Polar Quest North and South Pole Expedition 2006


Shirley Robertson OBE	Miles Hilton-Barber	Sue Stockdale	Bear Grylls


Ben Saunders	Nick Arding OBE	Bronco Lane BEM	Dave Pearce MBE


Niklas Norman	Conrad Dickinson	Neil Godbold

MILES HILTON-BARBER
BLIND ADVENTURER-MOUNTAINER-POLAR EXPLORER & MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER

I am honoured to be involved with the Polar Quest Expedition. This project is of great benefit to our society in so many ways.

Miles Hilton-Barber has been blind for about twenty years but has not let that stop him from challenging barriers. He is an exceptional storyteller and corporate motivational speaker and uses his experiences as an adventurer to motivate and to inspire others to achieve their potential. Miles's portfolio is remarkable and his adventures in recent years, setting numerous world records in the process, include attempting to be the first blind person to reach the South Pole, in the process man-hauling a sledge over 250 miles across Antarctica, completing "The Toughest Foot-race on earth" - 150 miles across the Sahara Desert in the Marathon des Sables, climbing to 17,500 feet in the Himalayas, Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro and Mt. Blanc- Africa's/Europe's highest mountains, running the 11-day Ultra-Marathon race across China from Gobi Desert to Great Wall, completing the "Coldest Marathon on Earth"- the Siberian Ice Marathon, crossing entire Qatar Desert non-stop day/night in 78 hours without sleep, circumnavigating 38,000 miles around world using 80 forms of transport, setting Malaysian Grand Prix lap record for blind driver in 200kph Lotus, setting new British high-altitude record for a tandem microlight and completing more than 40 skydiving jumps to date. He is currently preparing to undertake a 35-day, 12,500 microlight flight more than half way around the world, from London to Sydney, Australia, with Storm Smith, relying on speech-output - More info on Miles

Bear Grylls
Everest Mountaineer, Adventurer, tv personality and Author

A hugely ambitious project to reach the extremes of our world - the Navy way! I cannot help but support and admire them as such a highly professional team.

Whilst serving with the British Special Air Service (21 SAS) Bear suffered a free-fall parachuting accident in Africa where he broke his back in three places. After months and months of rehabilitation, focusing always on his childhood dream of Everest, he slowly became strong enough to attempt the ultimate ascent of the world’s highest peak – Mount Everest. At 7.22am on the 26th May 1998, Bear entered The Guinness Book of Records by becoming the youngest British climber to have successfully climbed Everest and return alive. He was only 23 years old. Seeking further challenges, Bear led the first circumnavigation the UK on jet skis, the first unassisted crossing of the North Atlantic Ocean in an open rigid inflatable boat. In 2005 The First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Alan West agreed with the Admiralty Board to grant an Royal Naval Honorary Commission to Bear in recognition of the support he has shown to the Royal Navy. Bear now holds the rank of Lieutenant Commander and is delighted to represent the Navy in all his quests. Most recently the Royal Navy worked with Bear on his record at the highest ever open-air dinner slung under a hot air balloon at 25,000ft! Bear’s publications include Facing Up and Facing the Frozen Ocean. - More info on Bear

Polar explorer, athlete, entrepreneur and author

The outdoors is a fantastic place to learn about yourself. Those involved will quickly learn that nature has a way of making you feel humble. I am delighted to support the efforts of Polar Quest in encouraging our youth to experience the great outdoors.

Sue Stockdale is a unique mixture of a people development specialist, a successful business woman and a record breaking explorer. In addition to her business and expedition success, Sue is an accomplished athlete and has represented Scotland in 3000m and cross country events. In April 2004 she finished runner-up in Channel 4's Superhuman where she undertook some of the toughest tests ever seen on TV including fearlessness, extreme G-force and escaping from a crashed helicopter submerged under water. In 1996 Sue was the First British Woman to walk to the Magnetic North Pole. Following this success, she took part in expeditions to the Geographical North Pole, Antarctica, and crossed the Greenland Ice Cap with an international team from three countries. Sue has also participated in two Raleigh International expeditions to Kenya in 1988 and to Chile in 1996 as Deputy Expedition Leader. Sue's publications include Kickstart your Motivation and Secrets of Successful Women Entrepreneurs. - More info on Sue

everest mountainer, polar explorer and author

Bronco Lane was born in 1945 in Manchester, attended the Ullswater Outward Bound School in 1960 and joined Junior Leaders Royal Artillery in 1961. He volunteered for service in 7 Para RHA 1964 and was selected for Army Special Forces in 1967. Bronco joined the Army Mountaineering Association (AMA) in 1968 and took part in AMA expeditions to Canadian Arctic 1972, Himalayas India 1973, Nuptse Nepal 1975 and reached the summit of Everest in 1976. He climbed in the Canadian Rockies 1978/79 and Mt Kenya 1983. In 1984 he led an expedition to Everest Tibet and was deputy leader of the Joint Services Everest Nepal 1992. Service awards include the BEM and MM. Bronco was manager of the Oag Mackenzie North Pole attempt, solo and unsupported in 1995 and has been involved with several Antarctica expeditions. Bronco's publications include Project Alpha and Military Mountaineering - A History of Services Mountaineering, 1945 - 2000.

