Massive Waves, an Iceberg ‘Armada’ and a White Out: An Expedition Inspired by Ernest Shackleton

Simon Hearn is a veteran, business leader and founder of Per Ardua Associates, who last year embarked on an incredible Sub-Antarctic expedition inspired by Ernest Shackleton’s extraordinary 1914 expedition. After flying half way across the world and sailing for days over rough seas, Simon spent four days trekking across South Georgia’s unforgiving terrain to raise over ￡35,000 for Walking With The Wounded – an incredible amount of money that will help so many veterans.?

You can read more about Simon’s expedition following in Ernest Shackleton’s footsteps here, but I had the pleasure of chatting to him to hear more about the trek’s highs and lows.

We discussed the trek’s most challenging moments; his moments of doubt; where he plans to explore next; and how a sense of adventure has been woven throughout his career in both the military and business worlds:?

Before we dive into your trip, what advice would you give to someone else who’s considering embarking on an expedition?

Simon: Research it. Make sure what you’re doing will get you back alive. And then really think about doing it seriously. Because I'm 65 and I won't be doing this forever, I won't be able to, so you have just got to keep going and do it. Do it now – don't wait.

What’s the golden thread between your experiences as an explorer, veteran, entrepreneur, and leader?

Simon: Risk. If there's one word in all of these things I think it’s risk. It’s about pushing oneself, having something to aim for, something to get fit for, to really think around and do lots of research into. I read every book I could lay my hands on about South Georgia and particularly on Shackleton and I learnt so much.

Why did you choose South Georgia?

Simon: I have done something with each of my four children – the North Pole, Kilimanjaro, the Atacama desert and the Everest base camp which have all been amazing experiences. But now that I've run out of children, I decided to do something myself, and Shackleton has always been a hero. It’s an amazing story, I love reading about the exploits, and I also love wildlife (birds in particular) so this was really an amalgam of: one – there's a story behind it, two – it's a beautiful place, and three – there's great wildlife.

What was the journey like?

Simon: I flew out to Buenos Aires and from there went down to Ushuaia – the furthest south town in the world – where we boarded an old converted naval vessel to begin our journey sailing down to South Georgia. And though this boat was robust, it lacked stabilisation, so I was very thankful for the amazing sea sickness tablets. I couldn't believe the waves on the first morning – massive, massive waves like I've never seen before and I hope I never do again. The journey was really exciting though, and it was lovely to see the albatross just gliding serenely all around you whilst the boat was being chucked up, down and sideways. We also saw some extraordinary killer and humpback whales.

[Click here to hear about the “armada” of icebergs that Simon woke up to.]

What was the most challenging part??

Simon: We were eventually dropped off at King Haakon Bay (which is where Shackleton landed) where we began our four-day trek, a lot of which involved skiing uphill. The first two days of the trek were fantastic; with really good weather and lovely views. The second two days, however, were absolutely appalling; with really bad 48-50 mph winds and landscapes that were littered with crevasses. The place is vicious.

[Click here to hear about how Simon’s team avalanched down ‘Shackleton Hill’ – the same hill that Shackleton slid down.]

On one of these last days we had a major nightmare. There was a white out and we went the wrong way off the Fortuna Glacier, taking us down a major ravine. We weren’t roped up and if it wasn’t for my colleague shouting “get back, get back” I would have fallen down a 40-foot drop as it collapsed.

Without a shadow of a doubt, this ravine was the critical point for me – I would say that was our worst situation. But at no stage did I think we wouldn't get out of it alive, because our team was accompanied by some fantastic guides and experts who kept us safe throughout and whose guidance was absolutely crucial.

[Click here to hear about Simon’s experience navigating crevasses and dealing with hypothermia.]?

What did you eat whilst out there?

Simon: For our evening meal we would have a bag of coronation chicken, curry, or stroganoff that we’d literally just pour hot water into and leave for 10 minutes; after which it was really quite edible. It wasn't great cuisine, but it was perfectly good enough. During the day we didn’t eat lunch, but we had these bags of mixed nuts and chocolate.?

[Click here to hear about how these bags of sugar and carbs were absolutely critical on the trek.]

And what about creature comforts – was there anything you really missed??

Simon: Funnily enough, the one thing we had in the Pole which we didn't have here was hot chocolate. I used to drink bucket loads of hot chocolate to get as much sugar into me as possible and I was really craving it.?

The interesting thing was that I took some whiskey with me (which we drank quite a lot of in the North Pole) but the funny thing was, because the conditions were so bad, there was absolutely no wish to drink it at all. I think the body was almost saying “don't drink alcohol, this isn't good, it’s really not going to improve the situation at all.”

Why did you choose to support WWTW?

Simon: I'm very pleased that this has benefitted you guys. I think Walking With The Wounded is a super charity, particularly your partnership with the NHS – which I think is so important – and your focus on mental health in addition to physical wounds. I'm very glad to have done this.

And finally, what's the next adventure?

Simon: I don't know yet. Possibly the Wadi Rum Challenge in Jordan with WWTW – I would love to do that – or possibly the Greenland crossing. What I don't want to do is Antarctica, because it just goes on and on and on and it's just one ski in front of another. I want to do something different, so I think we might do the Husky run, which is about 30 days and involves pulling sledges with huskies across Greenland, which is quite fun.

Thanks to Simon for sharing his incredible expedition story with us – all of us at Walking With The Wounded are immensely grateful for your support and we very much look forward to working together again in the future.