Fw: [SPECOPS-L] Two Royal Marines Reach North Pole
kEEni mEEni
--
[]================[]
[]==[ kEEni mEEni ]==[]
[]================[]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A ROYAL Marine who with a colleague became the first Britons to walk unaided
to the North Pole, told yesterday how they survived on two pieces of
chocolate and half a cup of porridge each day.
Cpl Alan Chambers, 31, from Scunthorpe, said he and Marine Charlie Paton,
29, from Aberdeen, were forced to make food for 29 days last for 40 for the
final stage of their trek. They were being flown from the Pole in the early
hours yesterday after completing their 700-mile journey, which started at
Ward Island in northern Canada.
Cpl Chambers said: "We actually walked past the North Pole and went across
to the Siberia side and then back-tracked. We just fell on our knees and
took some photos of the Global Positioning Satellite. It read 8959593
geographic north pole, top of the world."
The pair reached their goal pulling sledges across the ice-cap after
battling against ice pressure ridges, blizzards and white-outs. They
negotiated open stretches of water when the ice cracked, and endured
temperatures of minus 30C. Because of approaching bad weather, they would
have been airlifted from the area yesterday whether they had reached the
Pole or not.
One of the first to congratulate the two was the explorer Sir Ranulph
Fiennes, 57, who had to be airlifted out of a solo attempt to walk
unsupported to the North Pole in February after suffering severe frost bite.
He said yesterday "They have done a fantastic job".
The Marines now join a select band who have reached the Pole unsupported -
fewer people than have stood on the surface of the Moon. Last month another
two members of the Marine expedition, Cpls Jason Garland, from Oxfordshire,
and Paul Jones, from North Wales, were airlifted off the ice after
developing frostbite.
Polly Murray, 26, from Perth, who reached the summit of Everest yesterday is
believed to be the first Scottish woman to have completed the feat