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FOREWORD

A handbook to North and South Pole expeditions! Why has such a book never been written before? The answer lies in the comparatively recent developments in the polar worlds.

The ‘Heroic Era’ of polar exploration is long gone, but many incarnations have followed in its wake: pioneering flights in the 1920s, mechanised surface travel in the 1960s, the birth of commercial polar travel companies in the 1980s, and private ski expeditions in the 1990s and into the 21st century. These expeditions have in many ways provided the blueprint for this guide and, having completed many ground-breaking polar expeditions himself, Dixie Dansercoer is perfectly placed to write it.

More recent technologies – ones that we take for granted – have also now become mainstream in polar adventuring. Lightweight iridium satellite telephones have superseded bulky radios, giving adventurers instant access to the world, and the internet. Expedition news is channelled to popular news and tracking websites, giving polar hopefuls enough information and inspiration to leap from their armchairs and into their polar fleeces.

To cater for this burgeoning market, experienced polar adventurers – including specialists in North and South Pole treks – are turning their hands to guiding. Although well established on the world's mountains, guiding the public on ski or dogsled expeditions to the poles is comparatively new. These trips serve as an introduction to the world of polar expeditioning, as training towards more serious undertakings, or simply as ‘peak-bagging’ exercises. Full-length guided expeditions, from a coastline to a pole, are less common but on the increase; and very recently élite guides have begun leading a ski trek from Canada to the North Pole, the ‘K2’ of polar expeditions. This most gruelling of treks was once the domain of professional adventurers, but now paying customers can simply hire a guide and have a go.

One upshot of this emerging industry is a desire among guides to standardise guiding practices, encourage professional conduct throughout the entire polar guiding process, and endorse those dedicated few who make it their profession. In April 2010 a meeting of the world's pre-eminent polar guides was held in Longyearbyen, Norway, to discuss the formation of an international polar guides association. This body hopes to set a paradigm that emerging guides can aspire to with the knowledge that they will be among the elite of polar travellers. But in order to become an endorsed guide, the polar adventurer will first have to rack up an impressive personal history of Arctic and Antarctic expeditions, by and large following the widely accepted model outlined in this book.

The polar regions are changing dramatically as a result of climate warming. Increased summer melt-water on the surface of Greenland's glaciers makes its way to their underbellies, lubricating the rock/ice interface and speeding glacial flow. Greenland's mass balance is out of whack; more icebergs calve into the sea than snow falls onto its ice-cap. Greenland is liquefying and the melt is contributing to sea level rise. Looking further north, in the short ten years I've been skiing on the Arctic Ocean I have witnessed changes: more first-year ice, thinner pack, a greater frequency of storms. It doesn't bode well.

Turning south, the colossal ice-cap of East Antarctica is almost unchanged, but the Antarctic Peninsula is transforming dramatically – receding glaciers, declining sea ice, summer temperatures rarely dropping below freezing, diminishing Adelie penguin numbers, grass and moss growth on hills.

Climate change has brought the polar regions a notch forward in our collective consciousness, the irony being that more interest leads to more activity. Fortunately a robust nationally administered permit system, in Antarctica at least, coupled with the world-class environmental ethics and practices of various organisations, puts environmental consciousness and responsibility squarely in the hands of the user.

The visual splendour of a so-called monochrome environment destroys the myth of the poles as simply frozen deserts

A re-vamped branch of polar expeditioning has emerged in recent years. Cars! Heavily modified by Icelandic specialists, 6×6 vehicles are now making their way across the ice to the South Pole (and soon enough to the North Pole), covering hundreds of kilometres a day in heated luxury. Being the first to attempt the use of cars on a South Pole expedition, somewhat unsuccessfully, Shackleton would be somewhat gratified to know that, a century later, his idea is bearing fruit. How the traditionalist trekker views such a development is another matter. Does it belittle or heighten the achievements of a skier travelling at 3km/h? A small band of specialist adventurers are striving to redress the daily-distance balance, using steerable kites to harness the wind and covering distances in hours that would take the traditional sled-hauler weeks.

Modern man has forgotten the art of survival

There are myriad ways and means of reaching the North and South Poles. Irrespective of your field of interest, if it's to the ends of the Earth you want to travel, then there are pages within this book that you must read. If you are setting off on skis and towing a sled behind you, then read it from cover to cover.

You may be a guide, a client, a private adventurer, a scientist or researcher, a government administrator or station worker. Whoever you are, you have this book in your hands because of factors – time, circumstance, technology, media, climate – that have never before converged. The modern North and South Pole adventurer lives in exciting and daunting times: who knows what the future will bring? The trick is finding a happy and sustainable medium between the desires of the enthusiast and the needs of the environment.

Polar travel is my lifeblood. It is the lifeblood of Dixie Dansercoer and of dozens of others fortunate enough to have travelled the ice as we have. We know its arcane attractions, its secret allures, and feel fortunate that not everyone cares to discover them. To those who take the time to uncover the mysteries – go well, tread lightly, confront the challenge, and prepare to be astonished by the surreal beauty of the poles.

Eric Phillips, President of the International Polar Guides Association (IPGA)