Q & A
Got a question?
Between Jim and I and the rest of the team we'll do our best to answer all your questions and the responses will be posted here. Think before you finger the keyboard and stay on topic. info@onemanepic.com
Q. Has he jettisoned one of his pulks yet, or will soon? Would he drop the small one ASAP, or carry on until he has used enough supplies to fit them all into the small one, and leave the big one behind instead?
A. The problem with jettisoning one of the pulks is that it doesn't leave any segregation of equipment. Ben Saunders had to abandon his solo attempt due to fuel contaminating his food and Dan and Amelia have had similar issues, so keeping the food in one sled and the fuel in another is good insurance. With the ice opening up and becoming flatter, the need to double haul is less so the added extra weight of the extra pulk isn't too much of an issue and I foresee Tom holding on to his 2 sleds for some time yet.
Q. Jim is there a few other people doing this at the same time as Tom?
Why would so many do it all at once? Is there a special thing/time of year/pickup point?
Can you send me the info on the others as well as Tom if you get time.
Thanks,
Wayne
A. Yes Wayne, there are a number of other expeditions that are happening about the same time as Tom is attempting his expedition.
There is a very narrow window of opportunity when the weather conditions are clement enough to attempt a trip to the North pole, any earlier than this and the weather would be too cold, any later and the polar ice would have started to melt to such an extent as to make it impassable.
Extraction normally happens via the Barneo ice station.
To find out more information on the current expeditions, please click here.
Q. Hi Jim, Can you please ask Tom how the sleds are fairing. I recall at day 7 on Borge Ouslands last Pole his sled delaminated and required replacement. Keen to see how Tom's sled is fairing. (Damian)
A. At the moment Tom's sleds seem to be holding up quite nicely, although he has had some issues with some of his other equipment. His skis needed fixing and he needed to seal up his vapour bag for his sleeping bag to prevent leakage. Also the harness for his sled broke early on, although all of these things are now fixed.
The harsh climate really does take it's toll on the equipment. Failures and repairs are commonplace.
Q.Is it true that when Tom reaches the North Pole he can walk through all our time zones in 24 steps? (Jasmin 13 yrs old England)
A: As you may or may not know Jasmine, all the worlds time zones do indeed follow longitude and technically meet up at the north and south poles. So if you in England, and I in Australia were to walk north and meet at the north pole, we could be in totally different time zones and shake hands. Although the generally accepted time zone at the pole is UTC or Greenwich Mean Time. So in answer to your question, yes, Tom could walk through all the time zones.
Q. Are you taking anything to read, for example a men’s magazine?
A: Ah, no, I won’t be taking any magazines of questionable content, I’ve packed a volume of Shakespeare Sonnets.
Q. Will you have your ipod on you? You should take some Wiggles, they make me smile even when I’m lonely. (Tim, 7 years old, Fremantle, Australia)
A: Yes I will be taking my ipod, thanks for the tip Tim, I’ll upload some Wiggles to go with my Rage Against the Machine and Motorhead.
Q. Are you planning on catching any fish?
A: With the fabulous menu I’m carting with me, why on earth would I need to eat fresh fish?
Q. What happens if you get attacked by a Polar Bear?
A. Well by the time I’m being attacked, I probably won’t survive because a Polar Bear weighs about 600kg and is a ruthless and efficient killing machine. Polar bears in recent times have been discovered engaging in cannibalistic behaviour, their extreme hunger being caused by global warming melting the ice and making it more difficult to catch fish.
My plan to ensure I don’t get attacked, is to ensure that Polar Bears and I don’t ever get too close. For example, I will set up a trip wire around my tent every night, and I will be carrying a gun at all times to scare off any bears who get too close for comfort.
Q. I read somewhere that on one of your recent trips, an explorer had to be evacuated from the ice with a frozen penis, is this true?
A. Yes it is true. He was wearing pants with a zip that was too wide – the steel conducted the cold and let too much air in. It was a very painful experience but fortunately he was chopper’ed out before frostbite set in, so he managed to ‘unfreeze’ it and avoided a ‘Lorena Bobbitt’. He’s now functioning normally.
