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.”

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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.

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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.

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