Arctic exploration

Ann Daniels is the world's foremost female polar explorer

When the next great book on polar firsts is written, there should be a chapter with Ann Daniels’ name on it. Though not the household name she deserves to be, this tough, plain-speaking adventurer has been notching up a series of achievements in the Polar Regions that are leading her into the history books. She took the same route as Shackleton’s crew into exploration - by answering an advert in a newspaper for volunteers - and successfully joined the first all-female relay to the North Pole. Beating 300 other applicants for the job, Daniels says of her first taste of the Arctic: “I just really fell in love with the Polar Regions, and I felt I’d just discovered what I was supposed to do with my life at last.”

That was ten years ago, before she made it to the South Pole, and was also tragically cut short by red tape during a solo attempt at the North Pole. Now she’s just returned from the Catlin Arctic Survey, a scientific slog across the ice of the North that may make history for Ann in the world of science as well as exploration. WideWorld met up with Ann on a sunny morning at the Royal Geographical Society in London to speak to her about her involvement in the Catlin Survey, and her love of polar exploration.

So Ann, can you tell us a bit more about the Catlin Survey – weren’t you about to attempt a solo to the North Pole first?

There hasn’t been an expedition of this scientific magnitude for a long time, so it wasn’t a difficult decision. I just put the solo away and went ‘yep, I’ll do it.’ As you know it took us two years to set up and complete. And I was involved through the whole process: the kit, the food, the setting off point, where we should go and why we should go.

Why choose the Catlin over the solo?

I thought, well, this is an expedition that’s going to make a difference to the environment that I love. I am going to be at the front of the expedition for 74 days - it’s Pen’s expedition [fellow Polar explorer Pen Hadow] but I will be leading that expedition physically, as head of ice operations. I thought it’s a huge crucial role, especially the navigating and the path finding: it’s not just me doing my own personal record.

What were the aims of the Survey?

There were three: one was the science, one was to reach the widest possible audience and the other was to reach the North Pole. The science had many arms. We all had physiological tests and monitoring round the clock to measure things like heart rate, lung capacity and core temperature, and then more importantly there was the radar.

This was to measure the thickness of the ice?

Yes, though it didn’t work as it should have done. The idea was to drag the radar and take a measurement every few metres - it was going to take twelve million measurements. Satellites can’t differentiate between snow and ice, so the radar we had was going to be the most accurate reading ever taken.

But there were problems?

It didn’t actually work until the very end, so we took to manual drilling – taking ten measurements every 100 metres. Through snow, ice, then down to the bottom. Whilst we were doing those measurements, satellites would measure our position and calibrate from that.

Was it a harder way to do it?

A very tough way. It was down to the old ways of travelling. I don’t care whether you’ve got the latest technology in the world: physically the Arctic Ocean wants to kill you. Every second of the day it’s trying to kill you, it’s trying to freeze every part of your body, it was -49C, and then you have the wind on top of that. You’re surviving. You’re always aware of movements: you can’t relax for one second of the day physically; you’re always just fighting the cold.

What did your role involve day-to-day?

I’m navigating, trying to fid a path through huge ridges, concentrating on keeping north; the compass didn’t work so I had nothing to keep me north apart from the sun, my watch and the way the snow was lying or the way the wind was blowing. You’ve really got to be in tune with these surroundings that are trying to kill you. It’s the old methods of navigating. And you’re pulling a heavy sledge, fighting the elements every second of the day. You then have to start digging to do the measurements!

You didn’t make it to the Pole – why?

We couldn’t physically do the amount of hours that it takes to get to the pole and do the science and photography. It was physically impossible. It’s difficult to give up on an objective, we had to sit down and work out what was really important; the science, the photography: the only thing that wasn’t essential to the expedition was the pole. We had to give it up: we were a scientific expedition first.

Can you explain what is happening up there?

What’s happening in the Arctic is going to affect the rest of the world. It’s going to affect the climate that we live in, it’s going to affect weather patterns, and it’s going to affect not only the indigenous wildlife but also the tiny little microbes. Everyone focuses on the big, majestic polar bears because that’s easy to sell to the public, but actually it’s going to affect the microbes, which then affect the seas, which then affects the world. The very ends of the world are so fragile and so extreme that you can see what’s happening up there in a way that you can’t always see down here.

When are the results of the science due in?

Certain elements will be due in time for the Copenhagen treaty that will be the successor to Kyoto. Our findings are going to be used in that. To be able to actually be able to give something to your planet gives you a very unique feeling of how honoured you are to make a difference, no matter how small. It’s an honour to use my basic skills – and let’s be honest, I can make my way north and endure horrendous temperatures and don’t give up. I haven’t been to university. I never thought I was going to able to help, I thought that was for people that were more intelligent than I. It’s a lovely feeling.

Are you going to return to your goal of being the first woman to solo to the North Pole?

Within me I think that I have the capability to do a solo. To be able to do something that nobody in the world has ever done, I think is a fantastic challenge, and you owe it to yourself. There are two people doing it next year, but I’m not going to have time to raise the money when I’m focused on the survey. At the moment the survey is more important. But I would never say never – maybe when the survey has reached its conclusion, if the pole is still there and we can raise the funds. I’m not going to sit here and say it’s not my driving ambition, because it is.

To find out what Ann is currently up to, see www.anndaniels.com

To read more about the Catlin Arctic survey, visit www.catlinarcticsurvey.com