A life of adventure


Named 'the world’s greatest living explorer' by the Guinness Book of Records, Sir Ranulph Fiennes has achieved the seemingly impossible in the polar regions and beyond. Laura French spoke to him ahead of his appearance on Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth this year


50 February 2020


Q. What's been your most challenging experience to date? A. In 1992 I set out with Mike Stroud to cross the Antarctic continent unsupported on foot. Shackleton had attempted the expedition with a team of three in 1914, entering from the top of the continent. Another team entered from the bottom, leaving food depots along their way for Shackleton and his team – but Shackleton’s ship sunk. We started close to where the ship


had gone down, towing 490lbs on each sledge. We were pretty much dead by the time we got halfway to the South Pole, but we still had to get down to the Pacific coast. Dr Stroud – a food and nutrition expert – said we could survive,


so I agreed, and we made it to where the Shackleton group had dropped off the last food depot. We proved that even without dogs [which Shackleton had for food], and not being as tough as people were then, two humans could make it. It was the hardest physical and mental challenge I’ve undertaken.


Q. What was the hardest bit? A. We could only carry 5,000 calories a day. We started running out of food so had to go on half rations when we were very hungry. Our body fat disappeared, so we were very cold, frostbitten and starving. Two days before we reached the South Pole, we recorded a windchill temperature of -96C.


travelweekly.co.uk/cruise


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