ski back to the top

A Royal Marines officer of some 20 years experience, Nick has served on operations throughout the world including Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Afghanistan. He currently commands the Commando Training Centre at Lympstone in Devon. Nick has 16 years experience as a mountaineering instructor and has worked as a military skiing and climbing instructor throughout UK, Norway and Europe. He has led climbing teams to the Himalayas and Alaska (summiting Mt McKinlay). In 2003 he organised & led the Royal Navy's first successful expedition to Mount Everest; 2 members of the team reached the summit & the remainder carried out a remarkable high level rescue. He has completed the 'Bob Graham Round' (a gruelling 72 mile fell race, including 29,000 feet of climbing). Nick holds the Mountaineering Instructor Certificate, European Mountain Leader Award, Mountain Ski Leader Award. - More info on Nick

Have a passion for something outside the ordinary. Aspire to challenges and your spirit and character will flourish. I feel very privileged to a Polar Quest Ambassador and to support their efforts in promoting the spirit of adventure.

Dave reached the summit of Everest with a sherpa via the challenging and difficult North Face on 22 May 2003. The summit ‘push’ almost failed due to desperate prevailing conditions and Dave thought he would not survive the descent. During this period not only did the team support both his and the sherpa’s return, but they also performed what is thought to be the highest ever mountain rescue in a selfless act of sacrifice, bravery, skill and determination. Dave subsequently received a military commendation and the BBC’s Outstanding Overseas Achievement Award. Having mountaineered globally Dave has also scaled one of the largest rock faces in the world and was part of the successful team that made the first British ascent of Kangchenjunga (3rd Highest in the world), without supplementary oxygen and has recently returned from a 50-day expedition documentary recreating the Scott-Amundsen journys. Dave spent 23 years as a British Commando, seeing operations across the globe and became a renowned expert in mountain and arctic warfare and a physical training instructor. - More info on Dave

After her father built a kit boat and taught her to sail on Loch Ard in the Trossachs, Shirley has literally not been able to stop. This obsession combined with total professionalism made her the first British woman to ever win two Gold medals at successive Olympic Games. Other honours include an OBE, Top Scot award and ISAF World Sailor of the Year award and that is just the start of a very long list! - More info on Shirley

I've always maintained that polar travel should no longer be the preserve
of an elite few and I'm honoured to support Polar Quest in its mission to
enable young people and serving Naval personnel to experience these
awe-inspiring environments at first hand.

Ben is a record-breaking long-distance skier, the youngest person ever to ski solo to the North Pole and holds the record for the longest solo Arctic journey by a Briton. Between 2001 and 2004, Ben has skied more than 2,000km (1,250 miles) in the high Arctic. Born in 1977, Ben grew up in Devon, was educated at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and currently lives in London. Ben is a keen athlete - after an unpromising start. “I was the podgy kid at school that was always picked last for the football team.” He discovered mountain biking in his teens and went on to race bikes on and off-road at national level. He has run several marathons, two ultra marathons and aims to start competing in Ironman-distance triathlons before too long. - More info on Ben

In 2004/05 Conrad and a party of four (including his wife Hilary) skied unsupported from the edge of the Antarctic Continent to the South Pole in 52 days and then after a change of skis nd a resupply of food and fuel kited back to the edge of the Antarctic Continent in 17 days. Ths followed on from his crossing of the Greenland Icecap in 2003. Conrad earnt the art of cross-country skiing whilst serving as a junior officer in the British Army. His skills developed when he was attached to the AMFL, a UK based quick reaction force that trained in Norway during winter and specialised in all aspects of winter warfare and mountain Arctic skills. Since leaving the Army Conrad continued to develop his cross-country skills and has partaken in a numerous expeditions to Greenland, Iceland, Spitzbergan, Yukon (Mount Logan), Sierra Nevada, Siberia and Sweden. In addition for the last 20years Conrad and Hilary have made an annual pilgramage to Norway to enjoy winter skiiing. Conrad also leads an expedition to Norway most years. In March 2006 Conrad and one team mate reached the North Pole unsuported from Arctic Canada.

Paracademy is the UK’s national instructor training centre for a full range of power kite sports. Led in this area by Paracademy’s founding father, Neil Godbold, who has at one time or another been the national trainer for most of the power kite sports associations within the UK, helping them to develop their training and safety packages. Neil is a fully qualified further education lecturer, specialising in sports and as well as being part of the 'Paracademy Consortium' also works as one of the worlds few kite surf and snowkite trainers/examiners for the IKO (International Kiteboarding Organisation) - More info on Neil