Alex Hibbert's Polar Expeditions

Alex Hibbert has a graze of stubble across his jaw. He is growing a beard as he is injured and so temporarily relieved from the exacting discipline of the Royal Marines. He is clutching a folded wad of papers in the way that some might carry a newspaper. He shows me the first page; it is not daily headlines, instead a list of sledge prices. Sledge prices are important to Hibbert. He is a polar explorer and in 2008, after 1,374 miles and 113 days, he completed the Tiso Trans Greenland Expedition; the longest ever fully unsupported polar journey in history.

Then, Hibbert and team-mate George Bullard took 7,500,000 ski paces to traverse the Greenland icecap from Kulusuk to the West Coast and back.  The duo was fully unsupported; they relied on man power and were never re-supplied.  Their sledges weighed an incredible 195kg at the beginning of the journey.  To put this in perspective, Hibbert explains: “Our pulks were over two and half times heavier than the 70kg loads that James Cracknell and Ben Fogle pulled on their epic trip to the South Pole.” Hauling such loads, Hibbert and Bullard could ill afford to take many spares. “We had only one set of skis and poles. I snapped a ski with 400 miles left to go,” Hibbert says. “I lashed it, just behind the binding, and so we were able to go on.”

His book about the expedition, The Long Haul, is due out in March. On the gruelling journey, food accounted for the majority of the load. Hibbert planned for the expedition to last 100 days and took enough rations for 110. He and Bullard consumed 5,581 kcal each per day.  Staple foods included over 44kg of flapjacks and similar quantities of ghee. The pair constructed supply depots, marked with ice cairns, on the outward journey. They failed to find their two final depots. Without these supplies, the pair was forced to resort to emergency rations for the final 10 days. Hibbert vividly remembers the pain: “we dragged our pulks on a mere flapjack a day; I lost almost 2 ½ stone.”

The polar environment presented significant challenges. Altitude was a difficulty; at its highest point the icecap reaches over 3,000m above sea level. This affected the functioning of the camping stove. The pair battled through constant white-out conditions for the first six weeks.  The visibility was minimal and the cold was bitter. “I whirled my arms in windmills to force blood into my fingers and avoid frostbite,” Hibbert says, detailing his coping strategy. Progress was further hampered by sastrugi; hard wave like ridges of snow.  During this period, the men travelled less than five miles a day; a third of their daily trip average of 14 miles. 

The journey tested the pair both physically and mentally. Hibbert and Bullard continually battled against boredom.  Hibbert remembers the volume of the wind: “we couldn’t talk to each other as it was too loud.” There were alternatives though: “we had iPods but they rarely worked; they were low on the list of priorities for the solar charger.” There was little time to relax in the tent; after pitching for the night Hibbert and Bullard melted snow for water, cooked and then slept.

There were moments of terror during the trip. “We were fighting against 55mph winds to pitch the tent,” Hibbert says. “We were considering sleeping in the sledges; had we lost the tent we would have been dead.” In the crevasse fields at the start of the trip, ropes functioned as a psychological but not physical support. “Roping together gives a mental crutch but had one of us fallen down a crevasse we would have immediately pulled the other in too.”

During the journey, Hibbert and Bullard were beyond the reach of simple rescue.  ‘There is this belief that, in our modern world, we are never far from help; On the Greenland icecap this is not true. Helicopters can only fly 30 miles inland and it may have taken planes up to a week to reach us.” They had limited contact with the outside world too, and were only able to make satellite calls about once a fortnight. We had no weather forecasts; we were really on our own.”  Hibbert and Bullard were both equipped with personal locator beacons. They also had an advanced first aid kit containing “potent antibiotics designed to give us some time had either of us developed appendicitis.”

Finishing the challenge was a shock for the pair. “We had plans for a celebration,” Hibbert says. “I started the evening with cheesy nachos and a cool pint.     The party ended a few moments later; my body could not cope with normal food and I spent the following week in bed!” Hibbert misses the simplicity of travelling in the polar wasteland. “Life was uncomplicated; it was nice not to be bothered by money or the trappings of the modern world.”

He also loves the ‘physical challenge’ of exploring.  Dedication and enthusiasm have been integral to Hibbert's success. Aged 16, he passed the Royal Marine Commandos selection procedure. The Royal Marines regularly undertake polar expeditions but, as Hibbert explains, being in the Marines has done little to directly advance his exploring career. “The Marines' equipment is really poor; I couldn’t have used it in Greenland. My adventures are financed by private donors.”

Hibbert is a ruthlessly competitive person but he has a pragmatic attitude to success.  In 2007, battling severe facial burns, lightning storms and heavy cloud, he turned back to safety having failed to summit Mont Blanc du Tacul.   “Mountains don’t move; there is always another year to come back and attempt the challenge again. I can understand how people succumb to temptation but I have a duty to the people who love me not to put myself at foolish risk.”

Achievement is not Hibbert's sole purpose.  “I do not do it for bragging rights; I’m not a Swann.” He is referring to Robert Swann; an eighties explorer who famously quipped that he climbed to ‘impress girls at parties’.

Hibbert explores to achieve unique feats. “I don’t follow in footsteps; journeys shouldn’t be repeated.” To plan his expeditions, he spends a lot of time engrossed in maps. “I sit looking at Google earth and study the polar landscape. I find an interesting region and then I wonder how to explore it in an entirely original way.” He regrets that guides have commercialised modern exploring. “In many ways they have corrupted the profession. The hordes scaling Mount Everest have diluted the sense of achievement.”

Hibbert muses about how exploring has changed over the last 50 years. “Explorers are not as celebrated as they used to be.” In the 19th and first half of the 20th century there were many incredible firsts to be seized. Even after conquering the South Pole and the summit of the world there were still major prizes to be won. Such was the glory attached to exploring that Hitler invested many resources in its pursuit. Leni Riefenstahl’s propaganda films showed Aryans heroically climbing mountains. Expeditions were for ‘King and Country’; a vehicle to demonstrate the greatness of a nation. 

Hibbert explores to discover wildlife as well as the landscape. “In many ways I’m like a 19th Century naturalist.”  He has a biology degree from Oxford but he is adamantly “not a modern biologist; I don’t like laboratories,” he says. His passion for nature is evident in his inspiring photographs; he has twice been a finalist in the BBC Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition. His luxury item in Greenland was kilogrammes of camera equipment with which he documented the trip.  During the summer of 2005, he spent two months studying grey wolves in the USA. He lived in a hut and his days would begin at 4am. He built up a rapport with the pack: “I like animals with big fangs,” he says. 

Aside from his book launch, Hibbert has big plans for this year too. “I am going to find a new route to the North Pole,” he says. He also has commitments at home; in 2007, aged 21, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and he is in demand as a speaker as a result.  But although he is a specialist in polar exploring, is he not seduced by the allure of the great peaks – even just a little? “Some day I will climb Everest and K2 but I must serve my apprenticeship first,” he says.

For more information visit: www.alexhibbert.com