Adrian conquers Everest, North Pole and now South Pole

10:07am Sunday 30th December 2007

Comments (0)   Have your say »

A HAMPSHIRE adventurer is celebrating after conquering a series of the most gruelling physical challenges on the planet.

Arriving at the South Pole on Friday night after trekking 1,130km through the frozen wastelands of Antarctica, Adrian Hayes, a former Army officer who grew up in Totton, has braved temperatures of minus 35C to complete the third and final stage of the Three Poles challenge.

Joining an exclusive club that previously only counted 14 people in the world in its membership, Adrian, 47, and his four companions completed the expedition after conquering the extremes of Mount Everest last year and a trek to the North Pole 11-months later.

Reaching their destination after 46 days of blinding white snow and ice, broken boots, frostbite and altitude sickness Adrian and his fellow expedition members have had to cope with fatigue and ferocious winds as they battle their way across one of the most hostile regions on Earth.

Dangers In his online blog, Adrian described the many dangers he faced from camping over crevasses to stuffing socks and neck warmers down his pants after a hole developed in the fly of his windproof suit.

"While most of us will accept losing a finger or toe to frostbite, there are some body parts that are totally irreplaceable," he said.

On Boxing Day Adrian described how the team were beginning to suffer badly from the effects of the hazardous region as teammate Evelyn's illness was getting worse and she suspected she had a lung problem.

Then the freezing temperatures forced one of Adrian's dental fillings and part of a tooth to crack open.

"Its something that can happen in Polar regions, where alternating freezing air with piping hot drinks creates a lot of stress on our teeth," he said.

"Well, it was one temperature fluctuation too far for one my gnashers and a filling and part of a tooth completely cracked open, leaving a gaping hole exposed to the elements.

"Not sure whether minus 30C air gushing through a hole in my tooth or 100km winds gushing through a hole in my crotch is more painful - but given the choice I'd prefer to lose a tooth - at least I have 31 more of them."

On Thursday night, before arriving at the South Pole yesterday evening, Adrian said: "Understandably, there is a lot of both excitement and reflection tonight from everyone.

"All we have worked so hard for for 46 days - and it has been very hard, there should be no illusions - coming to a successful conclusion.

"The only spanner in the works is my broken tooth, which is cutting my tongue so much that talking, for once, is becoming a major problem.

Speaking before he left for the South Pole trek, the married father of two, said: "It's a very big challenge, requiring different skills for three very different expeditions, plus huge amounts of time and dedication, physical fitness and perseverance.

"The two biggest dangers are hypothermia and crevasses."

They had planned to reach the Pole before New Year's Eve and even spent Christmas hauling their sleds across mile after mile of ice.

"Conditions are very severe, although the snow and ice are a little easier to deal with than they were at the North Pole," said Adrian.

The bone-numbing temperatures are a far cry from those that Adrian experiences at home in Dubai, where it is often as hot (35C) as the Antarctic is cold.

His mother, Linda Hayes, of Ringwood Road, Netley Marsh, said he acquired a love of mountaineering during his time in the Army.

She added: "After conquering some of the world's highest peaks he decided to go for the Three Poles.

"It's a generic term for the three extremes on our planet - the top of the world, the bottom of the world and the roof of the world.

"They're otherwise known as the North Pole, the South Pole and Mount Everest, which is often referred to as the third pole.

"Adrian successfully climb-ed Everest in May last year.

"With that achievement under his belt he was spurred on to further adventures and in February he joined a 775km expedition to the North Pole, arriving safely at the end of April 26."