Mental challenge greater than physical test, says Mullingar polar explorer

The mental challenge of undertaking an unsupported 2,250km ski trip to the South Pole and back is far greater than the physical test.

That’s the informed view of Edinburgh based Mullingar native Darren Slevin, who along with his friend Nathan Lumb, is gearing up to create a piece of history by becoming the first team from Ireland and Britain to ski to the South Pole and back unsupported.

The duo are currently preparing for the epic three-month journey from the western shore of Antarctica to the South Pole and back, which will take place during the Arctic summer towards the end of this year.

Darren told the Westmeath Examiner that the expedition is something that both he and Nathan had separately wanted to do since their imaginations were fired as youngsters when they read about the exploits of polar explorers such as Roald Amundsen of Norway, Britain’s Captain Robert Falcon Scott, and Ireland’s Ernest Shackleton. It was only after the outdoor enthusiasts crossed paths five years ago that they realised that their dream could become a reality.

Most recent expeditions to the South Pole are one-way trips, but Darren says that he and Nathan want to “preserve the spirit of exploration, resilience and determination” displayed by the legends of the past.

Over the last few years, Darren has spent weeks ski touring in Norway and also completed a 400km ski expedition through the Arctic Northwest Passage in Canada in preparation for his polar expedition. Nathan has also gained extensive experience skiing in Norway’s Arctic wilderness, hundreds of kilometres from civilisation.

“The Northwest Passage trip was quite cold and was good practice. We had temperatures down as far as minus 45 degrees Celsius, which should be similar to what we can expect in Antarctica, where it should be between minus 20 and minus 40 degrees,” Nathan said.

The two-man team will take all their food and other supplies with them as they ski across the unforgiving Arctic landscape towards the South Pole.

“We’ll have about 85 days worth of food and fuel. We’ll pull the sleds ourselves [dogs were banned from the South Pole in 1994 because they were spreading a canine infection to seals]. That’s what we done during our training. When I went through the Northwest Passage, I had about 20 days of food and fuel and we did a trip on February of this year (2024) to the Norwegian Arctic. We had three weeks of food and fuel with us, as well as our tents, sleeping bags and cooking gear. We were completely self-supported for the three weeks.”

The physically toughest part of the journey will be at the start.

“We are aiming to do about 20 to 25 kilometres a day, but at the start it will be about 10 or 15 a day for the first few weeks and then, as our sleds get lighter, we’ll start to get lighter. We plan to leave a depots on route that we will pick up on the return journey.”

Darren estimates that he will burn around 8,000 calories a day during the expedition. Because he will be pulling his food and other supplies on sleds, he will only be able to take a certain amount and will have to fatten up a bit to ensure that his weight loss isn’t too severe.

“It’s not possible to carry enough food to cover all the calories, because of the weight. We’ll be in calorie deficit for a good chunk of the trip and will lose weight. We’ll have to put on maybe an extra 10 to 14 kilos of weight [in advance of the trip].

“It was the same when I was going through Canada and Arctic Norway – we lost weight even though we ate constantly throughout the day.

“You usually ski for 50 minutes or an hour and then you stop for 10 minutes. You have something to drink and some food. You do that consistently throughout the day.”

With the bulk of their training done, Darren will spend the next year maintaining his fitness and preparing for the mother of all endurance tests.

“I think the hard part at the beginning will be the weight of the sled. As the sled gets lighter, then it’s all about then how fast and how efficient we can ski to make up the distance.

“We’ve both been skiing for the last five years. We’ve done trips with sleds and without.

“I go to the gym to do cardio, and weights. I also do a lot of outdoor activities in Scotland. I’m currently trying to do a round of the Munros (Scottish mountains higher than 3,000 feet).

“We don’t have much snow in Scotland, so if you want to simulate skiing without snow, we have these things called roller skis. We can then attach a tyre to ourselves and use the roller skis, and that’s like skiing with a sled.

“It’s really good for your balance and you use the same muscles as you would as if you were skiing.”

As physically demanding as the expedition will be, Darren says that from the training they have already done, he and Nathan are acutely aware that they will be pushed to their psychological limits too. Compartmentalisation is key.

“The psychological aspect is probably 90 percent of it. To be honest, you try not to think about the end goal or the last day, because it’s too far ahead. What I normally do is try and just focus on getting through each day.

“The way I do it is once the tent is up and the stove is on, the day is over. I try not stress too much if I was going a bit slow or the sled felt really heavy. Sometimes you can have a bad day, so as soon as the tent is up, and we’re melting snow for water on the stove, I try to reset the day.

“I try to just forget about what went on for the last 10-12 hours and just focus on the next day and try not to put too much pressure on myself.

“It’s important not to start kicking yourself because you didn’t do as much distance or something else that didn’t go to plan. It important to concentrate on the positives when the tent is up, like you’re safe and everything is fine.”

Darren likes to break each day up into chunks centred on food breaks.

“The end goal is always at the back of your mind, but you just try to focus on baby steps until you get there. You know that if you ski enough and you ski long enough, you’ll get there.”

The expedition is due to start at end of October or the beginning of November during the southern hemisphere’s summer, the only time of the year that travellers to the South Pole are able to make the journey. Darren and Mark will travel to Antarctica with the Chilean based firm Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions (ALE), specialists in the niche field.

“ALE set up a base camp for the three months of the Antarctic summer on the Chilean side of Antarctica at a place called Union Glacier. The they fly expeditions from Punta Arenas in Chile over to Union Glacier, and you basically wait at Union Glacier then for a weather window to fly in to the start of the expedition.

“We have to have daily calls with them. If we miss calls with them, they’ll assume something’s happened and will come and try to find us. We’ll also get a weather forecast from them, so we’ll know the weather for the next day, and we’ve also got a weather forecast guy based in Oslo, who’s been helping us the last few years with our trips and training. He’s going to be giving us his forecast while we’re out on the ice as well.”

There will also be a scientific dimension to the expedition. Darren and Nathan will be collaborating with Science In The Wild, a citizen science project run by Dr Ulyana Horodyskyj Peña, who works at the University of Colorado in the US. That will involve them collecting snow samples along the route.

Edinburgh is 16,000 kilometres from the South Pole, but thanks to modern telecommunications Darren will be able to keep in regular contact with his wife Jan and five-year-old son Albie. Darren acknowledges that he wouldn’t be able to follow in the footsteps of Scott and Shackleton if it wasn’t for the support of his family.

“It can be difficult when I disappear off for three weeks training and they’re left at home. She understands how important it is to me.”

Scott seal of approval

Captain Scott’s only grandson, Falcon Scott, is the patron of the expedition. Darren says that having his seal of approval helps them when they are meeting would-be sponsors, and also gives their efforts a “historical perspective”.

As well as fulfilling their desire to follow in the footsteps of their heroes, Darren and Nathan also want to raise funds for the Prince’s Trust, a UK charity that supports young people who have faced disadvantage and adversity.

Undertaking an expedition of this scale isn’t cheap. The duo have already spent almost £35,000, which they have self-funded, on equipment, training and trips, while they estimate that polar expedition itself will cost in the region of a quarter of a million pounds.

They are currently on the lookout for sponsors to ensure that their long held dream becomes a reality.

“We are looking for corporate sponsorship, maybe companies where the owners have a connection to Antarctica or have an interest in exploration, but any company or individual that’s willing to support us, we’ll talk to you.”

• If you would like to become a sponsor, email Darren at darrenslevin@gmail.com.