Gareth Brauteseth

The crew can make or break an adventure. It can deliver you alive and safe or it can be the reason for never being seen again and being remembered as that guy who went on an adventure once…

The crew of White Desert was the best in the business.

The Captain

The captain of the ship was Patrick Woodhead. Patrick leads the life that people dream of. Coming out of college having studied ancient history he worked for Transworld sport documenting some of the most extreme sporting events in the world. He then moved in front of the camera becoming an expeditioner himself. With two Antarctic expeditions under his belt and many visits to the continent he thought it fitting to share this great expanse with those who share a passion for this environment. White Desert was the result. He is also a published author, published in 14 languages-impressive!

Jenna Viney

Jenna Viney is the official camp manager and chef. She leads a similar enviable life of an adventure chef. Yes, an adventure chef. Together with Patrick she has built White Desert into the camp that it is today and if you ask any guest of White Desert what the highlight of their trip was, food will definitely rank high on the response list. When not in Antarctica, Jen chefs in Russia, Greece and on expedition. This year she is going to be cooking up a storm in the Himalayas and at the North Pole. She has a fat Passport.

Steph Husson

Steph Husson is best described as a king. A world Champion Ice Cimber and philosopher, Steph can keep you thinking around the camp fire well into the morning. He hails from Chamonix France where he is developing for himself an impressive career as a Reggae artist. He manages an Ice Climbing wall where he is nurturing the new wave of world class ice climbers. Steph has some impressive peaks to his name and has completed many expeditions in the fjords of Norway climbing frozen waterfalls and opening new peaks in Antarctica.

Sam Beaugey

Sam Beugey is a crazy individual that will make you seriously reconsider why you sit behind a desk day in and day out. This man climbs mountains and jumps off them. He flies like a bird and sometime crashes like thunder. With an intimate knowledge of the edge of the envelope Sam is living proof of making every second count. He has snowboarded down Mt Everest, Base Jumped all over the world and does an incredible impersonation of UPee (the unidentified penguin).

Bill Dwyer

Bill Dwyer is a machine. A high mountain guide on Denali (the highest peak in North America), Bill knows how do live in the cold and to show people the cold. He lives in Juneau, the capital of Alaska and the Alaskan wilderness is his playground. He paddles with whales, runs with bears and has his very own glacier that acts as a frozen sandpit to play in. Juneau only has 40km of paved roads, so to get out and explore the great beyond one moves into the bush, and Bill is the guy who explores that bush like no other in Alaska.

Gareth Brauteseth

Oh, and then there is me, Gareth Brauteseth. My forte is Africa, chaos, people, tropical sun, water, surfing, swimming, running. My altitude is Table Mountain and my cold is swimming in the Cape Town water. I was a bit out of my depth, I needed all these guys to help me survive this place.

These are the crew that bring the White Desert to life, they make you laugh, make you scream out in anger and share with you one of the most incredible landscapes this planet has to offer. They became a family and they became pretty impressive brothers and sisters at that.

My time In Antarctica is coming to an end, in ten days I will be boarding the Ilyusion and flying back to the Land of possibility the land that beats to its own pulse, Africa, and at the very tip our rainbow nation South Africa-MZANSI.

It has been an incredible trip and there have been some amazing experiences that I will definitely share in the coming days and weeks. I have come out of this foray on the ice once again feeling the spirit of adventure.

South Africa is alive with adventurers, some plan for months an execute first time solo descents of rivers, some fly for the first time of the 7 summits, some swim at the top of the world and some don their suits and head out to work.

I see this light burning in every African and it makes me proud.

2010 was a great year for the adventuring spirit, millions of us donned the gold and green of Bafana Bafana and waltzed down to a stadium, a TV screen or just a radio. Tshabala adventured his foot onto the side of a leather ball which found the back of the net that opened up the goals, voices and hearts of the World Cup. Lewis Pugh adventured to a high altitude lake and into a Speedo to show just what global warming is making possible and it is scary that it is a reality. My sister adventured back home after far too long a stay in Europe. Ryan Sandes adventured his way to victory in the desert races. Mike Horn is rounding the world on Pangaea.

