Climb Your Mountain: Everyday lessons from an extraordinary life

Product Information

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, at the North Pole during the Transglobe Expedition, having carved out a cave in the ice for temporary shelter, April 1982 (Image: Mirrorpix) It's called the Global Reach Challenge and I'm the only person to ever have done it. There are two other people who have nearly done it, a Norwegian and a Belgian, both of whom I am friends with now. Preparation for what came to be called the Transglobe Expedition began in 1972 and occupied much of Fiennes’s and Ginny’s time during the rest of the decade. The trekking team, led by Fiennes and including fellow Britons Charles Burton and Oliver Shepard, had a support crew of some three dozen people, including Ginny. They departed from Greenwich, England, in September 1979, attempting to stay as close as possible to the Greenwich meridian as they journeyed southward over land and water, until they reached the coast of Antarctica in January 1980. They remained there until October, when Fiennes, Burton, and Shepherd departed on snowmobiles for the South Pole, which they reached on December 15. Setting out again after a short time at the American base there, they arrived at the Scott Base on the west coast of Antarctica in mid-January 1981, having made the continental traverse in a record-setting 67 days.

Living Dangerously offers a light-hearted and strikingly poignant, personal journey through Sir Ranulphs life. He is pictured at Everest Basecamp, Nepal, during his Everest 2008 summit attempt (Image: Liz Scarff) Paul Sykes, long time benefactor of Sir Ranulph, is sponsoring the Global Reach Challenge, in aid of Marie Curie. The record I would like to have broken is to cross all the ice caps and climb all seven of the highest mountains. Read More Related Articles The Polar Medal, awarded by Her Majesty the Queen, is awarded to Ranulph. His wife, Ginnie, wins the Polar Medal in 1987, becoming the first woman to win the award. In the same year The Guinness Book of Records calls Ranulph ‘The World's Greatest Living Explorer’. The Royal Scottish Geographical Society also awards him the Founder’s Medal and the New York Explorers Club awards him a Gold Medal. 1983 As preparation to summit Everest, Ranulph climbs the tallest free standing mountain in the world, Mount Kilimanjaro. It was no easy task, the explorer getting angina pains 500ft from the summit. It was to be a sign of the dangers ahead in his attempt on Everest.Awarded a bar to his Polar Medal, amounting to winning it twice. The same year he’s given an Hon Dr: from UCE, now known as Birmingham City University. 1992-1993 Ranulph and Mike Stroud became the first people to completely cross the Antarctic continent on foot unsupported. At the time, and for years after, this was the longest unsupported (with no assistance of resupplying) polar journey, totalling 97 days.

At the moment, I still hold the World Record of being the only person to have crossed the whole of that Antarctica ice cap, the whole of the northern ice cap and to climb the highest mountain. However, he still needs to successfully summit Mount Vinson, Aconcagua in South America, Mount Carstensz in Australasia* and finally Denali, the highest peak in North America and one of the world’s most dangerous and difficult mountains to climb - only then will he complete this world first. There’s so much to talk about that I can only briefly touch on being the oldest Brit up Everest and the oldest pensioner in Great Britain to go up the north face of the Eiger! I’ve tried to get a good mix of polar exploring, and my other adventures." LEAR Fitness offers a new, unique approach to health and well-being. Its aim is to support clients to achieve their own personal lifestyle goals, following on from major surgery, training for specific sports events, or maintaining their level of health and fitness in a welcoming, supportive environment with fully qualified team. Offering a range of services from physiotherapy and physio-led reformer and mat classes, personal training, nutritional advice, fitness classes, indoor cycling studio, LEAR Fitness clients have access to professionals to help them restore and maintain the level of fitness they need.Currently with two purpose-built centres in Leamington Spa and Harrogate, LEAR Fitness has plans to open its third centre within the next 12 months. Marie Curie is the UK’s leading charity for people with any terminal illness.The charity helps people living with a terminal illness and their families make the most of the time they have together by delivering expert hands-on care, emotional support, research and guidance.I have sponsored him to raise funds for Marie Cure before which included the Everest, Eiger and Marathon des Sables challenges. The money Sir Ranulph will raise will help Marie Curie reach many more people living with a terminal illness as well as providing vital emotional support for their families.” Marries childhood sweetheart Ginnie Pepper and together they launch a series of record breaking expeditions. Ranulph also wins the Sultan of Oman's Bravery Medal this year. 1969

Frederik van Tuyll, CEO, TMF Group who are sponsoring the Global Reach Challenge said: “Sir Ranulph Fiennes is the world’s greatest living explorer. He has inspired many for generations with his perseverance and dedication, and has pushed himself to the extreme to complete some of the world’s most gruelling and difficult challenges. He has shown that to succeed in remote areas requires not only tremendous ambition but also detailed local knowledge and expertise - so he surrounds himself with a strong team, all experts in their field. TMF Group understands this too, and is excited to be part of the Global Reach Challenge team.”

Ranulph makes his first attempt to climb Mount Everest, getting within 300 metres of the summit. He’s also awarded an Hon Dr from the University of Sheffield. 2004

This was the first crossing north to south of Canada, inland, over water. Ranulph was again leader of the expedition. The Headless Valley is also known as the Nahanni Valley of Canada’s north-west territories. The only way to get there is by water, air, or a long trek on land from Tungsten village. Even now, much of the area is unexplored. To get there, the team travelled some 290 miles in small rubber boats against the rapids of the South Nahanni River up to the Virginia Falls. For comparison, these rapids are about twice as high as Niagara Falls.

1983

For more information on Marie Curie and Sir Ranulph’s support visit www.mariecurie.org.uk/ranulph . Born, Windsor, Berkshire. His father died in action in late 1943 at the Battle of Monte Cassino. Ranulph inherits the baronetcy held by his father when he is born, becoming the 3rd Baronet of Banbury, and means he has the title of Sir. Taking seven years to plan, this was one of Ranulph Fiennes’ most epic journeys. The team, led by Ranulph, circumnavigated the world on its polar axis, using only surface transport. In total, they covered 52,000 miles over three years. Along with his expedition partner, Charles Burton, Ranulph became the first person to visit both North and South poles travelling only on the surface and to cross the Antarctic and Arctic Oceans. It was such a huge challenge no one has ever repeated the route. Paul Sykes, long-time benefactor of Sir Ranulph Fiennes, said: “Sir Ranulph proves with enormous willpower what can be physically achieved. He is a friend and hero to me and I am proud to support his latest endurance challenge.