Mind Over Matter

Not content with his record-setting exploits of polar travel--including the first Pole to Pole circumnavigation (1979-1982)--Fiennes set out from Chile in November 1992 to make an unsupported crossing of Antarctica. His companion was Mike Stroud, who would record physiological data. Each man pulled a 485-pound sledge containing all the supplies they would require for their 1500-mile journey, much of it at altitudes above 10,000 feet. By the time they reached the South Pole in mid-January, they had each lost 25% of their body weight. Stroud was vulnerable to hypothermia, and both men were suffering from frostbite and wind- and sunburn. On Day 83, now on half rations, they faced a 9000-foot descent on ice and in gale-force winds; next they traversed dangerous crevasse fields. On Day 95--February 12, 1993--having reached the Ross Ice Shelf, they summoned a plane. This epic journey tested both body and mind. With a foreword by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, Fiennes ( To the Ends of the Earth ) offers another gripping account of endurance and adventure. (June)