The count down to the PricewaterhouseCoppers North Pole Expedition is really on now and as I sit here writing this update on a warm summers afternoon my thoughts drift to the -30 and the cold Arctic winds that are only now weeks away….and I have to admit it excites me.

 Xmas and New year came and went relatively quickly and it was great to spend time with family and friends. Unfortunately the training regime didn’t get a Xmas break and I managed to fit some good sessions in. I am pretty much at my training peak at present and I am maintaining 2 sessions per week day and 1 session over the weekend. It varies from cardio gym sessions, weight training, tyre dragging, boxing, running and walking.

Most of my expedition equipment has started to arrive and I am slowly putting thing together and testing everything. My new Sunnto watch arrived yesterday and I was blown away. This thing is a mini computer on my wrist and tells me absolutely everything and can be mapped on Goggle Earth . I want to thanks the team at Sunnto for supplying me with this amazing piece of equipment.

I take delivery of my Contact 4 Communication equipment next week and I can’t wait to start to play around with it. Its this amazing gear that will allow me to send back live updates and photo’s throughout my expedition and I have to thanks Telstra for supply me with all the airtime I need for the expedition.

That’s all for now…a 90min boxing session awaits.

I was deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Sir Edmund Hillary yesterday in New Zealand, truly one of the greatest adventurers of all time. Sir Ed as he was fondly known was personally one of my heroes and someone admired around the world. He will be remembered for his spirit of adventure his passion for life and his humanity and generosity. 

I am extremely happy to announce PricewaterhouseCoopers as the exclusive naming rights sponsor for my up and coming North Pole Expedition in March/April 2008

In mid-March I will head North again, with friend Eric Philips, to the Norwegian island of Spitsbergan. Together with a couple of Czech adventurers we will ski 180km from Longyearbyn to Ny Alusend. The expedition is a celebration of the 80th anniversary of General Umberto Nobile’s embattled Italia airship expedition which began from Ny Alusend. We will hopefully climb a few peaks along the way.

We will arrive back in Longyearbyn where we will be joined by PwC Partner Ben Wheaton who is also an Al Gore climate change campaign representative and a member of the PwC Climate Change Services team. Together the three of us will head onto the frozen Arctic ocean and begin our trek to the North Pole. Eric and Ben will be met at the Pole and transported off the ice. I will then ski back to base camp completing the return journey solo and unassisted.

I want to thank PricewaterhouseCoopers for their ongoing support and belief in young Australian’s like myself. It’s great to be associated with a firm that has such great vision and commitment and shares my passion of the North Pole and its climate change issues. I’m really looking forward to getting back out on the ice with both Ben and Eric. I will keep everyone posted on how things are progressing in the lead up to March