Q.What happens if you lose your map, could you end up at the South Pole instead? (Sally, 6 years old, Brisbane, Australia)
A: Sally you ask a very good question. Would you believe that I don’t even need a map for this trip, I simply navigate by the sun and GPS. The navigation during this journey is extremely challenging because the ice is forever shifting and unfortunately no topographical maps exist for the area. As for taking a wrong turn and ending up at the South Pole, I’m pretty confident I won’t do that Sally. If you ask your school teacher to show you a globe, they’ll explain why it would be quite hard to make that mistake.
Q. Do you have a real job like my dad who works in an office and uses spreadsheets and stuff? (Alice, 8 years old, Sydney, Australia)
A: Hi Alice, I once had a job in an office and really loved making up big spreadsheets for my boss, but I got the sack because I took too many holidays to go and play outdoors. But I’ll try to find a real job one day Alice, I promise.
Q. I presume your tent will be completely air-tight to keep the cold out and the warmth in, so what happens if you do a big fart? (Jeremy, 14 years old, London, England)
A. Good question Jeremy. I’m hoping that because my garments are wind-proof, that they’ll protect me from all types of wind!
Q. Do you have a girlfriend and what does she think about this trip? (Jessica, 18, New York, USA)
A. Hi Jessica, no I don’t have a girlfriend, but if I did, she’d probably be a bit worried so I’d probably have to do something safer, like a run around the block with the dog and be home by 6pm for dinner, or else.
Q. Do you really have to be tough to do this? For example, do you think you could beat last year’s winner of Gladiator?
A. Some people say you need to be tough, but I think it’s all in the mind. No, I doubt I could beat last year’s winner of Gladiator, that swing-bridge challenge scares the hell out of me.
Q.Will you take a change of undies for each day of the trip, or will you be able to do washing along the way?
A: One pair, 70 days – I’ll say no more.
Q. How will you do number 2’s? Are you taking toilet paper?
A. Let's just say it involves toilet paper, plastic bags and some very awkward positions inside the tent.
Q. You're nuts!! I wanted to know what sort of training you're going to be doing in preparation for this?
A. The "Epic" training regime doesn't kick in until September where it will include a combination of cardiovascular and strength endurance with lots of long hours of tyre pulling. At the end of these sessions I'll sometimes include some interval work to force the body to learn to adapt under stress when it's in a really fatigued state. To keep it fresh I'll add some variety on the alternating days like weights, cycling and paddling. People always focus on the physical conditioning but you need to prepare mentally as well. In the Arctic you suffer. Part of polar exploration is putting up with discomfort. You're going to be hungry, you're going to be thirsty and you're going to be cold, really cold.
It's about what's in your mind and your emotional system. Living in a low-risk environment dulls our abilities and every new challenge you face that forces you out of your comfort zone rewires the body and mind to become more adaptable.
It's a mindset that comes from experience.
Nuts.
Q. Obviously maintaining body temp is important out there. I'm guessing crossing leads and risking getting wet will be your most vulnerable time. Do you have some way of monitoring your body temp (other than shivering, white fingers etc)? And any way of lifting your body temp in an emergency?
A. Providing I'm well clothed and nourished the body can withstand considerable cold. A key lesson from polar exploration (and military campaigns) is that hunger and hypothermia march hand in hand. Our bodies can only generate enough heat to keep us warm when provided with sufficient food and the increase in calorie requirements produced by severe cold can be dramatic. My calorific intake will be somewhere around 10,000 per day but as I'm hauling all my food with me this could make the sled unacceptably heavy and will be something we experiment on in Perth trialling different food options.
Stopping for breaks to eat while on the move is often miserable and you suffer severely from the cold as your body temperature plummets. Herein lies the dilemma! Taking a glove off to improve dexterity and rummage around in the sled or to open a choccy bar for a minute will result in frostbite and could potentially compromise the expedition.
The wind chill factor exacerbates the effect of cold and if the ambient air temp is around -25 (standard) if the wind is a mere 10 mph the temp drops to an equivalent of about -45 and skin freezes within 1 or 2 minutes. To further answer your question there's no practical way of monitoring my body temp but we're collaborating with UWA who are in the process of developing some testing I can conduct in the comforts of the tent.