Ben Weber's 700-Mile, 58-Day Subzero Journey to Geographic South Pole

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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.


For full show notes and links, visit: adventurediaries.com/go

Transcript

[CHAPTER: From Orkney to Sao Paulo — How a Corporate Life Sparked a Polar Dream — 00:00]

[00:02] CHRIS: Ben Weber, welcome to the Adventure Diaries. How are you?

[00:07] BEN: Hi, Chris. I'm good, thanks — just relaxing at home after a long day.

[00:16] CHRIS: Excellent. Well, it's great to have you. I've been really excited about this one — there's a lot I want to get into with your polar expeditions. But first, a short introduction for those who don't know you. Ben Weber, you hail from Orkney, Scotland — a fellow Scot, which is great to have on the show. You've travelled and lived across different countries: Brazil, China and India. I think around 2014 there was a shift in your circumstances and you decided to take up a life of adventure. Some of the key achievements I've found in my research: a 3,600-kilometre cycle from São Paulo to Santiago, and then a series of polar expeditions. So let's get into it. You crossed Canada from south to north as well, didn't you?

[CHAPTER: Corporate Life in Sao Paulo and the Birth of the Polar Dream — 01:38]

[01:38] BEN: That's right. Let me take a step back. I was working in São Paulo — standard office life, routine in and out every day, just existing rather than really doing anything much. When I was little, I always had dreams of adventure, but those had been forgotten as I got sucked into corporate life. Then I realised something was missing. I started thinking about these polar ideas — journeys I could potentially do. My wife at the time and I thought about crossing the world south to north: cycling up through the Americas, crossing the Arctic, cycling back down through Europe and Asia, then skiing across Kamchatka. But we had no experience of cycling, skiing or anything. So we started working towards it. We did these cycling expeditions — 3,600 kilometres from São Paulo to Santiago via Buenos Aires — alongside extreme altitude mountaineering in the Andes, polar training and more.

[CHAPTER: Polar Training on Baffin Island and the Canada Crossing — 03:41]

[03:41] CHRIS: Even your website — polarweber.com — reflects that polar obsession. You crossed Canada from south to north?

[03:53] BEN: Yes. That came after our polar training. On the flight back down from Baffin Island — up in Arctic Canada — we saw on the plane's map a line of communities dissecting central Canada from south to north. We thought: that could be a really cool expedition. So we started at the US border south of Winnipeg in winter, cycled north until the roads ran out, then switched to skis and a sled and skied up to the north of Hudson Bay. About 1,000 kilometres cycling and 1,000 kilometres skiing. It took almost five months, with stops at various communities. The coldest temperature was minus 53. It was difficult but also complementary to our polar training — putting us into extreme environments so we'd have the experience for even harder journeys.

[05:30] CHRIS: You hadn't done any skiing before you decided to do polar training?

[05:38] BEN: No, none at all. My wife had grown up in Brazil. We left São Paulo at plus 40 and arrived in Winnipeg at minus 40. I'd already been in contact with people who organise Antarctic logistics, and they recommended a family of polar explorers — Sarah McNair-Landry and her mother Matty McNair. They live in Iqaluit on Baffin Island and between them have done extraordinary polar journeys. They organised our polar training — about two weeks learning basic survival skills: cooking in the tent, putting the tent up and down, skiing, and crucially, swimming in Arctic water, because on North Pole expeditions you must be able to navigate open water leads between the sea ice. Then we had almost two weeks by ourselves in Auyuittuq National Park — a 200 to 250-kilometre journey through the Canadian wilderness. A baptism of fire.

[07:54] CHRIS: How long was the Canada expedition — south to north?

[08:03] BEN: About five months. Roughly 1,000 kilometres of cycling and 1,000 of skiing. I got frostbite at one point, which meant a pause in Churchill, so that added some time.

[CHAPTER: Why the South Pole — Shackleton, Scott and a Goal He Had to Reach — 08:39]

[08:39] CHRIS: Did that set you up for Greenland? And eventually the South Pole?

[08:59] BEN: Yes. Greenland came a few years later. By then, my wife and I had separated — funny what five months alone in a tent with limited showering can do to a marriage. We're actually better friends now. We'd also been self-financing everything, and getting sponsorship was soul-destroying. Potential sponsors in Brazil would ask if we just wanted them to pay for a holiday in the ice. Then I needed to go back to full-time work, which got me down. And then my mother passed away — very suddenly, about four and a half years before this episode. She had always been very supportive of the expeditions. Her death made me look back at what I really wanted to do. Those polar dreams I'd had since childhood — I'd been letting them slide. Her death gave me the real push to go after them. That led to Greenland, and then with an eye on the South Pole.

[11:38] CHRIS: Why the South Pole specifically?

