first arrival in the region many adventurers suffer ‘Arctic Shock’, a state of near panic where their body urgently tells them it doesn’t appreciate such crazy temperatures. All they can think of is getting back into the warmth as quickly as possible.
The secret is to adopt a completely different mindset. Everything has to be adjusted to the fact that you’re boldly going where humans were never designed to be (apart from the native peoples – see Inuit Survival, page). Things that take a few seconds back in ‘civilisation’, such as getting into bed, may well need a good half hour in the freezing conditions.
The rewards are great, and not just the huge satisfaction of joining an elite band who’ve ‘been there, done that’ and lived to tell the tale. The Arctic and Antarctic are breathtakingly beautiful. Whether it’s the extraordinary ice sculptures formed by the wind and the sea, or the spectacular Northern and Southern Lights, the polar regions have an unearthly, almost spiritual appeal.
TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH
The first explorers to take on the North and South Poles were phenomenal pioneers, heading into some of the harshest conditions on Earth without any of the safety nets modern adventurers take for granted, such as GPS satellite navigation devices and satellite phones to call in assistance.
The famous race for the South Pole in 1911 saw the Norwegian team headed by Roald Amundsen triumph over their British rivals led by Captain Robert Scott. The British team did reach the Pole just over a month after the Norwegians, but tragically all died on their return journey.
The American Robert Peary is often credited as being the first to get to the North Pole, in 1909, but this is disputed. An American team made it in 1968, using snowmobiles, while the first confirmed non-mechanized conquest was made by a British team in 1969.
ARCTIC V ANTARCTIC
The two polar regions on the planet share much in common. They do, however, have some significant differences (see below).
| ARCTIC | ANTARCTIC |
| Made up of the Arctic Ocean (much of it frozen) surrounded by the northernmost parts of several countries including the USA (Alaska), Canada, Greenland, Norway and Russia. | A huge continent covered in ice. No country owns Antarctica. |
| The North Pole is located in an area of frozen sea ice that constantly drifts and breaks up. Adventurers find it hard to stay precisely at the Pole as the ice sheets shift beneath their feet. | The South Pole is located pretty well in the middle of the Antarctic land mass, at an altitude of almost 3,000m (10,000ft). A ceremonial pole and flag has been planted at the South Pole and there is a permanent scientific research station nearby. |
| Inhabited sparsely by indigenous peoples. | Has no native peoples. |
| The kingdom of the polar bear, plus other mammals including caribou and foxes. (But absolutely no penguins!) | The kingdom of the penguin.Has no land-based mammals at all. |
THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN
The Arctic Circle is a special line of latitude at around 66°N. It marks the furthest distance from the North Pole where each year you get at least one full 24-hour day when the sun doesn’t set, and one full day of complete darkness. As you get nearer to the Pole there are more and more summer days when the sun doesn’t set, and more winter days when the sun never rises. At the Pole itself you get six months of daylight followed by six months of darkness.
The same properties apply to the Antarctic Circle at 66°S, though with the seasons reversed.
THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN LIGHTS
Also known as the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis, the Northern and Southern Lights are shimmering, ever-changing curtains of light in the night sky, caused by radiation from the sun hitting the Earth’s magnetic field near the Poles.
© Matthias Breiter/Minden Pictures/FLPA
Like most Arctic adventurers the Serious Arctic team mounted their expedition at the start of spring. The aim was to hit a narrow weather window (usually late March to early May), avoiding the almost constant darkness and impossibly cold conditions of mid-winter, but arriving before the sea ice began to break up too badly.
Stepping off the plane was quite a shock. The team were ‘lucky’ to fly in on a relatively mild spring day, but with the temperature at –18°C (0.4°F) it was still like walking into a freezer. One young adventurer commented that the air froze inside her nose and it felt like she’d got concrete up it.
They were immediately whisked out onto the frozen sea on snowmobiles for a week of acclimatisation and Arctic training. Until their return to civilisation, they would now constantly live, eat and sleep in a frozen world. Their training camp, a spartan, corrugated-iron Nissen hut erected on the sea ice in the middle of Frobisher Bay, was quite surreal. Like the main expedition tents, the temperature inside would rarely rise above zero. It meant almost everything taken for granted in normal life had to be rethought, a lesson quickly learnt by the adventurers. Having taken out bars of chocolate for a snack they nearly broke their teeth – the chocolate was frozen solid.
The expedition had two environmental missions: to help gather data for a polar bear research project, and to take measurements of a glacier as part of research into global warming. Polar bears live and hunt where the sea ice meets the open ocean, which meant a marathon journey by husky sled down Frobisher Bay. Everything the expedition team needed for two weeks living rough had to be carried on just four sleds. To avoid treacherous areas where the sea ice was too thin, the team ducked inland over spectacular frozen lakes. The wind had whipped up reducing the temperature to around –30°C (–22°F), but as memories of warmth and running water faded, the young adventurers finally began to adapt and cope with the extreme conditions.
This image was seen on billboards around the UK to promote Serious Arctic.
Unfortunately, hostile environments have a habit of keeping you on your toes. An unexpected, ferocious storm ripped through the camp in the middle of the night with winds of up to 100 miles an hour. Tents that had survived the North and South Poles were torn to shreds, but the expedition’s emergency planning held
