670 Arctic Miles South Pole Expedition

From 05.11.2009 to 30.01.2010 - Status: scheduled

Two Swedish trying the South Pole

In March 2009, two young Swedes had the bright idea of conquering the South Pole. For fun. Eight months later, they are on the point of making their dream come true.

In fact, reading between the lines of their website, everything was decided during a big night out, when Ted Karlsson met his friend Christian Rosensvist for the first time. "The whole idea, as well as the slogan and motivation behind this adventure can be summed up in a few words: if your heart's in it, nothing is impossible..." And so it was that the world of polar adventure saw the advent of what could be called a breed of new adventurers' -i.e. people not motivated particularly by environmental issues, nor by the future of the Poles. Individuals who know nothing of the polar world but who, having heard of the growing number of people succeeding in reaching the South Pole from Patriot Hills, said to themselves, Why not us?'

All of which started these two Swedish partygoers rifling for loose change down the back of the sofa and encouraging their friends to help swell the coffers of their expedition budget while they started doing a little physical training. "We weren't especially fit at the beginning of the year," confesses Karlsson, "but after a few months in the gym, we'd put on eight kilos of muscle..!"

As for experience in polar travel, they have none at all. Born in 1984, Ted Karlsson is a film producer, while Christian Rosenqvist admits that he can't sit still for long. His career to date appears to be based round the fact that he is constantly searching for the meaning of life. Maybe he'll find the answer out there in the wilds of the Antarctic icecap...