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The last talk of the day at Geekyoto on Saturday was Ben Saunders.

This was of real personal interest as many months ago Jeremy pownced me a link to Ben Saunders web site to follow the progress of his attempt on the speed record of a solo trek to the North Pole. I've always had a fascination in arctic exploration and adventures so this was immediately added to my RSS feed. Unfortunately, he had equipment failure and some dreadful conditions and so
"After 8 days on the ice and at a position of N.83.57.686 W. 074.12.566 Ben Saunders' expedition to become the fastest man to walk solo and unsupported to the North Pole is over following the critical failure of his ski equipment."

His talk was excellent, polished and high standard as you would expect from someone who does a lot of fund raising and probably quite a few after dinner talks. He also had the only picture of a polar bear during the whole day! It wasn't just pretty pictures though, he showed us imagery of the ice thaw over the last few years, and also some photos of what the surface looked like after being broken apart so much. This photo:

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gives just a small indication of the height of some of the obstacles.

His next trip will be to the South Pole when he will attempt the first return journey to the south pole on foot
"SOUTH will be the first return journey to the South Pole on foot, and the longest unsupported (human-powered) polar journey in history".
He is due to leave in Autumn, so no doubt I'll be following his process again.