Arctic Ocean Update–Ben Saunders, Alone Again, Naturally: Brit Ben was one of five expeditions heading to the North Pole (and the only one who planned to continue on across the Arctic Ocean to Canada once he reached it). All the other expeditions have either been aborted or completed, so Ben is all by his lonesome in the Great White North. Is he lonely or depressed? Not at all. In fact, he is downright giddy, and playing air guitar (according to Explorer’s Web this pose has become a staple of adventuring; last year the annual air guitar photo came in from Stephen Koch’s attempt to snowboard Everest). Anyhow, Ben sent the following list in over the weekend:

Reasons to be cheerful… – Saturday, 1st May 2004 #

1) Decent ice, a few flat pans and no open water.

2) The knowledge that I’ve skied 379 nautical miles (700km) so far.

3) Blue skies and sunshine, 24 hours a day.

4) My sledge didn’t try to run me over today.

5) The fact that I’m now ‘inside’ 88 degrees north – less than two degrees (120 nautical miles) to the Pole.

6) Sun block – the stuff I put on my lips has a mouth-wateringly delicious coconut smell. I don’t know how I’ve avoided eating it…

7) Polyphonic Spree – ‘Reach for the Sun’.

8) I’ve found out where the brown stains are coming from. The what?! Well, I was reluctant to discuss this before, but I’ve been finding huge brown stains on my trousers recently. It turns out there was a fugitive chocolate bar hiding in my sleeping bag. Naturally I ate it, once I’d cleaned the fluff off.

9) My beard. It cracks me up every time I catch a glimpse of it (reflected in the screen of my iPAQ, for example). It’s huge. Hilariously big. I feel like some crazy old fisherman, and I’m going to start losing things in it if I’m not careful.

10) The photo you’ve all been waiting for. Can anyone name that tune?

Phew. Glad the brown stains issue was sorted out and that Ben still has his sense of humor after more than two months on the ice…



“Now there’s no one here but me and the polar bears, I can do whatever the hell I want. And I’ve got plans for that chocolate I scraped off my pants…”

(Photo: via Explorer’s Web)