By Sir Ranulph Fiennes
Published in ANTARCTIC, The Journal of the New Zealand Antarctic Society
Vol 16, No.1,1998
In the summer of 1996 I met Gareth Wood for the first time in Whistler, British Columbia. I was there with Dr. Mike Stroud and three other members of a British team entry from the Eco-Challenge six-day mountain race.
Gareth had heard of Mike's visit and travelled up from Vancouver to say hello. I felt I knew Gareth extremely well, through polar talk of his doings, and when I met him I was pleased to find him exactly as I had imagined, a gentle giant with a quiet but forthright manner. His book "South Pole - 900 miles on foot" is a tribute to his ability to forgive yet not forget. The expedition which he describes was probably the nastiest experience of his life in many different ways, and had he written about the long polar nightmare immediately on his return (as two of his companions did) the description would doubtless have been as bitter as theirs; full of recriminations and accusations.
The passage of ten years between the polar journey and Gareth's narrative has enabled him to distill the telling of it into a rationalized tale of a great achievement, where description of human failings and unpleasantness are balanced and not vindictive. This makes for an interesting comparison with the original book, by the expedition leaders Mear and Swan.
Gareth tells of the mounting tensions in the polar base where he and the four other team members spent a winter close to Scott's abandoned hut preparing for their own attempt to follow in Scott's footsteps. The fact that Gareth's team had no clear and absolute leader was a catalyst for trouble. Swan was the inspiration and 'sponsor-getter' for the project whilst Mear, and experienced mountain guide, was the practical field leader. The two irritated one another. Nor did they decide who was to be the third man on their polar team until shortly before final departure.
Gareth Wood and Mike Stroud were left with a Damoclean sword handing over them through the long winter months. One of them would soon or later learn that they would be left behind; further dissention naturally resulted. Gareth tells it all with fairness and clarity but the reader is nonetheless wrapt with the inner furies and frustrations for the five lonely men during that long winter of discontent.
As an attempt to repeat Scott's epic journey - the expedition was named "Footsteps of Scott" and set out to travel unsupported at all times. Sadly, on the Beardmore Glacier, Mear, Swan and Wood met up by chance with an American scientific team and for two days accepted quantities of their food. In Mear's own words "Gone was the knowledge that we were engaged upon an unsupported journey of a magnitude that was unique".
Gareth and the other two did reach the Pole but, unlike Scott, they did not attempt the return journey: they were flown out by US navy transport. Nonetheless their feat was a prodigious accomplishment for, despite the internal strife and hostilities, they worked together to manhaul enormous weights over some 900 miles of often lethal terrain with no impetus but their own stubborn willpower.
Most subsequent journeys have used wind-power to help pull sledges. So indeed had Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen before them. However, in the 1990's, Pole aspirations began to use hi-tech parawings and kites to sail-ski to the Pole and this is a very different kettle of fish to the manhaul effort of Gareth's journey. So long as sails only helped the man-hauler when a following wind existed, very little assistance could be gained and side winds prevail over 90 percent of the way to the Pole. The latest parawings now allow side winds to be harnessed as well and that puts a very different complexion on the whole affair.
In 1993, with Gareth's old colleague Mike Stroud, I completed the first unsupported journey across the Antarctic continent. We used following wind upski-sails on those rare occasions when wind conditions allowed. The journey was difficult, the sledge weights stared at 485 lbs each and we used up to 10,000 calories per day.
Then, in 1996, I tried the crossing solo, using the latest type of kite and, despite only four practice sessions in its usage, I managed up to 120 miles a day with minimal effort. To describe ski-sailing as unsupported travel is generally acceptable among the polar fraternity, but it is increasingly an anachronism, for hi-tech sails allow sledge weights to be cut in half, effort to be reduced accordingly, and speeds to accelerate beyond the wildest dreams of Scott and Co.
Gareth's manhaul achievement was scarred for him by the bitterness of the internal struggles of his team but he uses the benefit of ten long years of reflection and the perspectives of hindsight to tell a great story with insight and a shrewd eye for psychology. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a true adventure and a hard-won personal account of an epic struggle.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes
polar adventures, South Pole, expeditions, POLAR expeditions
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Independent Book Reviews:
· Sir Ranulph Fiennes
· Lincoln Hall
· Gregory Strong
Sample Passages:
· The Beardmore
· Leopard Seal Attack
· Hut Point
· Epilogue
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