People who rock
Trail talks to legend Ranulph Fiennes
I got into exploring because I couldn’t do the things I wanted to do with my life after not getting the A levels I needed. I couldn’t go to Sandhurst, like my father had, and when I was thrown out of the Army after eight years I had to do something to make money.
I worked in the summer holidays cleaning buses from 11pm until 6am at a big hangar in Midhurst, Sussex. In the morning I slept in my cousin’s flat nearby. In the afternoon, I caught a bus back home three miles away. In between that I washed dishes at the Angel Hotel where all the polo people went. Coming back I took three polo ponies – riding the middle one and leading the others either side – and got heavily tipped when I delivered them in Midhurst where there’s a big polo branch. I bought a canoe with the proceeds.
I visited Norway for the first time when I was 18 or 19. It was the most beautiful, rugged place. We’d decided to cross Norway from west to east by river in a canoe. We only covered about 20 miles – so the first expedition was a total failure.
Solo expeditions are more frightening because if you fall into a crevasse you might not be able to pull yourself out. I've nearly come to grief whenever doing a solo. If you fall through the ice, I know very often – and from bitter experience – that you can’t haul yourself out. So, I have saved Mike Stroud’s [Sir Ranulph's partner on polar expeditions] life many times, and he has also saved mine many times.
When I was travelling with Charlie Burton from Canada towards the North Pole [on the Transglobe expedition, in 1982], we were trying to beat the record distance covered without support. The radio operator, my wife, read a report from a Norwegian paper to us. It was in Morse code and said something like this... “Yesterday, the Brits broke the existing world record towards the North Pole but our boys are catching them up...” which we knew to be true, but then it said, “...and the British team have taken a prostitute on their sledge.” We didn’t, needless to say, because it would have been unnecessary weight! Everything is weighed, even the wrappers are off the chocolate... Plus, as Charlie said, at that temperature, it wouldn’t have been practical!
Of the four summits I've climbed so far for the Global Reach Challenge (see below), my favourite was Mt Vinson in Antarctica, because it's on my favourite continent. I look forward to going back to the three remaining mountains (all much shorter than Everest!) once my spinal problems settle down and my wonderful back specialist gives me the OK. In one six-hour operation he gave me six deep steroid injections, and successfully dealt with my ‘glutes’ problem. In a choice between climbing mountains, I prefer man-hauling on ice as I still have vertigo problems.
Our main rivals, the Norwegians, have pushed ‘the pull of the north’ into one word, which is polarhulle – ‘hulle’ like a dog howling. Polarhulle is the magnetic attraction to people who’ve been out there and felt the ways of dealing with it. To begin with, loneliness seems an enemy but they gradually learn how not to get damaged by it.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes is on his Global Reach Challenge, aiming to be the first person to cross both poles and reach the top of the highest summit on each continent. Only Aconcagua, Carstensz Pyramid and Denali remain. He’s fund-raising for Marie Curie. Visit www.tmfglobalreachchallenge.com
Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the world’s greatest living explorer, on the lure and the trial of cold places...