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| Sir Ranulph Fiennes to attempt record winter Antarctica trek | Sir Ranulph Fiennes to attempt record winter Antarctica trek |
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| In the coldest place on earth at the coldest time of year, where the temperature can fall to -90C, it should have been obvious that the veteran explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes would find the challenge of a six-month trek more than 2,000 miles across Antarctica in the depths of the polar winter irresistible. | In the coldest place on earth at the coldest time of year, where the temperature can fall to -90C, it should have been obvious that the veteran explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes would find the challenge of a six-month trek more than 2,000 miles across Antarctica in the depths of the polar winter irresistible. |
| The crossing has never been done in the icy darkness of winter. Fiennes explained that because there are very few world records left to break, they tend to be very difficult. | The crossing has never been done in the icy darkness of winter. Fiennes explained that because there are very few world records left to break, they tend to be very difficult. |
| "This will be my greatest challenge to date," Fiennes said, of the expedition – already dubbed "the coldest journey". "We will stretch the limits of human endurance. Britain and the Commonwealth has a strong heritage of exploration, from Captain Cook 300 years ago to the present day. As such it is fitting that a Commonwealth team should be the first to fulfil this last great polar expedition." | "This will be my greatest challenge to date," Fiennes said, of the expedition – already dubbed "the coldest journey". "We will stretch the limits of human endurance. Britain and the Commonwealth has a strong heritage of exploration, from Captain Cook 300 years ago to the present day. As such it is fitting that a Commonwealth team should be the first to fulfil this last great polar expedition." |
| He will leave for Antarctica on 6 December, and hopes to begin the trek proper on 21 March (the equinox), heading off on skis across the ice shelf that killed his hero, Captain Scott, and his team a century ago. | |
| As with Scott and his great rival Roald Amundsen, who beat him to the South Pole, it is the rumour of a Norwegian team preparing to tackle the same challenge that has spurred Fiennes on to an expedition he has been brooding about for some time – one which he himself dismissed as impossible 25 years ago. Another Norwegian recently achieved the winter crossing of the Arctic. | |
| Fiennes, who is 68 and has survived cancer, major heart surgery and the loss of most of the frozen finger tips on one hand, which he cut off himself with a saw bought for the purpose, has officially been dubbed the greatest explorer alive by Guinness World Records. | |
| He has been in training in the Swedish Arctic in a balmy -40c, but admits the challenges of temperatures plunging so far below zero may require new solutions to be invented. | He has been in training in the Swedish Arctic in a balmy -40c, but admits the challenges of temperatures plunging so far below zero may require new solutions to be invented. |
| It was a spell of exceptionally cold summer weather, which made travel impossible for days on end, that finished Scott, and many other polar explorers. A separate group of Scott's men who found themselves stranded when the late summer temperature plunged unexpectedly early and sea ice blocked their escape, barely survived a winter holed up in an ice cave. | It was a spell of exceptionally cold summer weather, which made travel impossible for days on end, that finished Scott, and many other polar explorers. A separate group of Scott's men who found themselves stranded when the late summer temperature plunged unexpectedly early and sea ice blocked their escape, barely survived a winter holed up in an ice cave. |
| Sir Earnest Shackleton, also hit by unexpectedly vile summer weather, abandoned another attempt rather than risk the lives of all his men. | Sir Earnest Shackleton, also hit by unexpectedly vile summer weather, abandoned another attempt rather than risk the lives of all his men. |
| For the same reason, rescue will be almost impossible if the team gets into serious trouble. | For the same reason, rescue will be almost impossible if the team gets into serious trouble. |
| Fiennes and his five team members will have to climb 3,048m onto the inland plateau, trek for several hundred miles with all the supplies and equipment they need, descend another 3,000m, and finally cross almost another 2,000 miles to reach the Ross Sea. | Fiennes and his five team members will have to climb 3,048m onto the inland plateau, trek for several hundred miles with all the supplies and equipment they need, descend another 3,000m, and finally cross almost another 2,000 miles to reach the Ross Sea. |
| The expedition will sail on a South African ice-strengthened research ship, the SA Agulhas – loaned by the South African Maritime Safety Authority – undertaking a variety of scientific research tasks during the journey. The ice trek proper will begin from the Russian base of Novolazarevskaya, and cross via the South Pole to Captain Scott's old base at McMurdo Sound. | The expedition will sail on a South African ice-strengthened research ship, the SA Agulhas – loaned by the South African Maritime Safety Authority – undertaking a variety of scientific research tasks during the journey. The ice trek proper will begin from the Russian base of Novolazarevskaya, and cross via the South Pole to Captain Scott's old base at McMurdo Sound. |
| Fiennes and his companions will travel on skis, but will be followed by two modified tractors, towing two sledge-mounted living quarters, supplies, equipment, and 155,000 litres of special fuel adapted against freezing. Scott also experimented with a specially modified tracked vehicle, only to have team members almost lose their lives trying to rescue it from an ice crevasse, before finally abandoning it in the snow. | |
| Fiennes's 20-tonne vehicles will carry radar to identify crevasses, and cloud and satellite technologies that will broadcast news of the expedition's progress. The expedition will also raise money for the blindness charity Seeing Is Believing. | |
| Fiennes was the first to cross the Antarctic continent unsupported, with Dr Mike Stroud, the first to cross both polar ice caps, the oldest to climb Everest, finally conquering it in 2009 aged 65 on his third attempt, after suffering a major heart attack on his first, and the first to traverse the globe from pole to pole with the late Charles Burton. | Fiennes was the first to cross the Antarctic continent unsupported, with Dr Mike Stroud, the first to cross both polar ice caps, the oldest to climb Everest, finally conquering it in 2009 aged 65 on his third attempt, after suffering a major heart attack on his first, and the first to traverse the globe from pole to pole with the late Charles Burton. |