Blog
Charitable fundraising has launched! | Posted Thursday 22nd September 2011 |
Well you all knew it was coming, but here is your chance to show your support for the Polar Vision expedition and our charities and donate! The success of the charity fundraising is really important to the whole team and so we hope that you ...
Meet our guide | Posted Monday 12th September 2011 |
Here at Polar Vision HQ, we love good news and our latest piece is to announce our guide for our expedition. We are delighted to confirm that we will be spending our time on the ice under the very capable guiding of Hannah McKeand. Hanna...
Questions, questions, questions | Posted Saturday 3rd September 2011 |
Hello all, Richard here, I haven’t blogged for a while but as we get closer our rate of updates will increase so keep watching the website! Our Polar expedition is getting very close now, and with just under three mon...
Polar Vision and the SF Marathon | Posted Friday 8th July 2011 |
Are you in San Francisco on the 30th and 31st of July? You should come out and visit Polar Vision while we run the San Francisco marathon! I’ll be manning the marathon’s charity booth on t...
Wedding Around the Corner | Posted Thursday 30th June 2011 |
Well, I'm here in Lima awaiting my wedding day with Esther on July 2. I was hoping for a chilled out time before the big day (although you'll be pleased to know I temporarily joined a gym here to keep the training going!). How...
Full Darkness on Lost Coast | Posted Saturday 18th June 2011 |
I just spent the last four days backpacking the King’s Range portion of the Lost Coast in Northern California (website here:http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/content/ca/en/fo/arcata/kingrange/index.html... it’s described as a spec...
What Sean Joining the Team Means to Me | Posted Wednesday 1st June 2011 |
A few weeks ago, we were proud to announce Sean Swarner joining the team. As a youngster, Sean was diagnosed with some very rare forms of cancer, read his last rites, and was in a coma for a year. It’s an amazing story… you shoul...
Exciting Changes to the Polar Vision team - Welcome Sean! | Posted Friday 13th May 2011 |
We have some sad news first; unfortunately Andrew Cooney has had to pull out of the Polar Vision team due to a recurring injury which leaves him unable to participate in the expedition. Andrew has been incredibly helpful to the team thu...
Going the distance | Posted Monday 2nd May 2011 |
A couple of weeks ago I had the good fortune to run the Mokelumne River 50 Mile trail race in Camanche Lake, California (about 2.5 hours east of San Francisco). The race was put on by the relatively new Sierra Nevada Trail Run...
Reflections on the challenge | Posted Thursday 21st April 2011 |
Bracing myself in a whiteout gale 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle, I carefully winded a mitten through four layers of facial coverings to wipe snot off my nose before it froze. Having no feeling left in my face, I approximated what I thou...
Back from training | Posted Sunday 10th April 2011 |
We've been back about ten days now and have had the opportunity to reflect on our training up in Iqaluit in (really) North Canada. While we were up there for a number of reasons, we were there first and foremost, to tap the experience of our t...
Off we go! | Posted Saturday 19th March 2011 |
This time tomorrow the team should all be meeting up in Iqaluit to commence our training. We are flying in from different parts of the world, UK, USA and Japan and hopefully we and all our equipment will make it! ...
Getting Ready | Posted Thursday 10th March 2011 |
In the academic world it's ‘Spring Break' time, and some of our classmates are lucky enough to be heading off to sunnier climes to recharge the batteries. We know some folks that are off to Costa Rica, Spain, Hawaii, Africa to name bu...
Some early "Thankyou's" | Posted Wednesday 9th February 2011 |
While we will be thanking our financial sponsors individually and more personally, we want to get a list of thank you's out to a number of people and groups who have been helping by donating their time and expertise. Our business sc...
Great news for macular degeneration research | Posted Tuesday 8th February 2011 |
Alan suffers from a currently incurable condition called macular degeneration, however there was some good news this week from an international team of researchers looking into the condition which could, one day, lead to a cure. http://www.bbc...
Let's get cold!!!!! | Posted Monday 31st January 2011 |
Well, we're finally set for our first taste of the cold together. Thanks to kind support from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, we have booked 10 days of polar training in the Nunavut pr...
Traversing the Wilderness | Posted Tuesday 25th January 2011 |
Isolated, buffeted by powerful winds, and fighting for every gain across a landscape devoid of easily identifiable landmarks, our team finds a way forward. I'm not talking about the actually Polar trek, however. I'm talking about Polar Visi...
Team Tandem | Posted Sunday 16th January 2011 |
Garrick and I recently had a few days of training by cycling down the coast of California on a tandem from Santa Cruz down towards Big Sur and back again. Great weather, not too much traffic and a good chance to get the legs moving afte...
Adventure Stories | Posted Wednesday 5th January 2011 |
I always loved adventure stories, especially those from real life. Whenever I read them, I imagined myself as the protagonist of the adventure, which always involved the longest, deepest, coldest, highest of something! Therefore Mt...
The Beauty of Polar Vision | Posted Tuesday 9th November 2010 |
As someone who studies economics, I’ve wondered whether an economist would consider Polar Vision ‘rational’? One of the core tenets of neoclassical economics is that people are fundamentally rational, meaning they make decis...
Tri-ing Harder | Posted Sunday 24th October 2010 |
As one of a team of five preparing to set trek unsupported, through one of the most challenging and inhospitable terrains in the world, I should point out that I am not a natural athlete. Far from it. Yet, in a year's time, November 2011, I wi...
Mt Whitney | Posted Wednesday 22nd September 2010 |
I just got back from Mt Whitney, the highest mountain in the contiguous United States. Myself and a fellow MBA student led a UC Berkeley team successfully to the summit on Sunday 19th September. It was a great experience, though extremel...
Wedding Bells and Salsa Lessons | Posted Thursday 16th September 2010 |
Hey everyone, Alan here.Now it looks as though I will be planning a wedding as well as this expedition. Over the past weekend I got engaged to my girlfriend Esther. Now that we are planning a life together, I have had to hone my diplomati...
A Royal Occasion for Polar Vision | Posted Saturday 31st July 2010 |
On June 23rd 2010, members of the Polar Vision team were invited to Buckingham Palace. The occasion was a lunch hosted by the President of Sightsavers - Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy. The Princess is known for her work for th...
Preparing to succeed | Posted Tuesday 13th July 2010 |
Well, its summer and all of the Polar vision team are scattered across the US and the rest of the world. Alongside our jobs and studies we are all staying fit and trying to get the support we need for the expedition. Although our planned chall...
Alan discusses the challenges presented by his condition | Posted Friday 28th May 2010 |
Trying to reach the Pole is a huge challenge in itself, but any kind of visual impairment makes it even tougher. Alan speaks about his condition and how it will impact him on his journey to the South Pole:“I have lived with macular degener...
Polar Vision Expedition Announces Charity Partners | Posted Thursday 22nd April 2010 |
The polar vision team are delighted to be able to announce Sightsavers International and Guide Dogs for the Blind as our two charity partners for our December 2011 expedition to the South Pole. Press Release follows: 22nd April 2010POLAR VISION EXPED...
The Polar Vision website is now live! | Posted Monday 15th March 2010 |
This site will be continuously updated as the project develops. For the moment, the team are really excited at the prospect of taking on this challenge - if you feel inspired to help us, please get in touch through the contact us page. ...
Latest Blog
22nd September 2011
Charitable fundraising has launched!
Well you all knew it was coming, but here is your chance to show your support for the Polar Vision expedition and our charities and donate! The success of the charity fundraising is really im... read more
Polar Vision - Watch our latest video.