We have had a good year!

With adventure life is real, and with life being real death also crops its nasty head.

I read today, bundled up in an Antarctic cabin, of the tragedy earlier in December on the Lukuga River in the Congo. Hendrik Coetzee, living to the beat of his heart was tragically killed by a crocodile while guiding an expedition. Thoughts and prayers to Hendrik’s friends family and everyone that was influenced by such a spirit.

The reality of adventure eventually comes calling, but I urge all of you to find that flame of adventure inside of you today, and feed it with some fuel and let it grow until we can see it sparkling in your eyes.

“We look at the dawn and it’s an African dawn, We feel how we feel because we are African Born”

Sam Beugey

If any of you watched the BANFF Film festival earlier this year there was a film about 4 French climbers who go climbing in Pakistan.

They spend 20 days on a cliff face, climbing, sleeping, washing, and cooking on the side of a mountain. Eventually they get to the top, over 6000m up. It is a great story of the coming together of some great friendships. Only good humor and a chilled out take on your surroundings get you through this.

And when they get to the top…

Sam Beaguey puts on a wing suit and jumps off the top. What takes 20 days to get up, takes 20 sec to get down. This is an awesome film of some great guys pushing the boundaries. Watch it here.

Sam is part of the White Desert team who will be taking guests on some of the wildest rides of there life. It is going to be insane!

The Norwegians love the Ice, I suppose because they live in it for half the year.

My forefathers are Norwegian with Otto Brauteseth, a hard man of humble means, coming out on a ship to South Africa in 1882. 130 years later I am getting ready for a trip to Antarctica just like so many Norwegians that have gone before.

One of Norways greatest modern day explorers is Børge Ousland, who, for the past 20 years has been exploring the Arctic and Antarctic pushing the boundaries of human endeavor.

The man is amazing, there are not many people who can boast a first under their belt these days, but Børge was the first person to complete a solo expedition to the North Pole without re-supplying, and the first to cross the Antarctic continent alone. He is still the only person to have accomplished both feats.

As I write the man is in the North Atlantic on his latest mission of sailing through the North East and North West Passage in one season.

Awesome!

Adventure Chef Jenna Viney

I am a lucky member of a crew that is hosting guests down on the ice of Antarctica during the summer season of 2010/2011.

The opportunity to get down to the White Desert does not come around too often in ones life and I have been blessed with the opportunity that I have no doubt pounced upon.

“Whichaways” camp is based on the ice shelf and plays home base to White Desert. White Desert (www.white-desert.com) is the latest in adventure tourism and if you have the time, the money and the nerve I suggest you make a plan to get down, the waiting list is getting pretty long.

Besides the Ice climbing, the penguins, the leopard seals, the South pole and the Kite Skiing you will be spoilt by some of the most amazing food that adventure has to offer.
Jenna Viney (www.jennamayfood.com) is the award winning chef who splits her time between Antarctica in the European winter, Russia in the European Summer and Greece just for a good time. I had coffee with Jenna yesterday and it was a sign of good things to come. The team is going to be phenomenal and I can’t wait to meet the rest of the guys as they arrive in Cape Town to get ready for the Desert.

Lewis Pugh

Hold the phone!

Lewis Pugh just swam across Pumori Lake.

For those of you who don’t know, Pumori Lake is in the Himalayas at 5300m and the water temp is 2 degrees.

The problem with swimming at altitude is quite similar to walking at altitude, you cannot do it very fast and if you do you run out of energy and need to stop. Only problem is that when you in water when you stop, you drown.

Other problem is that if you spend too much time in the water you get hypothermia.

So Lewis swam across in 22minutes, nicely done. I really hope he enjoyed his first shower after that.