Tim Ross, who will be going with other paramedics on an expedition to the North Pole. Picture by Peter Boam.
WIGHT LIVINGTHEY are two of the most inhospitable places on the planet.
The polar regions of the Arctic and the Antarctic experience extreme temperatures, ranging from minus 30 to minus 50 degrees centigrade and freezing winds blowing at more than 100mph.
These killer conditions have claimed the lives of countless explorers, notably Sir Robert Falcon Scott, whose life ended tragically after his doomed attempt to be the first man to reach the South Pole in 1912.
Although the early 20th century is regarded as the so-called 'heroic age’ of polar exploration, the beauty, mystery and sheer 'otherwordliness’ of the world’s most inaccessible regions have long held a fascination for adventurers.
Nearly 100 years before Scott’s death, equally famous men of their day were mapping the poles and trying to find the fabled North West Passage — a path through the ice of the North Pole, which it was then believed would open up northern trading routes between Europe and America.
One of those early famous adventurers was the extraordinary British naval officer and explorer, Sir James Clark Ross (1800-1862).
His name is for ever associated with the Antarctic, giving his name to the famous Ross Ice Shelf, James Ross Island and the Antarctic mammal, the Ross seal.
The current British Antarctic Survey Research vessel is named after him and Mt Erebus, the largest active volcano on the planet, is named after one of the two ships he commanded, HMS Erebus. He has even given his name to a crater on the moon.
Earlier in his career, in June 1831, he also discovered the location of the magnetic North Pole with his uncle, Sir John Ross.
You may be forgiven for wondering what possible connection the IW could have with James Clark Ross, one of Britain’s most illustrious explorers.
Yet 48-year-old paramedic Tim Ross, from Newport, has an extra-special reason to remember his achievements.
Not only is he Ross’s great-great-great-grandson, he is also planning to follow in his ancestor’s footsteps in March 2013, when he and a group of emergency services personnel from the south aim to hike 100km over frozen sea-ice to reach the North Pole.
James Clark Ross’s legacy has always been a feature of Tim’s life.
In 1972, aged just eight, he and his family were invited to the then GPO Tower (now the Telecom Tower) in London to the launch of a set of stamps commemorating his ancestor’s achievements.
Today, at Tim’s house, in Aspen Close, the walls of his study are decorated with James Clark Ross memorabilia. There is a portrait of Ross, in all his naval finery on the wall, two maps of the north and south poles and even pictures of the stamps issues by the Post Office featuring Ross.
The young Tim always had Ross at the back of his mind and it implanted in him a deep desire to visit the poles. His connection to Ross also opened doors.
He said: "I grew up knowing about him. I did try to get to the South Pole once. I was invited on board the maiden voyage of the British Antarctic Survey Vessel, the James Clark Ross, in 1992."
He joked: "Unfortunately, my then wife was pregnant and I would have been away for the birth of my first child."
However, Tim’s ambition to visit the polar regions remained undimmed. But he ruled out seeing them as a tourist on board a cruise liner. Instead, he vowed to reach the poles in a more 'Ross’ like fashion.
His chance came via an e-mail from a colleague at work, who suggested a joint emergency services charity expedition to the north pole in March 2013. Tim jumped at the opportunity.
He said: "I thought, 'I have got to be part of this’."
The project to reach the pole is ambitious. A team of 13 emergency service personnel will hike 100 kilometres across the frozen sea ice in March 2013 — the height of the Arctic summer.
They expect to take around three weeks to complete the journey, which will be undertaken in perpetual daylight. The team will be 'man-hauling’ their sledges across the frozen wastes, taking everything they need to survive, including food, shelter and fuel.
The incredible effort of hauling the sledges, and keeping warm at such extreme temperatures, will mean each team member will burn an incredible 6,000 calories a day (a normal sedentary man burns around 2,000 calories a day). And as they will carry only enough food between them to eat 4,500 calories a day, one of Tim’s tasks is to put on around a stone in weight so he will have enough fat reserves to complete the journey.
Tim, who works both for Hampshire and IW Air Ambulance and the Island’s ambulance service as a paramedic, said: "As the crow flies, the 13 of us will be walking 100km but it will be more than that because you have to walk around obstacles. Also, when you wake up after a night’s sleep, you can have floated back kilometres because you are not hiking over land."
Already, the rest of potential team has been winnowed down from an original 85 applicants to 30. A training event set to take place at an outdoor centre in Wales this year will sort out the final line-up of the team.
A celebrity is also going to take part in the event but Tim is keeping tight-lipped about who it is at this stage.
If things go to plan, the team hopes to raise around half-a-million pounds for the Hampshire and IW Air Ambulance as well as Hampshire and IW police and firefighters’ charities.
The trek is also set to feature on a television programme and will be broadcast to schools, highlighting the importance of the polar regions in the on-going fears about climate change.
Tim said: "We have got to carry on our sledges everything we are going to use. We will be taking head mounted cameras with us, as long as we have the sponsorship, and would like to get schools involved. A lot of the preparation is mental.
"I am really excited and really looking forward to it."
Reporter: davidn@iwcpmail.co.uk