Ripcord Adventure Journal 1.3 Second Edition

The Antarctica challenge
Mark Terry
Once at that height, I could bring my foot to the newly-formed
shelf, my former seat, and vaulted myself to the more solid ice
which I was walking on just moments ago.
I hastily and carefully scurried far away from the crevice that nearly
claimed my life and back down the hill to the shore where my crew
was relaxing in the sun, blissfully unaware that I almost didn’t make
it back at all.
“Hey Mark! Did you find anything?” said the Production
Coordinator when she saw me coming down the hill.
“Yes, a second chance at life,” I said enigmatically. “Let’s get back to
the ship. Nothing more to shoot here.”
This wasn’t the first time my polar explorations nearly cost me my
life. It comes with the territory as the Arctic and Antarctica remain
the most inhospitable places on the planet, which is why so few
people live there. Even today, scientists embedded in Antarctica do
so for only six months. Wintering in Antarctica is rarely done,
except by a few brave and dedicated souls.
I have been stalked by polar bears, attacked by a Weddell seal,
tossed around in my ship by Arctic storms and 30-foot swells in the
Drake Passage and have nearly fallen through sea ice many times.
I never started out my career thinking these dangerous, yet
beautiful, places would be my home and my obsession when I
began making documentary films in 1983, but that’s exactly what
happened in 2008 when I looked into Antarctica for a possible story.
With the films March of the Penguins and Werner Herzog’s quirky
Encounters at the End of the World capturing the imagination of the
world, it seemed the time was right for a documentary on
Antarctica from another angle. As a broadcast journalist entering
my 50th year of life it seemed appropriate to seek out a reason to
check off Antarctica from my professional bucket list so I began to
investigate what story Antarctica had to tell that wasn`t already told.
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