Explorer is first to walk solo to North Pole
BRITISH explorer Pen Hadow was yesterday celebrating becoming the first person to trek solo and unsupported from northern Canada to the geographic North Pole.
He triumphed after two months of isolation on the Arctic Ocean’s constantly shifting and cracking ice.
Mr Hadow, 41, said: "I’ve done it. The overwhelming feeling is of utter relief. But I am exhausted. Exhausted."
His progress was monitored by his wife, Mary, and children, Wilf, four, and Freya, one, both named after explorers, on a map at their home near Hexworthy, Dartmoor.
Mrs Hadow said: "It was a dream he has harboured for 25 years; invincible is the word which springs to mind."
He hauled all his supplies on a sledge which weighed 330lb when he started on 17 March.
It was packed with food to fuel his 5,000-calorie-a-day diet, as well as survival equipment.
Ann Daniels, the North and South Pole conqueror and record-setter from Whimple, Devon, hailed Mr Hadow’s "fantastic, magnificent feat", while the explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes said Hadow had done "an incredible job".
Mr Hadow’s historic 477 mile ice odyssey was a gruelling victory over the elements. The explorer swam in the freezing sea, and dragged his sledge of supplies across huge pressure ridges. At one stage he realised he had travelled in a circle.
Success meant the completion of unfinished business for Mr Hadow, who runs the Polar Travel Company from his Dartmoor home. In 1994, he completed three quarters of the distance before a knee injury forced him to quit.
Before setting out this time, he completed a tough training programme on Dartmoor, dragging car tyres behind him to build up stamina and leg strength.
He was forced to tackle the final stages of this trek without his skis - he lost one about a week ago when he plunged through the ice and it floated away from him.
A crucial item of equipment was a dry-suit, which enabled him to survive in the water for about an hour. It meant he did not have to make time- consuming detours around the open "leads" of water in the cracking ice cap.
During his trek, he donned the suit and made a number of swims, including two which he described as being "the width of the Thames" across the open leads in the ice.
At one stage he became a "human icebreaker" while wearing the suit, using his elbows to power his way through thin ice while towing his buoyant sledge.
His next task at the North Pole is to lay out a 1,200ft-long, 50ft-wide landing strip for the aircraft that will take him back to his Canadian base.
The plane will also bring presents from his family, and cards from well-wishers.
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http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=571502003 
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