Become an ... explorer.

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Tom Avery 

Age: 33

Job Title: Explorer

Winter might be over for us ... but for British explorer Tom Avery, who's built his career on trekking through some of the iciest landscapes on earth, it never ends! Tom, who's loved climbing since age five, is one of only 41 people to have reached both the north and south poles on foot and is the current Guinness world record holder for the "fastest surface journey to the North Pole". And now he's an author, too! Tom's new book, "To the End of the Earth," describes his biggest adventure to date: recreating Robert Peary's 1909 famous trek to the North Pole using only equipment that was available a century ago. Tom took time out from his adventuring to talk to kidsworld about how he became a master explorer--and how you can follow in his (frosty) footsteps.

KW: Describe re creating Peary's journey from 17o?. What equipment did you use, and how did it pose a challenge compared to modern equipment?

TA: The big feature was our dog teams. We built exact replicas of Peary's wooden sleds, and lashed them together with cord, just as he had done. No screws or nails were used in their construction. And the dogs we used were the same breed as Peary had used--the incredible Canadian Eskimo Dog.

KW: On the Peary re-creation, did you have a back-up plan in case the old-timey equipment failed?

TA: No! If the sleds broke (which they often did) we had to re-tie them together on the trail. Tying knots at minus forty is no fun at all.

KW: Many people think that Robert Perry didn't actually reach the North Pole in 1909. What do you think about that?

TA: Having traveled the same route as Peary's team, and by the same method, I am absolutely convinced that they reached the Pole in 1909, as they had always claimed. Driving dogs is the most efficient way to travel across the unstable terrain of the Arctic Ocean--and if we could have reached the Pole in 37 days, then of course so could Peary.

KW: Are there any things that you like about old fashioned exploring equipment more than contemporary equipment?

TA: The 4,000-year-old method of traveling with dogs is the purest form of travel. The bond you form with the animals is so close. Without our canine companions, we would have got nowhere!

KW: What's a typical day like on a trek?

TA: When you're driving dog teams across the Arctic Ocean, no two days are ever the same. Because you're essentially travelling across a frozen sea, the place changes the whole time. One minute you're travelling across a beautifully smooth surface, thinking, "this isn't so bad after all," and then you're confronted with an enormous ice wall! Often you've got to really bend your back to lift the sled over the top. Sometimes the ice splits apart so you might have open water to cross, in which case you either jump, try to build a bridge out of ice blocks, or find another place to cross. A typical day on the ice lasts ten hours, after which you're so exhausted that after putting the tent up, all you want to do is eat and go to sleep.

KW: What's the hardest part of exploring?

TA: The expeditions I go on tend to be to cold parts of the world, like mountains and ice caps, where the temperatures can be in the minus forties. The hardest challenge is when the alarm clock goes off really early in the mornings and I have to crawl out of my nice warm snug sleeping bag and into the cold. I hate it!

KW: What's the most exciting thing that you've seen while exploring?

TA: It would have to be the Northern lights. One night when the temperature wasn't too cold, and the wind was still, we slept outside in our warm sleeping bags. For hours we gazed up at the heavens in wonder as curtains of green luminescence danced across the night sky. It was almost like being in a trance--it was a privilege to witness.

KW: What's the scariest thing that's happened to you on a trek?

TA: Getting lost in a blizzard half way to the Pole. It was my turn to be out in front, scouting the route ahead for the others to follow. But on this particular day, the wind picked up and we were soon enveloped in a blizzard. I turned around but couldn't see the others. I skied towards two figures in the gloom, thinking that they were two of my teammates. But they turned out to be ice pinnacles. I was terrified. I yelled out into the storm, but nothing. After half an hour of panicked skiing around in circles, we were eventually reunited. I have never felt so relieved in my whole life. And I never made the same mistake again of skiing too far ahead of the main group!

KW: What are some myths or misconceptions about the North Pole that aren't true?

TA: Contrary to popular belief, your compass points not to the North Pole but to the Magnetic North Pole, some 1,000 miles to the south. It makes navigating towards the Pole very difficult as you can be travelling due north but your compass is pointing due south!

KW: Did you find Santa's Village at the North Pole?

TA: When we got to the Pole we scanned the horizon, looking for a bearded man in a red coat. But sadly neither Santa, nor his reindeer were anywhere to be seen.

KW: Did you always like exploring? How did you get started?

TA: It was while reading the story of a famous British explorer called Captain Scott when I was a kid that I decided that I wanted to be an explorer. He was such an inspirational, fearless man, who was the first man to really explore this otherworldly place called Antarctica. From that moment on, I knew that my life would not be complete until I had followed his footsteps to the South Pole. And then the North Pole after that. But it took me 20 years to build up enough expedition experience before I had the confidence to go to the South Pole myself. Much of this experience involved rock climbing, trekking and ice climbing expeditions around the world, to bigger and bigger mountains. It wasn't until I reached 26 that I went to the South Pole.

KW: How dangerous is exploring, and what pre cautions do you take to make sure you are safe?

TA: As soon as you step foot on the Arctic Ocean, the place is trying to kill you. Whether it is the unstable pressure ridges which can reach 60 feet in height and often collapse before your eyes, or the unbearable cold with temperatures in the minus forties, the Far North is the most dangerous place on Earth. In fact the temperatures are so cold that you have to keep blinking or your eyes will freeze shut, or run in place to get the blood flowing to frozen toes again. Polar Bears may look cute and cuddly but they can kill a man with a single swipe of their giant claws. And then there's the open water which is everywhere, it takes on a sinister black colour and because you're out in the middle of the ocean, it's often over two miles deep. Not a good idea to fall in!

KW: What's the future of exploring? Where are explorers dying to go that hasn't been visited much?

TA: The real challenge facing polar explorers is the melting ice cap at the North Pole. It's melting so fast that at some point in the next 10 years it will be impossible to reach on foot. There's just going to be too much water around. It's tragic that such a pristine, beautiful landscape can be totally destroyed by mankind. The good news is that there are still loads of remote places to go to. A few years ago, I organized an expedition to a pocket of mountains, deep in the Himalayas, which had never been explored before. We climbed 10 mountains that nobody had ever climbed before. And as none of them had names, we got to name them too which was pretty cool. I named one of the mountains after my mother after we climbed it on her birthday. If you do your research, there are still new places out there waiting to be explored.

KW: If you weren't an adventurer, what would you be?

TA: An accountant! Luckily I failed my professional accountancy exams when I was younger so became an explorer instead.

Read about it!

In April 1909, American explorers Robert Peary and Matthew Henson led the first successful expedition to the geographic North Pole. To this day however, many people still dispute their claim.

In his new book, "To the End of the Earth", Tom Avery recounts his experience re-creating Peary and Henson's famous journey 100 years ago. Full of suspense, adventure and fasinating info about the North Pole, this read is as entertaining as it is interesting. Ask your school librarian where you can find a copy!

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