After spending a month in temperatures between -20degC and -55degC, Richard Stephenson (32) says Dunedin feels tropical.
He and nine other contestants formed three teams and in April took part in the Polar Challenge, a 600km ''race'' between northern Canada and the magnetic North Pole. It took 23 days to complete, three days longer than expected, because of a storm.
Because of the extra cost of monitoring all the teams if they became separated, the three teams completed the journey together, Dr Stephenson said. A typical day for Dr Stephenson and his team-mates Matt Burnell and Gareth Andrews started at 6am.
''Whoever was on cooking would get the stoves going and warm the tent up a bit. They would melt snow for water, get porridge for breakfast and fill our flasks with hot water for the day.''
They would usually be on their skis by 9am and aimed to complete 25km to 35km a day. Sometimes, they would be on the ice until 10pm. The teams had to make the most of 24-hour daylight, he said.
Competitors hauled about 70kg of supplies on their sleds and ate rehydrated foods such as dried fruit. They were resupplied twice over the 23 days and had their rubbish taken away by plane.
The teams were accompanied by two guides. However, one of them removed a glove while putting up a tent and had to be evacuated with serious frostbite, Dr Stephenson said. The competitors also had a close call with polar bears.
''One night, I heard a snow shovel fall over outside our tent. I decided not to check it out and went back to sleep. When we woke up and walked outside, the camp was surrounded by their [bears'] footprints. But they didn't touch anything.''
The hardest part was psychological. Putting up with the cold and constant discomfort was difficult, he said. Contestants had much personal time when they could not talk to each other because of the windy and loud environment. To get through the days, Dr Stephenson would think of his partner Laura Andrews and son William, calculate how much ground the team was making and listen to music.
Dr Stephenson, who lost about 8kg during the event, said it was bizarre to leave the North Pole at -26degC and land in Ottawa in 26degC.
A doctor at Dunedin Hospital, he now plans to do some study and spend time with his family.
''I used up a lot of brownie points with Laura when I went away.''
- Robert van Royen
