The Coldest Journey: Sir Ranulph Fiennes to

undertake six-month Antarctic expedition at

temperatures of -90C

Sir Ranulph will be oldest explorer to cross Antarctic at the age of 68

His team will have to deal with temperatures as low as -90C

Crowned 'the world's greatest explorer' by Guinness World Records

The explorer cut off his own fingers after getting frostbite in 2000

By Catherine Eade, 17 September 2012

British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes is to to lead the first team on foot across the Antarctic during the southern

winter, he revealed today.

The 68-year-old will brave temperatures of minus 50C (minus 58F) during the expedition next year when his group

will make the trip called the Coldest Journey On Earth. In some places temperatures are expected to be as low as -

90C.

The team will carry out readings and measurements for scientists, providing data on marine life, oceanography and

meteorology.

'There is a huge, blank knowledge of the winter of Antarctica, what is happening to Antarctica during a period

when the scientists can't normally get out there,' Sir Ranulph told BBC Breakfast.

'Our caboose will be bristling with scientific instruments, for Nasa, for the European Space Agency.'

The explorer is hoping to raise 10 million US dollars (£6.17 million) for Seeing Is Believing, a charitable initiative

to tackle avoidable blindness around the world.

Sir Ranulph has broken several records and led many expeditions to remote regions. He was described by Guinness

World Records in 1984 as 'the world's greatest living explorer'.

He is famous for taking part in the first successful circumnavigation via both the geographical poles, completed

with Charles Burton in 1982.

Fiennes also achieved a world first in 1992-1993 by completing the first unsupported crossing of the Antarctic

Continent with Mike Stroud in what was the longest unsupported polar journey in history.

He also successfully reached the summit of Mount Everest in 2009 at the age of 65, becoming the oldest Briton to

achieve this feat - despite despite having a heart condition, a fear of heights, and a few missing fingertips after

frostbite attacked his fingers so badly he performed a DIY amputation in his garden shed.

Speaking to the BBC, Sir Ranulph said he thought of his wife, children and a 'hot bath' during arduous challenges.

The six-month expedition will see the 68-year-old explorer cross terrain where temperatures are as low as -90C.

A ship will drop the team off on the Pacific coast of the continent, where they will set off over the ice shelf when

the equinox arrives on 21 March 2013.

Sir Ranulph will then ascend 10,000ft (3,000m) on to the inland plateau, and head onwards to the South Pole. It

will be hundreds of miles before the team drops 11,000ft back on to the ice shelf.

After covering around 2,000 miles (3,200km) in total their journey will end at the Ross Sea.

While Sir Ranulph and a skiing partner will lead on foot, the BBC revealed they will be followed by two bulldozers

dragging industrial sledges.

Inside three containers on the sledges will be the team's living quarters, supplies, and a science laboratory. Dragged

behind this will be the fuel they need.

Making it alive across one of the most inhospitable terrains in the world will be a challenge.

One hundred years ago on the same ice shelf, Capt Scott died on his polar expedition as he was caught out by the

start of the southern winter.

Over 40 years the former SAS officer has carved a career as one of the world’s top explorers.

Between 1979-82 he circumnavigated the world via both Poles. In 1993 he became the first person to cross the

Antarctic continent on foot, dragging a 450lb sledge.

He undertook several expeditions to the North Pole in the 1990s while striving to become the first person to reach it

solo and unaided.

In 2003 he ran seven marathons in seven days, just four months after his heart attack. And in 2007 he climbed the

North Face of the Eiger, one of the hardest challenges in the Alps.

In 2009 he became the only person to have crossed the ice caps of both Poles, and to have climbed to the highest

point on Earth.

On ice: In the 2009 television series Top Dogs: Adventures In War, Sea And Ice, Ranulph Fiennes (right) travelled with Robin Knox-Johnston and John Simpson across the frozen wastes of the Canadian Arctic

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2204415/Sir-Ranulph-Fiennes-undertake-month-Antarctic-expedition-temperatures-90C.html