Alastair Vere Nicoll runs a renewable energy business and lives in London with his wife and two children. This is his fi rst book. www.ridingtheicewind.com ‘A remarkable journey in the footsteps of Roald Amundsen, the fi rst man to the South Pole. Riding the Ice Wind is a thoroughly engaging and personal story that makes the mental landscape of a polar expedition relevant to the myriad decisions and struggles we face in real life – and from which we often wish to escape.’ Sir Ranulph Fiennes ‘A heart-led account of one of the longest, hardest polar journeys of recent years, Riding the Ice Wind is a testimony to the fact that enduring hardship isn’t about bravado but about a quiet, at times faltering, daily decision to endure.’ Bear Grylls ‘An original and compelling book that really gets into the psyche of adventure and the confl ict between the call of responsibility and the desire for freedom. I thoroughly enjoyed it.’ Jonny Bealby, Wild Frontiers ‘It’s extremely heartening to discover, through a text that is beautifully and powerfully writt en, that a younger generation of adventurers has got what it takes – and more. They prove themselves worthy successors to their heroes, Amundsen, Shackleton and Scott .’ John Hare Published in 2010 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com Distributed in the United States and Canada Exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright © 2010 Alastair Vere Nicoll Foreword © 2010 Bear Grylls The right of Alastair Vere Nicoll to be identifi ed as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitt ed, in any form or by any means, eletronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior writt en permission of the publisher. ISBN 978 1 84885 306 5 A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available Typeset by JCS Publishing Services Ltd, www.jcs-publishing.co.uk Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham Foreword Riding the Ice Wind is the tale of a wild gamble, an adventure so ambitious that few have even att empted it, let alone pulled it off . It is the very honest, human tale of a journey to the coldest, windiest place on earth for nearly three months of indescribable hardship and pain. People think adventure is romantic. But romance dies prett y fast in temperatures of -45˚C. In truth, people have no idea how people like Al and his team can endure the trials of diffi cult expeditions. Such journeys are always hard to explain. Often it is easier to move the subject on. I understand that feeling well. ‘Been away recently, have you?’ It is a question that cannot be answered in 30 seconds over a pint. But it is answered beautifully in this book. A heart-led account of one of the longest, hardest polar journeys of recent years, Riding the Ice Wind is a testimony to the fact that enduring hardship isn’t about bravado but about a quiet, at times faltering, daily decision to endure. What impressed me most about this journey was the team. They succeeded simply because they worked together so well, although such words don’t really do their achievement justice. Their story isn’t one of stiff upper lip, but rather a strong resolve to do their part, and more, and never to complain. That is real courage. Gett ing on and enduring, with a smile. I know all of the team, except David, and I am so full of admiration for them, as men, as friends and as adventurers. Al is always shy of being called an ‘adventurer’, as if he feels he hasn’t earned the title. This book tells a diff erent tale. Al, you have an adventurer’s spirit | vi RIDING THE ICE WIND through and through, trust me. I have known Al since he was 13 and I have realised over the years that he possesses a rare quality that life often rewards. Toil. Toil, sweat and tears. Hard work, never quitt ing. And of course he possesses the eyes of a dreamer, one of T.E. Lawrence’s all-important ‘dreamers of the day’. Al, Paul, David and Pat have my greatest admiration. Now go home and enjoy a beer, please. Bear Grylls Contents List of Illustrations ix Route Map x Introduction 1 1 Beginnings 5 2 Flaubert’s Parrot 12 3 A New Life 16 4 Altered Reality 22 5 Constructing the Creature 29 6 There But Still Nowhere 39 7 Family Matt ers 45 8 Fly on my Wind 57 9 A New Horizon 64 10 The Icefall 77 11 The Layer Cake 85 12 Down and Out 96 13 Silence Valley 102 14 The Sword of Damocles 110 15 Diffi cult Decisions 126 16 It’s All in the Mind 132 17 Uncontactable 140 18 Divide and Rule 144 19 Heat Miser 152 20 Travelling Without Moving 161 21 The South Pole 171 22 Leaving the End of the Earth 181 | viii RIDING THE ICE WIND 23 North 197 24 The Winds of Change 202 25 Touching the Void 206 26 Mutability 213 27 The Final Burst 221 28 An End and a Beginning 226 Epilogue 239 Select Bibliography 251 Author’s Note 255 Acknowledgements 257 Illustrations 1 Alastair 2 Paul 3 Patrick 4 David 5 Our fi rst taste of man-hauling at Patriot Hills 6 Patrick and Alastair hauling up the Axel Heiberg glacier 7 Looking out over Independence Hills in the Heritage Range 8 Patrick and Alastair crossing a snow bridge on the Axel Heiberg 9 A parhelic circle above Silence Valley 10 Taking a break on the high polar plateau 11 Heading due south 12 Over sastrugi 13 Emerging from a blizzard 14 Patrick being pursued by a batt ered pulk 15 At the axis of the world 16 A euphoric team 17 Alastair meets his baby Images 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14 © Paul Landry Images 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 16 © martinhartley.com Image 15 © Conrad Dickinson Image 17 © Lyndsey Young