The North Pole.
Ponder the words for a moment.
Feel the faint scent of high adventure. Imagine a cold black ocean, masses of ice heaving up and down, breaking up into large, open leads. Nuclear submarines and Arctic whales cruising silently below; full moon tide crashing the ice with the sound of ghost freight trains.

Or the South Pole. A white plateau of ice covering the very beginning of earth; the core of Gondwanaland. Frozen mountains, Katabatic winds rushing down up to 150 mph, a sky of seven suns and the South Pole space station, in search of the origin of Universe.

Imagine yourself in the midst, all alone in the world’s most brutal place, far away from any civilized life. What would it be like, and what would you be like in it? Would you survive? Would you cope? Would it change your life forever?

In this age of the third Millennium of human chronology there seems not much left for young explorers to discover on earth. TV shows fly around the world in ultimate adventure races. Any John can apply for a rafting trip through the Amazon rainforest. We’ve been to the moon; in fact we are so bored with exploration we don’t even bother to go to Mars. We know already what to expect there anyway. Been there, done that!

Or have we. There is a huge difference between looking at a picture of a planet and actually stepping down on Mars red dirt. It doesn’t compare even close to stand all alone on the Arctic ice sheet to a competition in Iceland surrounded by the buzz of film crews, medical staff and tour organizers. You can tell the difference by the silence. Only in this silence can you perceive the call reaching out to the spirit of human adventure. It is the cry of man against nature, or rather even – the whisper of God exposing man to himself.

There are indeed places left on Earth to be discovered. Not by mankind perhaps, but by you. Yes it is possible to fly to the poles or to be virtually carried to the top of Everest. But do it on your own, all alone with the wild, and you’ll be in a very small numbers of living explorers that share your experience. Today’s high end adventure is less about the destination and more about the journey.

If you are one of the few seriously pondering the dream, ready to embark on your own journey across the Arctic ice, you are up for a ride of your lifetime. Guaranteed. You are entering the footsteps of Scott, Cook, Peary and Amundsen, and for you we have created this guide.