Pen Hadow Guest Speaker Review - by Philip Fanthom, Jenrick CPI Sales Director
Having had the pleasure of listening to Pen Hadow speak at our guest speaker event, I have to confess to being ‘bowled over’.
He talks with real passion and let’s you in on his personal life to the degree that you realise that this chap is just human and this makes his feats of human endeavour all the more impressive.
He briefly touched on his moments of depression that came from having failed in 2 previous bids to reach the North Pole. This made me realise that he has a drive within him that is almost impossible to quantify.
Starting as a ‘wee lad’ in Scotland he described how he knew he was destined to “do something”, but he just didn’t know what that something was. I think the early indications were that he had the ability to go through the pain barrier, especially when he recounts his story of wanting to see how long he could hang upside down by his legs (Aged only 7) from a branch of his favourite tree in the orchard. After for nearly 4 hours, his Mum came to get him and his face was swollen beyond recognition due to the blood flow.
Pen Hadow has a mantra that he lives by;
Relentless - Intelligent – Application
I will take this away with me and remember that to succeed in any task, I must be prepared to go for it any number of times and not be afraid of failure, but to learn from not achieving your end goal…….and try again.
Pen’s dream was to make the near 500 mile journey, alone and unsupported to the geographical North Pole from the Canadian border (a feat that had never been achieved before). The journey is a battle of will, physical and mental endurance. When describing his challenge, (a feat often compared to climbing Everest without Oxygen) Pen gave us a brief insight into the meticulous planning that was involved, from the technical equipment checks through to footwear selection. Each item was carefully selected for two things (1) Suitability and (2) Weight. When travelling ‘solo’ in such a hostile environment Pen had to be sure that he could pull a sled with all of his supplies, fuel and equipment. Having cut down as much as possible, the stark fact was that the sled he would be pulling over snow and ice ridges and swimming through icy water weighed nearly 20 stone.
We were then introduced to “Mr Orange” – an all in one insulated body suit, the purpose of which was demonstrated with the aid of a film clip (courtesy of National Geographic). Mr Orange was deployed in order for Pen to be able to enter the icy water of the Arctic Ocean, as this was the quickest route to the North Pole. He and other explorers had failed in their attempts to reach the pole in the past, because they had spent too much time seeking for the ‘dry route’.
Briefly, Pen gave us an overview of the estimated climate change that we expect to experience over the next 20-50 years. This was astonishing. In Britain we are looking at the prospect of our average temperature increasing by 5 degrees Celsius. This element of his presentation was delivered in such away that he was not lecturing, but merely commenting on what he has learned. This was a very welcoming and refreshing way to have this information relayed.
When listening to Pen talk about the potential plight of the polar bears, you really start to understand the drastic future that the arctic region is facing. These magnificent creatures are heading for extinction, ..and fast!
Pen finished by explaining the sheer relief he felt when he had reached his goal. For the first time he finally felt free.
Having said that, he soon embarking on heading back to the Arctic to undertake The Catlin Arctic Survey. This survey combines a pioneering feat of human endurance with scientific discovery on a geographical scale most would think impossible in the 21st century. This will be the first mapping of one of the Earth’s largest geophysical surface features: the North Pole ice cap.
Such a surface survey has never been attempted before and the information gathered will be passed to world leaders at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15 November 2009). This will hopefully lead to a UN resolution and produce a binding agreement within the UN’s new climate change protocol.
Tags: Catlin Arctic Survey, jenrick cpi events, Pen Hadow, pen hadow guest speaker, pen hadow solo
