Ben Saunders: 

A South Pole Expedition 1

So in the oasis of intelligentsia that is TED, I stand here before you this evening as an expert in dragging heavy stuff around cold places.

I've been leading polar expeditions for most of my adult life,

and last month, my teammate Tarka L'Herpiniere and I finished the most ambitious expedition I've ever attempted.

In fact, it feels like I've been transported straight here from four months in the middle of nowhere,

mostly grunting and swearing, straight to the TED stage.

So you can imagine that's a transition that hasn't been entirely seamless.

One of the interesting side effects seems to be that my short-term memory is entirely shot.

So I've had to write some notes to avoid too much grunting and swearing in the next 17 minutes.

This is the first talk I've given about this expedition, and while we weren't sequencing genomes or building space telescopes,

this is a story about giving everything we had to achieve something that hadn't been done before.

So I hope in that you might find some food for thought.

It was a journey, an expedition in Antarctica, the coldest, windiest, driest and highest altitude continent on Earth.

It's a fascinating place. It's a huge place.

It's twice the size of Australia, a continent that is the same size as China and India put together.

As an aside, I have experienced an interesting phenomenon in the last few days, something that I expect Chris Hadfield may get at TED in a few years' time,

conversations that go something like this: "Oh, Antarctica. Awesome. My husband and I did Antarctica with Lindblad for our anniversary."

Or, "Oh cool, did you go there for the marathon?" (Laughter)

Our journey was, in fact, 69 marathons back to back in 105 days, an 1,800-mile round trip on foot from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back again.

In the process, we broke the record for the longest human-powered polar journey in history by more than 400 miles. (Applause)

For those of you from the Bay Area, it was the same as walking from here to San Francisco, then turning around and walking back again.

So as camping trips go, it was a long one,

and one I've seen summarized most succinctly here on the hallowed pages of Business Insider Malaysia."Two Explorers Just Completed A Polar Expedition That Killed Everyone The Last Time It Was Attempted"

Chris Hadfield talked so eloquently about fear and about the odds of success, and indeed the odds of survival.

Of the nine people in history that had attempted this journey before us, none had made it to the pole and back, and five had died in the process.

Questions

What historical achievement do Saunders and his partners accomplish?

>They broke the record for the longest human-powered polar journey.

What does Ben Saunders do for living?

>He leads polar expeditions.

Why is Saunders using notes for his speech?

>His short-term memory was affected during his expedition.

If something is succinct, it...

>is clearly and briefly expressed.

"Food for thought" means...

>something that's worth thinking about serously.

To speak eloquently means to...

>express one's opinions in clear and effective language.

One of the interesting side effects seems to be that my short-term memory is entirely shot.So I've had to write some notes to avoid too much grunting and swearing in the next 17 minutes.