The Purpose of this Blog

(written by Clara)

"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.  Earnest Shackleton, 4 Burlington St."

The story goes that this is what the advertisment said that Ernest Shackleton posted in the London Times on his search for willing recruits to join him on his Trans-Antarctica expedition. Comparing our upcoming Adventure to Shackleton's epic expedition would be utterly pretentious, but I want to use his (alleged) quote to make a point about why we are writing this blog and why we invite you to read it.

1. It will be cold. "Bitter cold" is fairly subjective, but we expect average temperatures in the double-digit sub-zero range, excluding wind chill. 
2. There will be some danger. Most of you will be aware of the fact that there are many polar bears (Ursus maritimus) on Svalbard, who occasionally clash with the human inhabitants- sometimes fatally (more often for the bears than for the people). However, there are other dangers that I personally am more aware of than bears: As the main intention of our trip was to go off the beaten track, we will be crossing glaciers, sea ice and other terrain where crevasses, avalanches and other instabilities occur.
3. There will be no monetary compensation for our efforts. On the contrary, we have invested considerable amounts for appropriate equipment in order to make a safe return likely, not doubtful as was the case with Shackleton and Co.

 All things considered, I would say that joining us on our Adventure by reading this blog is a much safer and definitely more comfortable bet. We are also aware that not everyone has the same privileges that we enjoy, andby writing this blog we hope to share as much as possible with the people who would like to do something like this, but for whatever reason are unable to so (at least this time round). At the same time I guess this is our best chance to gain some recognition- even if it is not an OBE.

Since it happens to be International Women's Day today I would like to put forward my own personal theory as to why Shackleton ran into so much trouble on his trip: he was exclusively looking for Men to join him on his trip, completely disregarding the achievements of female explorers who have done (and keep doing) things many of us can only dream of. Luckily, we will not be making the same mistake- Svalbard, here we come!