BANGKOK, THAILAND (Team Geared Up) - Ben Saunders clearly has a love of the cold. An unknown name to me until last week, I found out that Ben was the youngest person to ever ski solo to the North Pole.

Born in 1977, Ben grew up in Devon, was educated at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and lives in London. He is passionate about the great outdoors and is a record-breaking long-distance skier, with three North Pole expeditions under his belt. He is the youngest to ski solo to the North Pole and holds the record for the longest solo Arctic journey by a Briton. Since 2001, Ben has skied more than 2,500km (1,500 miles) in the high Arctic, which he recently worked out equates to two percent of his entire life living in a tent.

Starting late March, Ben is going on an expedition to the geographic North Pole, with the aim of setting a speed record, less than 36 days, solo, unsupported. Ben is also planning SOUTH (October) which will be the first return journey to the South Pole on foot, and back to the coast again. At 2,900km and four months, SOUTH will be the longest unsupported polar journey in history.

Ben has a book coming out in 2009. Keep your eyes peeled for it! See BenSaunders.com

-Robin-

(Image Credit: bensaunders.com)