Quotes from Ben Saunders

I'm not particularly gifted; I'm not genetically freakish in any sense; I'm absolutely average.

Expeditions are escapism. The stuff that we're normally concerned about just doesn't matter out there. Tax returns, gas bill, none of it. Life becomes very simple, it's about moving in a certain direction - north if you're going north - staying warm and not getting eaten. That's it.

I've diced with death the most cycling around London. Black cabs are far more dangerous than polar bears.

Environmental scientists in Canada said it was impossible for me to get to the Pole in 2004... I said 'no,' it's still OK, and I can still get there, and I did.

I don't think of myself as an explorer but as an athlete.

My Antarctic expedition is just about doable, just feasible and that's what is exciting to me. If I knew it was possible, if I knew I could do it without too much bother, I wouldn't be interested.

What's the nastiest injury I've sustained? Just a frostbitten toe... but thankfully it's still intact.

To experience, to engage, to endeavor, rather than to watch and to wonder — that's where the real meat of life is to be found.

The closer I got to my finish line, that rubbley (ph) rocky coast of Ross Island, the more I started to realize that the biggest lesson that this very long, very-hard walk might be teaching me is that happiness is not a finish line and that if we can't feel content on our journeys amidst the mess and the striving that we all inhabit - the open loops, the half-finished to-do lists, the could-do-better-next-times - then we might never feel it.

If I've learned anything in nearly 12 years now of dragging heavy things around cold places, it is that true, real inspiration and growth only comes from adversity and from challenge, from stepping away from what's comfortable and familiar and stepping out into the unknown… I certainly would implore you to open the door just a little bit and take a look at what's outside.

When I'm skiing, I listen to electronic music. It's repetitive and let's me get into a groove and crank out the miles.