Purpose - well that's a big topic to start a blog entry with. I tackled my thoughts about perspective in The Long Haul, but purposely (!) stopped short of moving onto purpose. I touched on 'why' I travelled on polar expeditions but not the wider purpose, if indeed there is any.

Choosing to undertake a variety of ways of life; polar travel (plus the resultant writing and speaking engagements) and commercial photography, purpose can be very hard to summarise and become satisfied with. Most of my avenues are in one way or another, part of the creative industry. This comes as a great surprise to me in particular, largely because my formative years were sending me in a direction which was anything but. I studied science at university, was always of a methodical mind and was working towards a career as a Royal Marines Officer. After my first few months in training for this vocation, it became clear that purpose was given to you in that line of work - it was fundamentally inbuilt to the job. Upon a series of badly-timed injuries and leaving 'The Corps', I returned to the areas of my life which had always been important, polar travel and photography, and decided to make a living from them.

Having to create your own purpose brings with it a whole truckload of challenges. I firmly believe that most people underrate their own ability and live their lives using a fraction of their potential. I was determined not to sleep-walk into falling foul of this and resisted any attempt to put me on a career conveyor-belt. As such, self-employment became the obvious path to follow or rather, path to forge. I relish the lifestyle as it has amongst the most primal of principles at its heart. Work hard, diversify and stay flexible and you survive. Become lazy, complacent and uninventive and you sink without trace. It brings me back to my biological studies and fascination with how much humans have insulated themselves from the pressures of nature which dictate each living minute of every other creature on Earth.

So this brings us back to the subject of having a bombproof sense of purpose in a 'creative industry' career. Some might call these the 'unnecessary' jobs - a far cry from saving lives in a surgery or designing the newest efficient car engine. Speakers, photographs, books and expedition guides are 'nice to haves', rather than fundamental to stopping society falling apart at the seams. Or are they? What is it that makes us different from the other creatures we share the landscape with, apart from our ability to manipulate this landscape for our own expansion and gain? Society and civilisation has had the arts at its core since the very beginning, when man began to draw on the walls of caves. It's what makes us human, inventive and progressive. That is as good a purpose as any for me. No more or less important than a surgeon or shelf-stacker.

Although the North and South Poles have been reached overland all those decades ago, there is still a significant but small group of polar travellers who continue to push back boundaries in the polar regions. They are in most cases totally unknown outside of their own countries and are often forgotten in deference to those with powerful publicity teams. 

Every week, I hope to publish a new blog article to illustrate the remarkable expeditions of another modern polar great.

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WILL STEGER - USA

Will Steger came to prominence in the early 1980s after decades of education in wilderness travel and driving dogs. This was a time when polar expeditions were infrequent and without any of the support infrastructure which many have access to today. He made his reputation as a skilled specialist in dog-supported expeditions.

After the disputed claims over the North Pole by the likes of Cook and Peary, Steger was able to reach the North Pole in 1986 in the first confirmed successful dogsled expedition. He then followed this with a massive 1,600 mile south-north crossing of Greenland. This distance has still not been exceeded unsupported with dogs.

Steger's headline expedition came in 1989-90 with the International Trans-Antarctica Expedition. The aim was to cross the Antarctic continent in its entirety and via a long route, 3,741 miles. This involved a large dog team and resupplies to keep the expedition moving for seven months.

Following the culmination to his expedition career, Steger is a high-profile ambassador for combating climate change and created the Will Steger Foundation.

Although the North and South Poles have been reached overland all those decades ago, there is still a significant but small group of polar travellers who continue to push back boundaries in the polar regions. They are in most cases totally unknown outside of their own countries and are often forgotten in deference to those with powerful publicity teams. 

Every week, I hope to publish a new blog article to illustrate the remarkable expeditions of another modern polar great.

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ROLF BAE - Norway (January 9, 1975 – August 1, 2008)

The trend of Norwegians continues into Week Two. Rolf Bae was a mountaineer and polar traveller of international note before being killed on K2 in the summer of 2008.

He was married to fellow Norwegian and polar expert Cecilie Skog. Bae crossed the Antarctic in its entirety with Eirik Sønneland in 2000/1 in an epic 105 day 3800km expedition without resupply. The expedition began at the Norwegian Troll Base in Droning Maud Land and reached the South Pole after two months of travel. From here they continued on to reach the Scott Base on the Ross Sea coast. This expedition, despite its enormity and significance, has been routinely under-reported since. This wind-supported polar distance record was only broken in 2006 by Rune Gjeldnes.

On April 24th 2006 he, Skog and Per Borch reached the North Pole unsupported from the Canadian side. This 775km expedition was completed in a record 49 days.

Rolf Bae was killed in an avalanche on K2 in Pakistan, an accident which claimed the lives of eleven climbers in total.