Ranulph Fiennes on Aconcagua

Is he really getting old after all? Sir Ranulph Fiennes has back trouble. Britain’s best-known adventurer had to be flown off from Aconcagua by a rescue helicopter at the beginning of the week. On the highest mountain of South America, the 72-year-old suffered from so bad back pain that he could not continue his ascent to the highest point on 6,962 meters. “I was within just a few hours of the summit but problems with my back meant I couldn’t continue,” Fiennes said. “I’m very frustrated, but I’ve learnt that at my age you can’t ignore any pain.”

Across the poles and summits

Fiennes wanted to climb Aconcagua as part of his project that he has called “The Global Reach Challenge“. The Briton wants to become the first ever who will have crossed the Arctic Ocean and the Antarctic as well as climbed the “Seven Summits”, the highest mountains of all continents. Besides Aconcagua, only Denali (6,194 m) in Alaska and the Carstensz Pyramid (4,884 m) in Indonesia are still missing in his success list. Fiennes is using his project to collect donations for the British aid organization “Marie Curie”, which is supporting terminally ill people and their families.

New obstacle

Aconcagua

The Briton will now return home and have a thorough checkup before doing anything new. “Another obstacle I will face is that things aren’t as they were in the past,” the adventurer conceded: “The body, with the same amount of training, can’t achieve the same things, so success in this challenge is by no means guaranteed.”

Nearly unstoppable

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who was knighted for his numerous expeditions and charitable activities in 1993, has demanded a lot from his body. He became (along with Charles Burton, who died in 2002) the first man to reach both poles from the coast in 1982. Fiennes rounded the earth along the zero meridian. In 2003, he completed seven marathons within seven days on seven continents – only four months after a bypass operation. In 2009, Fiennes, aged 65, summited Mount Everest. In early 2013, Fiennes had to be rescued during an attempt to cross the Antarctica for the first time in winter because he had suffered frostbite. A new attempt that was planned for this winter was not approved by the British Foreign Office. This man can hardly be stopped.

P.S. Before you start to google: Sir Ranulph Fiennes is a third-grade cousin of the British actors Ralph and Joseph Fiennes.

Thomas Ulrich some days ago

The man took me to the North Pole six years ago. Thus I owe Thomas Ulrich a lot. At the time of our last degree expedition, the 47-year-old adventurer from Switzerland proved to be a prudent and motivating expedition leader. Also this year, Thomy led a group on skis, pulling sledges, the last almost 120 kilometers from the 89th degree of latitude to the North Pole. A week ago they reached 90 degrees north. In contrast to 2009, Ulrich did not fly with the other expedition members by helicopter back to the Russian ice station “Barneo”.  Thomy wanted to ski towards Canada, solo and unsupported. His destination: Ward Hunt Island, 800 miles from the North Pole. Ulrich thought that it would take him 30 to 40 days to reach the island. Previously only his Norwegian friend and former expedition partner Borge Ousland had soloed the distance. But after a few days Ulrich turned around again.

Two meters between life and death

Despite whiteout and storm he initially made good progress, because he was able to use his kite, told Ulrichs Swiss friend and business partner Hans Ambühl. Thomy skied 80 km in the first three days. However, he had to survive several critical situations – like this: Over night suddenly a wide crack opened in the ice just two meters from his tent. Two meters between life and (most likely) death. Thomy became aware that in contrast to earlier expeditions he was no longer ready to take “an unlimited risk”. “The joy gained from overcoming difficulties and maybe even mental boundaries no longer outweighed for him the necessary physical and psychological pain inevitable”, writes Hans.

His dream: Solo across the Arctic

Thomy wants to return via the ice camp Barneo and Spitsbergen to Switzerland. Originally, he had seen this year’s solo expedition as a test run for an even bigger project in 2016: crossing the Arctic from Russia via the North Pole to Canada. Will he now, after the experiences he made last week, bury his great dream? In 2006, his first attempt had failed shortly after the start from the Russian mainland. Ulrich was then rescued by helicopter from an ice floe. “Failure is possible. I don’t want to fail”, Thomy writes about his project “Transarctic Solo 2016”. “And yet, a back-up rescue and emergency plan must exist. Everyone involved, including myself, must know what to do in the worst of all cases. Responsibility also means dealing with these scenarios as relentlessly and intensely as possible, in order to effectively prevent them.” Already a year earlier Thomas Ulrich has proved his ability to make responsible decisions.

“Young” ice near North Pole

The Olympic flame has to freeze. Not yet in Greece, where it will be inflamed for the Winter Games of Sochi 2014 at the ancient sites of Olympia on 6th October, but very soon after arriving in Russia. Mid of October a nuclear icebreaker will bring the torch to the North Pole. This and other stations of the torch would “showcase the beauty of Russia to Russians and to the rest of the world”, said Dmitry Chernyshenko, president of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee. According to Russia’s reading the North Pole seems already to be incorporated – even if under international law it is still disputed whether or which of the Arctic nations has the right to exploit the huge oil and gas reserves that are presumed below the North Pole.

Armed policemen in high camp

It’s not new that the Olympic torch relay is misused for political purposes. Before the Games 2008 in Beijing China brought the Olympic flame to the top of Mount Everest – to demonstrate that the highest mountain of the world and thus occupied Tibet too belong to China. During the action Everest was closed for climbers from abroad. Independent eyewitnesses were unwanted. To avoid trouble with China, Nepal sent armed policemen to its side of the mountain to ensure that nobody would climb higher than Camp 2 on 6400 metres as long as the Chinese torchbearers were on the mountain.

Two Everest climbers as torchbearer

The upcoming torch relay for Sochi 2014 will also lead to a mountain which however is free of any political explosiveness. In early February the flame will burn on 5642-metre-high Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain of Europe. Torchbearers will be two climbers from the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria: Abdul-Halim Olmezov and Karina Mezova. Both have reached the summit of Mount Everest: Olmezov in 2009 – and Mezova in 2011. The 30-year-old woman is a true eye-catcher on expedition images which are usually dominated by bearded men with greasy hair. And Karina has already lighted a flame on the Elbrus – for the Caucasus Games in 2012, as you can see here:

P.S. According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) arctic sea ice extent around the North Pole at the end of the summer melt season was 5.10 million square kilometers compared to the record low of 3,4 million in 2012. The new value was no “sign of turnaround”, said researchers of the German Alfred-Wegener-Institute, but confirmed “the long-term decline of arctic sea ice”.