Pole-to-Pole emissions free

Sussex pair walk on thin ice

Not content with being the youngest Britons to climb Everest (at age 18) in 2006, two explorers from Sussex set off last April on a man-powered pole-to-pole expedition. Rob Gauntlett and James Hooper are dog-sledding, skiing, walking, sailing and cycling the 22,000- mile route in order to highlight the dangers of climate change.

When Green Futures spoke with them they were in Memphis, and planning to be cycling every day until they get to Punta Arenas in southern Chile. So far the going has hardly been smooth. “We’ve experienced flash floods in Newark, and drought in Virginia and Tennessee. And I fell through the ice in northern Greenland,” says Rob, thanks to warm weather making the ice dangerously thin. He spent a week in hospital with hypothermia, and calmly states that “the effects of climate change almost cost me my life”.

The expedition claims to be the first man- powered pole-to-pole journey in history, and the first to be emissions-free. This isn’t being achieved through the rejection of powered transport alone however. The pair stay in campsites, eat locally grown food cooked on portable stoves using natural gas, and their support team’s trailer has been fitted with a solar panel. Inevitably there will be “a moderate carbon footprint” due to the “logistics of such a large expedition”, explains James. This is being calculated and offset. – Giovanna Dunmall

20 September 2007