[11:53] BEN: My childhood heroes were Shackleton, Scott — all the giants of the classical age of exploration. The South Pole had always been a huge goal. And it's realistic — you don't need a global crossing to make it an extraordinary journey. Just reaching the Pole itself is that. So it became the goal: extremely challenging, but achievable with the right preparation.

[CHAPTER: Planning the Solo South Pole Ski — Cost, Logistics and Going it Alone — 12:54]

[12:54] CHRIS: How long did you plan for it — from the moment you decided to the moment you set off?

[13:10] BEN: I came back to the UK from India in 2020 during the COVID pandemic and chose not to return. I went freelance, and it worked. I stayed with my sister and saved deliberately. I decided early on not to chase sponsorship again — I just wanted to do this journey and I wasn't going to let sponsorship stop me. So it was roughly two years of working and training. Once I knew the freelance income was steady, it was about one year of proper commitment: booking with Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions (ALE), training, doing the Greenland crossing, and assembling the gear.

[16:07] CHRIS: What does something like that actually cost?

[16:18] BEN: ALE — the logistics company that supports and approves all South Pole expeditions — fly people in and out of the continent and to the Pole. Their costs alone are about £50,000. On top of that: equipment, food, freight to Chile, the pulk sled — I went to Svalbard specifically to buy the right sled. All in, probably around £70,000.

[17:49] BEN: I put all my savings into it. I don't have a house or anything. It's a bit irresponsible, but for me it was worth it. I just had to do it.

[CHAPTER: Setting Foot on Antarctica — The Plane's Wing-Wave Goodbye — 18:19]

[18:19] CHRIS: There's got to be a book in all these expeditions.

[18:35] BEN: Maybe a film. Tom Hardy for the lead, Christopher Nolan directing — I'll give them a call.

[19:23] CHRIS: When you stepped onto Antarctica for the first time — what was that like?

[23:10] BEN: Two moments. First, flying in on ALE's 757 over the continent — just white, then the clouds parted and the Ellsworth Mountains appeared. Incredible. Getting off the aircraft there was a stiff breeze. Was I ready for this? We had a day at Union Glacier base for final preparations, safety briefings with ALE doctors, packing the sled. Then a half-hour flight by Twin Otter to the start point at Hercules Inlet. From the window I could see directly south along my route — the Wilson Nunataks, the Three Sails, the Ellsworth Mountains to the southwest. Forty miles away but already visible.

Then the plane took off behind me. It waggled its wings in the air to say goodbye — as close to a hug as a plane can manage. And it flew off into the distance. That was it. I thought: here I am. Let's go.

[CHAPTER: Navigation by Sun, Shadow and Wind — 26:30]

[26:30] CHRIS: How did you navigate through whiteout conditions?

[26:38] BEN: ALE provided GPS waypoints for the route, indicating where crevasse fields were to be avoided. Initially I headed southwest — you can't go directly south because of a crevasse field — then gradually turned south. For GPS: I'd check my position at breaks to make sure I wasn't drifting too far off course. But I conserved battery. When the sun was out, I used my watch: at midday the sun is always to the north, so you just track its arc — about 15 degrees per hour — using your shadow. The wind also helps: it's remarkably consistent down there, mostly coming from the south-southwest. I kept the wind at the same angle to my body and could pretty much hold my heading. In whiteout with no wind, compass. I mounted the compass on my waist harness so my hands stayed free on the ski poles. But that was also what gave me my injury.

[28:52] BEN: After about four days I started feeling pain in my neck and shoulders. I thought it was a harness fitting problem. Actually it was from looking down at the compass constantly — the mount was too close to my body. That pain never really went away. It took me 58 days to reach the Pole, and for 54 of them I was in increasing pain. Putting the tent up at night was the worst. Honestly, my neck still isn't fully right.

[CHAPTER: 24-Hour Daylight, Greenhouse Tent and a Mysterious Bird — 30:11]

[30:11] CHRIS: At that time of year — 24 hours of daylight?

[30:26] BEN: Yes, 24 hours. Strange for the body clock, and hard for sleep. I wore a face mask but it gets warm and the light comes through regardless. I probably got four to five hours a night. But the constant sun is a huge help for tent warmth. Up on the plateau it was minus 30 outside, and inside the tent — the tent acting like a greenhouse — it was over 20 degrees Celsius. I was in my base layer, sleeping bag open, boiling.

[35:03] CHRIS: When you were in the tent, did you hear strange noises — glaciers, cracks?

[35:49] BEN: Yes. One morning a wave of noise came towards the tent — got louder very quickly, almost like a jet fighter. Then it reached the tent and the ice beneath me shifted. I had no idea what it was. I messaged the other expeditions on the ice nearby and everyone felt it. Apparently it was a snow layer collapsing under pressure — a shockwave through the snow. Unsettling.

And on day two, a bird appeared — circled me twice, about five to ten metres away. It shouldn't have been there at all. We were 700 miles from open water, and there's no food source inland. I think it may have been an albatross. It made two slow passes and then disappeared. I was only 48 hours in, so I wasn't hallucinating. I just don't understand what it was doing there.

