North Pole Expedition
Wentworth flag on way to North Pole
Two intrepid Wentworth members are launching an assault on the North Pole next month (April), and raising funds for the captains’ charities in the process.
Alan Bussey and Dennis Woods, both keen golfers, have been in training through the winter, building up their endurance in the Wentworth gym and honing their cross-country skiing and husky-driving skills in snow-bound Minnesota.
The pair will set off on April 8, flying via Oslo and Spitzbergen to a Russian base on the Arctic icepack, from which they’ll be dropped by helicopter two degrees from the Pole.
From there, it is about 150 miles on foot to the top of the world, where they plan to be the first to plant the Wentworth club flag on April 28 or 29.
Dennis said that although people imagine the floating ice pack is flat, in fact it frequently buckles under pressure, breaking up to create a rocky terrain strewn with giant ice boulders which is extremely difficult to cross.
There is constant danger from peckish polar bears, which are quite happy to eat a stray human, so the expedition will pack a gun to be used only in self-defence.
“But the biggest danger is falling into the sea through what are called open leads, where the ice has separated, or through thin ice,” Dennis said.
And however cold the weather, it is dangerous to cook inside your tent – if you did, the resulting condensation can freeze inside your clothes.
The Wentworth pair will be part of a four-person team led by Annie Aggens, an experienced American polar explorer. They will take turns riding on the equipment sled dragged by huskies, and hope to cover between eight and 13 miles a day.
So what was it that made two golfers forgo the pleasures of teeing off for a round or two at Wentworth just as spring is in the air?
“Alan had come to the stage that he was thinking of retirement and looking for a new challenge,” Dennis explained. “He must have picked on me because he knows that I’m up for that sort of thing – and to be honest, I had a couple of glasses of red wine inside me when he asked.”
The pair have kindly agreed to raise money for the Thames Valley Hospice, one of our Captains' charities chosen by Sophie Spring. Please give generously via the justgiving donation site - simply click here.
You can follow Alan and Dennis’s progress at www.polarexplorers.com