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Ben Weber had never skied when he decided he wanted to reach the South Pole. He had no sponsor, no house, and a neck injury that would grow more painful with every passing day on the ice. He put his entire savings into the attempt. On 13 January 2023, after 58 days and nearly 700 miles alone in Antarctica, he reached the Geographic South Pole — and raised £5,000 for Cancer Research UK along the way.

In this conversation, Ben traces the whole arc: from a corporate office in São Paulo where adventure felt like a forgotten childhood dream, through a north-south cycle and ski crossing of Canada at minus 53, to training on Baffin Island with polar legend Matty McNair and her daughter Sarah, and finally the solo ski from Hercules Inlet to the Pole. He speaks candidly about self-financing an expedition that cost £70,000, the separation from his wife after five months alone in a tent, losing his mother to cancer, and the moment a Twin Otter waggled its wings and left him utterly alone on the ice.

Chapters:

00:00 Ben Weber: from Orkney to São Paulo and back to his polar dream
01:38 Corporate life in Brazil and rediscovering the adventure dream
03:41 Learning to ski and crossing Canada from south to north
05:30 Polar training with Matty McNair and Sarah McNair-Landry on Baffin Island
07:54 Five months across Canada — frostbite, minus 53 and a marriage under pressure
09:03 Why the South Pole? Shackleton, Scott and a goal he had to reach
12:54 Self-financing the expedition — two years of saving and planning
16:07 The cost: £70,000, a sled from Svalbard and no house
18:35 Tom Hardy, Christopher Nolan and the case for a documentary
23:10 Stepping off the plane in Antarctica — and the Twin Otter's wing-wave goodbye
26:30 Navigating 700 miles by sun, shadow and wind
28:52 The compass injury that lasted 54 of 58 days
30:11 24-hour daylight, sleeping in a greenhouse tent at minus 30
35:03 Shockwaves through the ice and an albatross 700 miles from open water
39:03 The best moment — when the sun appeared in the south
41:35 Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Anton Bowring: a message before departure
44:08 Raising £5,000 for Cancer Research UK in memory of his mother
45:45 What 58 days alone in Antarctica taught him
46:53 Advice for anyone inspired to try something like this
49:04 Call to Adventure — cycle to the next city, use the seasons
50:34 Pay It Forward — Cancer Research UK
52:02 What's next: a full crossing of Antarctica
52:59 Where to find Ben

This is a story about what happens when you stop waiting for the right circumstances and start building towards the dream instead.

What You'll Learn:
• How Ben went from never having skied to skiing 1,000 kilometres across Canada — at minus 53 — as training for an even harder polar push
• What a solo South Pole expedition actually costs (spoiler: about £70,000, entirely self-funded)
• How to navigate 700 miles across Antarctica using the sun's arc, wind direction and a waist-mounted compass — and why that compass injured him for 54 of his 58 days
• What happens inside a tent at minus 30 when the Antarctic sun acts like a greenhouse — and why the inside temperature reached 20 degrees Celsius
• The unexplained bird — what appeared to be an albatross, circling 700 miles from open water — and the underground shockwave that shifted the ice beneath his tent
• Why the best moment of the entire expedition came not at the Pole but on the final push, when the sun appeared in the south for the first time and he realised he was at the bottom of the world

BEN WEBER | Polar Explorer & Adventurer
Website: polarweber.com
Cancer Research UK fundraiser: linked at polarweber.com
Supported by: Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Anton Bowring [CHECK: verify Anton Bowring — possibly Anton Bowing of Transglobe Expedition Trust]
Training mentors: Matty McNair and Sarah McNair-Landry, Iqaluit, Baffin Island
Logistics: Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions (ALE)
Pay It Forward: Cancer Research UK

ABOUT BEN WEBER
Ben Weber is a polar explorer originally from Orkney, Scotland, now based in Carrbridge in the Scottish Highlands. After years working in Brazil, China and India, he retrained as a polar traveller from scratch — no skiing background, no climbing experience — and built systematically towards his childhood dream. In January 2023 he became one of a small number of people to solo ski from Hercules Inlet to the Geographic South Pole, covering approximately 700 miles in 58 days entirely unsupported, raising funds for Cancer Research UK in memory of his mother. He is planning a full solo crossing of Antarctica.


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The Adventure Diaries Podcast also covers a broad spectrum OF topics withIN the fields of Adventure, Exploration, Micro-adventure, Survival, Mental Resilience, Conservation, Scotland, Hiking, Solo Travel, Cycling, Nature, Storytelling, Mountaineering