7,250km) on foot in the high Arctic, Greenland and Antarctica since 2001.

I’ve spent time working in Antarctica – I’ve travelled there seven times now – and the Arctic without my sledge in tow, and I’m one of a tiny handful of human beings to have spent so much time at the highest latitudes.

Here are a few memories and photographs from my journeys on foot in the polar regions:

 

The voice of success and profit
May stir the vault of heaven,
But not this place.
In the rounds of the day,
You wear threadbare clothing
And eat simple fare.
When the mountain snow deepens,
Your thoughts
Are far from those of people.
Occasionally,
Immortals pass your door
And knock.
— Kuan-hsiu (832–912)