A Walk To The Pole

Description for A WALK TO THE POLE: TO THE HEART OF ANTARCTICA IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF SCOTT by Roger Mear & Robert Swan:

Here is the dramatic behind-the-scenes account of the incredible modern expedition that followed Captain Robert Falcon Scott's 1912 route across Antarctica to the South Pole. In 1985, manhauling every ounce of food, fuel, and equipment behind them on sledges, British explorers Robert Swan, Robert Mear, and Gareth Wood marched 8883 miles to the Pole, in total isolation---without radio link or back-up bases---across the most dangerous and unspoiled landscape in the world.

Debate has raged for years over the folly or heroism of Scott's original journey across the Antarctic wasteland. Nevertheless, for young Robert Swan the idea of re-creating as closely as possible the conditions and experiences of Scott's last expedition became a dream, an obsession from which he would not be deterred. Relentlessly pursuing their goal, in temperatures that fell to -40 degrees F, experiencing an Antarctic winter of perpetual darkness and the worst icing conditions for 30 years, the three walkers reached the South Pole six days ahead of schedule. There they were greeted with the news that their ship had been crushed in pack ice and sunk. Triumph was turned to shame when the expedition became a pawn in a political game of international proportions.

This riveting account chronicles the psychological stresses, the disasters narrowly avoided, and the political chicanery that almost bankrupted the enterprise. And it tells a tale of personal discovery, of high adventure, and of deep concern for one of the last great wilderness areas left on Earth.