North 2

From 14.03.2010 to 10.05.2010 - Status: postponed

To break the speed record to NP

This is not the first time that the Britisher Ben Saunders has set out to break the speed record on the Ward Hunt/North Pole trek. After his failure in 2008, he's trying again...

No need for false scientific pretexts or environmental merry-go-rounds, Ben Saunders tells it as it is from the word go (as he did in 2008): he wants at all costs to be the first man to beat the speed record on the Ward Hunt/North Pole route.

For the moment, this record is held by the expedition led by another Britisher, Tom Avery, who, in 2005, wanted to recreate the conditions of the historical expedition of Robert Peary when the latter announced to the world that he had had just reached the Pole in 38 days. His expedition was called: "Barclays Capital Ultimate North Expedition". Tom Avery was accompanied by Andrew Gerber, George Wells, Matty McNair and Hugh Dale-Harris. He set off on 21 March with dogs and old-fashioned wooden sledges and, on 27 April, the team arrived at the North Pole five hours before the deadline that had been set by Peary (who had covered the distance in 36 days and 22 hours), after having been re-supplied on three occasions.

The Guinness Book of Records has described this adventure as the fastest ever Surface Journey to the North Pole. Here we offer two interesting pages from our former website, antarctica.org. 1) The Famous Controversy, which is still a lively topic of conversation: Who was the first man to get to the North Pole, Cook or Peary? 2/ Our following of Tom Avery's expedition of 2005.

So Ben Saunders is embarking upon a great adventure. He will be travelling solo and unsupported. The only explorer who has ever reached the North Pole solo and unsupported is yet another Britisher, Pen Hadow.