Dubai-based adventurer is 'on top of the world'

Dubai: Adventurer Adrian Hayes yesterday reached the North Pole after a "brutal" 50-day trek in temperatures as low as -60C.

The Dubai-based Briton, who last year climbed to the summit of Mount Everest, finished his 775km walk at 2pm UAE time.

He now has just the South Pole left before he can join the select club of people who have tamed the world's three "poles' -north, south and Everest.

Speaking to Gulf News by satellite telephone from the North Pole, Hayes said he and his two teammates were exhausted but "on top of the world".

"It's been brutal. So many times we were in so much pain and agony, but we just had to push ourselves through it. It's been an absolute killer.

"I am elated but so tired. We've been going for 14 hours a day for the past 10 days and now we're able to stop for a few hours. I have been looking forward to this and I am very relieved.

"This has to be the hardest physical challenge in the world. It is the most brutal terrain on Earth. Everest is very tough but it was few days here, a few days there, but this has been constant," he said. Former British Army Officer Hayes and teammates Briton Iain Morpeth and Canadian Richard Weber set off in early March.

During their walk, which was unaided, they had to pull 100kg sledges. They had to endure several severe storms that threatened to derail their bid to reach the North Pole.

The team are due to be picked up by a helicopter today and taken to a Russian ice station. Hayes, a married father-of-two, is hoping to return to Dubai on Saturday.

He said it was too early to begin thinking about walking to the South Pole, although it remains his aim.

"There'll be another time to work on that one. Right now I just want the warmth of Dubai," he said. Hayes, who is sponsored by Emirates Bank, Renaissance Services and Mondial/Financial Partners, has been raising money for the Children's Hope Foundation. To donate log on to www.adrianhayes.com

Effects of global warming

Adrian Hayes said the effects of global warming in melting the Arctic ice caps were clear to see during his trek to the North Pole.

"The ice is much thinner than it used to be. We had a huge storm last week and it cut it all up into pieces. That wouldn't happened 20 years ago. It's five-feet thick now instead of 20-feet thick. It's crumpled up all over the place," he said. Hayes said last week temperatures reached as high as -8C, which is unusually warm for the Arctic. "There are much more storms now than before," he added.

Walking all the way

Only about 120 people are thought to have walked all the way to the North Pole unaided in the way Adrian Hayes has done.
A mere two people have reached the North Pole on foot and returned unaided. They are Richard Weber -who led Adrian Hayes's three-man team -and Russian Misha Malakhov. This expedition took place in 1995. Many more people have got to the North Pole after flying most of the way in and walking the last stretch, or even flying all the way in.

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