On top of the world is not enough: Meeting Scots adventurer Charlie Paton

THE Southern Patagonian Ice Cap is not the sort of place most people will be thinking of for a trip this summer; crevasses, ice cliffs and storm-force winds batter the tip of South America. To attempt to cross it, unassisted and without any back-up, might seem like a crazy idea but for Scottish explorer Charlie Paton it is a challenge he cannot ignore.

After making it to the North Pole eight times, his drive for adventure shows no sign of slowing down. But what motivates someone to take such risks, and how do you go about such a hazardous expedition?

Balmedie beach, north of Aberdeen, on a sunny day in early spring does not appear to be the ideal location to train. However, dragging a Land Rover tyre through the soft sand and over the dunes does actually go some way to replicating the hard going in the snow and ice conditions found in Patagonia.

Paton says: “I drag the tyres because it simulates what we are away to do and gets the muscles prepared. I pick a straight line and go for it, just climb over whatever is in the way.”

When it comes to the technical ice climbing, Paton must travel to the home of his expedition partner, Tarka L’Herpiniere, in the French Alps. Other than that, it is supreme fitness on which the former Royal Marine commando relies. And fitness will be necessary when it comes to trekking around 250 miles in 30 days south from the Jorge-Montt Glacier to the small village of Balmaceda.

From the moment a fishing boat drops them at the start, after passing along rivers choked with ice, Scotland’s sandy beaches and the alpine delights of Courchevel will seem a long way away.

Paton says: “It is a horrible place Patagonia, it looks beautiful on photographs but it is hell frozen over.

“There is not one specific individual danger, it is everything together; the crevasses, the seracs (pointed blocks of ice pushed up on a glacier), the terrain, the weather (winds reach 90mph), the lack of food and the relentlessness of it all. It also gets dangerous as the trip goes on because you become weaker and less focused, although you think you are. It is flippin’ hard work.”

Paton first went to the North Pole in 2000 – part of the first British team to walk there unsupported from Canada – and has since been back a further seven times, largely as part of his business running extreme outdoors adventures but also as part of a scientific survey team.

Some might think it is time to give up and sit back after such achievements but that is not in Paton’s make-up. The 41-year-old says: “The North Pole is not enough, I know the way now.”

He adds: “I need to find my next set of limits. I have always liked adventure. The everyday job does not satisfy me; you are not pushing your boundaries. I like these trips because there is adventure and you never know what is going to happen – it is exciting and full of unnecessary risks, and that is what I thrive on.”

An unassisted – there’s no speeding up their progress with kites – and unsupported – no helicopters to drop supplies – crossing of the ice cap has never been done before. Despite the lack of support the expedition will still cost around £60,000, which is why finding sponsors is a major priority, alongside the training.

The money will pay for flights, visas and specially chosen kit. In order to keep weight down dehydrated food will form the basis of the expedition meals, made with melted ice but not heated too much in a bid to ration gas supplies. Rucksacks rather than big sledges will also be used, which can be a problem with weight distribution as a heavy weight in one place can break through ice which covers crevasses hundreds of feet deep. One of the biggest individual challenges on the route will be a 400m ice cliff down which they have to climb and abseil, but it is crevasses which pose an almost constant threat.

The fact that they are embarking on the expedition in August should help, as it is early spring in the Southern Hemisphere and many crevasses will be covered with iced-up snow. But by no means all of them, and when it comes to support Paton and L’Herpiniere only have each other.

“We will not see anybody – we have to believe in each other’s skills,” Paton says. “We have worked together and trained together and know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, so basically I rely on him if I fall down a crevasse and likewise he relies on me if he falls down a crevasse.”

With no hint of insouciance, Paton adds: “And we will fall down crevasses. Walking on a glacier is like Russian roulette, or crevasse roulette. You can guess where a lot are but the ones that are covered up are the dangers.”

Once in a crevasse, often the only way out is to be hauled up on a rope connecting the two adventurers because the icy walls can be like glass and impossible to climb. But how can anyone possibly cope with such terrifying prospects, never mind enjoy it? The way Paton gets through gruelling expeditions is to avoid thinking too far ahead.

He says: “I never think of the end goal. It is not the final destination, it is every day that counts; that makes the adventure. We always stop every hour to get a couple of bites of food and some water. I never think beyond that hour because you never know what is going to happen – whether it is your team-mate getting injured or a crevasse. That is what makes me enjoy the expedition.”

He adds that “you are also in a beautiful place. I don’t feel scared, I feel focused and maybe a little bit intimidated. You feel very small and you realise how big the world is.”

And for Paton, just being on an expedition is enjoyment in itself. He says: “Life is simple; you eat, you walk, you climb, you ski, you sleep, then repeat it. You have no worries or stresses like thinking ‘I need my keys, my phone, my pass and then I need to be here’. All you focus on is what is coming up in the next hour and it is marvellous, I love that feeling.”

Paton’s roots in the north-east of Scotland fostered his love of adventure, including time as a sea cadet embarking on the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme.

“We were always out playing in the boats, just doing everything you do as a young lad brought up at the seaside – that’s where it stemmed from. I was never academic; I always enjoyed being outside enjoying the wilderness,” he says.

Since those days, his time as a Royal Marine commando led him on active service in Afghanistan and the Gulf, before expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic. “They are completely different (military service and expeditions) but they are both dangerous on so many levels,” he says.

Paton’s parents still live in Stonehaven and have seen their son leave for adventure, and war, many times. Paton says: “They were worried for me years and years ago but they are not surprised any more. They still worry, I know they do.”

Paton appears attracted to ice caps. What about trekking across deserts or mountain ranges such as the Himalayas? “I hate being hot and not being able to cool down,” he says. “When you are cold and freezing you can always heat up, you just move faster, or put on more clothes.”

• Charlie Paton is an ambassador for the Commando Spirit Appeal for the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund. At the heart of the appeal is the Commando Spirit Series of events giving people a taste of what it is like to be a Royal Marine. This year it is Take The Leap – fast rope abseiling out of helicopters and off buildings. Participants can sign up to join Paton at www.commandospirit.com