[CHAPTER: 58 Days Solo — The Highlight and the Final Push — 39:03]

[39:03] CHRIS: Over your 58 days, what was the highlight?

[39:34] BEN: The best days were when the weather was perfect and I could look around and think: this place is absolutely incredible. Even the sastrugi — the strange ice formations that make travel so much harder — were amazing in their own way; these endless fields of sculpted ice.

But my favourite moment came on the last day. I skied for 17 to 18 hours — set off at seven in the morning and reached the Pole at about half past one in the morning. Normally I'd camp by about six in the afternoon with the sun to my side or behind me. But skiing that late, the sun came around until it was directly in my eyes — in front of me, to the south. That was jarring, because you're in the Southern Hemisphere and the sun is always to your north. But then I realised: I was so far south that the sun was to my north on the other side of the world, not mine. And in that moment I understood — I really am at the bottom of the world. That was my favourite moment.

[CHAPTER: Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Cancer Research and What Comes Next — 41:35]

[41:35] CHRIS: Did you have contact with Sir Ranulph Fiennes as part of your preparation?

[41:49] BEN: Yes. He and Anton Bowring have been amazing. Anton was always involved in supporting Ran's expeditions and they provided some backing for the Canada journey. Ran sent a message ahead of my Antarctica departure — it had been a while since the Canada expedition. Just getting their support and hearing their thoughts from their experiences was a real psychological boost and brilliant learning.

[44:08] CHRIS: Your expeditions have a philanthropic angle. You raised funds for cancer research — tell us about that.

[44:22] BEN: I raised about £5,000 for Cancer Research UK. It's because of my mother. She was diagnosed while I was still in Brazil. I flew back and within ten days she had passed away. Seeing that deterioration in those ten days was very hard. Cancer research — working on treatments, palliative care, possible medical solutions — if anything can be done to reduce suffering, then making the expedition mean something beyond my own dreams felt right.

[CHAPTER: What the South Pole Taught Him — and What Comes Next — 45:33]

[45:33] CHRIS: How has the expedition changed you?

[45:45] BEN: I didn't realise how determined and single-minded I could be. It made me see that when you truly work towards something, you can do it. I'm quite a lacking-in-confidence person in general, but this showed me that I actually can do things. And the value of friends and family — all the messages people sent while I was on the ice. Coming home and seeing everyone made me value those connections far more than before.

[46:53] CHRIS: For anyone inspired by this — particularly the South Pole expedition — what advice would you give?

[47:15] BEN: Don't let anything discourage you. When I first talked about these global dreams without having ever skied, people thought: what are you doing? But if you really want something, you can do it. I didn't know how to ski. I didn't have money. Don't let money, distance, the weight, or anything else discourage you. Just believe in yourself. Work out what you need to learn, put yourself in your comfort zone, and do it. Be dedicated. Start small — I started off just cycling — then keep pushing the boundary. You can do anything you really want to.

[CHAPTER: Call to Adventure, Pay It Forward and Where to Find Ben — 48:24]

[48:24] CHRIS: Nearly up on time — two closing traditions. First: call to adventure.

[49:04] BEN: Start small with what you can do where you are. I didn't do much cycling at first, so I started in São Paulo — not the nicest city to cycle in. But there are so many places nearby. If you already cycle, what about cycling to the next city? Then think about how to make it different — use the seasons. Within a couple of months I'd done Land's End to John o' Groats in winter. Use the seasons to add variation and you'll get amazing experiences when you least expect them.

[50:07] CHRIS: Brilliant. And the Pay It Forward?

[50:34] BEN: Cancer research. Seeing how quickly my mother deteriorated was traumatic. I'm far from alone in having lost someone close to cancer. Anything that can be done — research into treatments, palliative care, possible medical solutions — to reduce suffering means a great deal to me. The Cancer Research UK fundraiser link is still on my website.

[51:30] CHRIS: Thank you, Ben. That's been an excellent chat. What's next for you?

[52:02] BEN: I'm hooked on Antarctica — it's like a drug. The intensity, that daily challenge, that goal. I'd love to go back and do a full crossing — solo, from one side to the other. I know somebody is attempting that this year. Regardless, it's what I really want to do. That will need corporate sponsorship, so we'll see. We shall see.

[52:50] CHRIS: Where can people find you?

[52:59] BEN: My website is www.polarweber.com — one b in Weber. It still has the live map of Antarctica with the audio blogs and daily entries from the ice. I haven't been great at social media since getting back — maybe withdrawal symptoms, adjusting to a calmer life. But future expeditions will definitely go up on the site.

[53:41] CHRIS: Excellent. We'll get all of that linked in the show notes — along with the Pay It Forward details. Thank you, Ben, that brings us to a close.