Alan Chambers’ new adventure is at the South Pole: “Walking on the ice I saw how the climate changed the world”

Aged 16 he joined the Royal Marines for a further 17 in a front line commando unit. But Alan Chambers, born in 1968 in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire (England) into a family of steel workers, has conquered fame and adventure in the most impervious and extreme places. Leaving his military career behind, Chambers chose exploration and charity as his goals reaching, to name just one of his feats, the geographic North Pole from Canada with the first British team to walk unsupported and completing the first crossing winter of Iceland on skis, with sledges weighing 110 kg each, and covering a distance of 800 kilometers in 47 days. But the game is still open. In November Alan Chambers will attempt to reach the South Pole from the coast on skis.

“I am a former Royal Marine Commando Green Beret and am now a global adventurer who has traveled to over 70 countries, taking on challenges and expeditions. I was part of the first team in the world to successfully traverse all of Iceland in winter. People he said it was impossible and that’s what drives me to plan research and take on ‘impossible’ projects again. I believe that eventually someone will succeed and reach these worlds first, so why can’t it be me and my team? I planned and led the first British team to cover the 1500km from Canada to the geographic North Pole, a project that took 71 days and I lost a quarter of my body weight.But after 5 years of planning and training we succeeded where all others failed I’ve hiked to the North Pole, the South Pole, crossed Greenland and Iceland in the winter, and led 40 other expeditions in the polar regions. I’ve had a lifetime of adventures and challenges that have given me real purpose and, in the In the meantime, we’ve managed to raise over $20 million for charities.”

How do you draw inspiration for such extreme challenges?
“While serving in the Royal Marines, after a long deployment, a very close friend of mine had a terrible accident with a fractured spine and became a quadriplegic. This prompted me to start raising the necessary funds to support scientific research, hoping to help people with spinal cord injury walk again. So my purpose changed and I started walking and walking in extreme environments to support science.”

What is the moment you were most afraid?
“During an expedition to the North Pole, the chunk of ice we were camping on broke away from the rest of the Arctic Ocean and we remained afloat on that chunk which continued to melt for at least 36 hours. We drifted 400 miles sailing in the wrong direction. That’s when I felt there was no turning back. Until Nature offered us a lifeline and we were able to reach the wharf and continue on towards the North Pole.”

What is more important to success: luck or courage?
“Winston Churchill said ‘Fear is a reaction, but courage is a decision’ and I think the more you study in the planning stage, the more courage you will have when things don’t go according to plan. And then when you help others you help yourself too same”.

What is your impression of where the world is heading in terms of climate change and environmental disasters?
“After spending 25 years walking on the frozen Arctic Ocean, among the penguin colonies of Antarctica and in the jungles of the Amazon, I can tell that our planet is changing. You see a lot more ocean on the way to the North Pole than to 20 years ago. The temperature of the Earth has risen and the Arctic ice is thinning and this also affects the way I lead a team on the ice. Our weather models now also change the way you plan your expeditions, safety, risk and success rates, whereas before I wouldn’t have considered weather fluctuations so drastic that they cause more risk.”

What can we do for the planet?
“Do your part, no matter how small what you deem useless – it will add to the global action needed to help save not only the Earth but its people as well. One piece of recycled trash, one less electrical outlet, and so on away. Small actions that, multiplied by billions of people around the world, can make a difference. ‘Micromissions’ are just as important, if not even more important, than the solutions we expect from governments, politicians and administrators. Don’t wait, don’t think that our climate situation is someone else’s problem to solve every human need to be responsible, to help protect, repair and promote the health of our amazing world.”

What do you wish?
“It will take a global culture shift of more than 100 years to help the Planet breathe again, at a faster and healthier rate than it currently is. I would encourage every person to plant a tree every year as a gift to our beautiful Planet. we all do, each of us will be able to say that we have contributed to saving it”.