Adventure Magazine

SURVIVAL
Inspiring
kiwi Explorers
Mike Dawson has been involved with Adventure Magazine for
many years; kayaking, exploring, skiing and coaching. Now he can
add polar-exploring to his resume after recently returning from an
expedition to South Pole!
50
days
to the
South
Pole
Interview with
Mike Dawson
Images
supplied by
Mike Dawson
To celebrate 150 years since the birth of legendary polar explorer
Roald Amundsen, Antarctic Heritage Trust chose three Inspiring
Explorers to undertake a guided traverse of close to 1000km from
the Ronne Ice Shelf to the South Pole, a route inspired by Reinhold
Messner and Arved Fuchs’ Antarctic crossing. Mike Dawson was
one of them.
Joining Mike was fellow Kiwi, Auckland firefighter Laura Andrews
and Norwegian intelligence analyst Marthe Brendefur. They were
guided by Norwegian polar guide Bengt Rotmo and led by Antarctic
Heritage Trust executive director Nigel Watson.
With temperatures ranging from -25°C to -40°C, the team faced all
types of weather and reached elevations of 2,800m skiing for up to
10 hours per day for 50 days, each pulling a 60-80kg sled.
The trip was extremely strenuous; participants needed to ski,
mountaineer, endure extremely cold weather and have the mental
stamina to continue in extreme conditions when physically tried. On
his return we caught up with Mike:
Who is Mike Dawson? I'm currently living in Okere Falls. I’m 36
years old and have represented New Zealand in the canoe slalom
at the London and Rio Olympic Games. My passion was always
getting out and exploring new rivers and new places around the
planet, so I ended up doing a few extreme kayaking adventures
around the world.
Heading South. The team slowly climbs while navigating
through a maze of Sastrugi upwards towards the Polar
Plateau on a bluebird day towards the end of the expedition.
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