September 2012

Lawrence Mgintey of ITN asks for clarification on who is in the Ice Team and which of those will actually be walking. Details on our website! Brian Newham fields questions about how the team prepared to deal with crevasses and avalanches. If they get into crevasse terrain they will aim to find a different route. If the worst does happen, the expedition has the resources to deal with vehic…

Deputy expedition leader and marine expert Anton Bowring tells the press about the SA Agulhas, a vessel “ideally suited” to the expedition needs. Sail from London on December 6th, hopefully seen off by The Coldest Journey patron HRH The Prince of Wales. Discounted rate from SAMSA in return for allowing sea cadets from South Africa to get experience training in the Antarctic. Science work will b…

Phil Hodgson, senior lead of Durham’s education development service, talks about the exciting opportunity for generating fascinating resources for children across the Commonwealth. His team have been trialling the wealth of resources across schools in England. Now some of these “original and fascinating resources” will be available to other schools for a small subscription to go towards t…

Dr Mike Stroud announces that he is sadly unable to join the trip to the Antarctic, but has a list of experienced doctors eager to take his place. Nevertheless, he will be designing, along with Dr Alex Kumar, an important project to be carried out on the ice, looking at the effect of such a hostile environment has on the human body and mind over such a long period of time. The project is called…

Richard Holmes, CEO, Standard Chartered (Europe), tells the conference that 80% of blindness across the world is curable and explains why they formed their charitable initiative, Seeing is Believing, which is being supported by the expedition. He explains that in 2003, at the time of 150 years anniversary of the birth of Standard Chartered, the bank asked employees what charity they wished to…

Sir Ran explains the background to the expedition, referring to it as the last truly great challenge in a time when “everybody’s grandmother goes up Mount Everest at t…

LIVE BLOG… At the Royal Society listening to The Coldest Journey’s chairman, Tony Medniuk, introducing the project to the media. The room is packed with members of the press; cameramen are vying for space at the back of the room…. Here’s Ran…

It’s here at long last, the public launch of The Coldest Journey! Watch this space and our Twitter feed for regular updates from the live press launch at the Royal Society from 11.45am.

After years of meticulous planning, clandestine meetings and chomping at the bit not to talk to the media, today we are delighted to finally announce the details of The Coldest Journey. This December, a team of the world’s most intrepid explorers led by Sir Ranulph Fiennes will set off from London in an attempt to break the final frontier in polar exploration – to cross the Antarctic in winter!