WHO'S NEWS
February 13, 2004
Meet Pen Hadow, polar explorer
TFK talks with this history-making adventurer
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As if making history isn't enough, they raised $460,000 for the Royal Geographical Society in London, England. The society will use the money to restore its Polar Heritage Collection and to make it available online. Here's what Hadow had to say about their incredible journey.
TFK: What inspired you to go on this expedition?
Hadow: There were lots of reasons. I was brought up by the nanny who looked after (British explorer Robert F.) Scott's son, so I was raised on the stories of (polar expeditions). Also, I've been a professional polar guide for 15 years, so I've learned lots about the Arctic Ocean and Antarctica. Two of the most significant places in the Arctic and Antarctic are the North and South geographic poles. And I'm always interested in doing things that have not been done before.
|  Together, Hadow and Murray walked 680 miles, most of it uphill. |
Hadow: About 18 months of physical training and planning. The expedition took 58 days, finishing on January 28 at about five minutes to midnight.
TFK: What was the biggest challenge you faced?
Hadow: There were two things, and they're not what people might expect. First is the lack of visual information. We're all used to seeing so much clutter every day, wherever we look. But there's none of that, there's nothing there except snow-covered ice. Not a blade of grass, no rock, no mud. Just white snow. That's quite difficult. The key is getting used to it and not letting it make you sad.
TFK: What was the other major challenge?
Hadow: The weight of the sledge. We walked 680 miles, from sea level to 9,300 feet, uphill nearly all the way. And you're not just going for a walk, you're pulling a very heavy sledge. Mine weighed 400 pounds.
TFK: What was the best part of the expedition?
Hadow: On a daily basis, having supper. We'd make supper in the bag it came in. You just poured hot water into the bag, counted to 20, stirred and it was ready to eat. We'd say lots of things like "Yum!?" and "Delicious!" to convince ourselves that this was the best meal we'd ever had.
TFK: What else sticks out in your mind?
Hadow: We saw a triple rainbow. Well, actually a triple icebow. It was made from ice crystals in the air, rather than water droplets. Of course, the most beautiful thing was the Pole itself. The Pole is marked by a metal rod in the ground, at the very point around which the Earth's surface is spinning on its axis. You could walk around the Pole and be walking around the world in three strides. I had lots of fun running around the world in a few seconds.
TFK: What did your family think of your expedition?
Hadow: My wife is very encouraging. My son Wilf is 5 and he doesn't like it when I go away, but he gets used to it. He's very pleased to have me back, and I'm very pleased to be back.
TFK: Did you take anything from home with you on your trek?
Hadow: My wife gave me some funny cards with family photos in them. I had one for each degree of latitude, so every time I crossed a degree of latitude, I got to open a card with a photo in it.
TFK: Is there anything you really missed from home, apart from your family?
Hadow: You do start to develop food fantasies. We were eating 5,300 calories per day and burning 7,500 calories, so we were basically starving. I lost about 20 pounds.
TFK: What's next?
Hadow: I'm writing a book about my solo expedition to the North Pole. Then I'll start training for a new expedition, which I plan to do towards the end of next year.
