Former Royal Marine Prepares For Daring One Man Antarctic Expedition

A former Royal Marine is currently training to become the first person to cross Antarctica unassisted.

Baz Gray, 43, hopes to complete his coast to coast, 1,800-mile journey in a mere 100 days.

The mission is a risky one; the last person who attempted it, Henry Worsley, who was also ex-military, died on the expedition in 2016.

Baz is training for the epic Antarctic crossing by pulling sleds around Dartmoor for 16 hours a day and spends his nights' camping.

The former Marine, who left as a WO Class 1 Regimental Sergeant Major - the most senior rank that a non-commissioned officer can hold, plans to trek from McMurdo Sound to Berkner Island, on opposite coastlines of the southernmost continent.

Baz joined the Royal Marines at 16 and was based in Unit 30 Commando.

He built a life in Devon with wife Claire, who is a nursery teacher, and had three children - Mia, 11, George, 20, and Steven, 21.

During his time in service, Baz served in Kosovo and Afghanistan. 

If Baz is successful in his mission, he will be the first person to make the journey solo, unassisted, with no way of restocking.

He said of the upcoming feat:

“This particular expedition has been on my mind for ten years, but it didn’t fit with my career in the Marines - this is full time.

“Mine is a crossing of the entire coast, from sea to sea, not just the mainline.

“It has never been done before, by anybody.

“This is long-term - it’s about your ability to be on your own for long periods of time.

“At the start, you will have more equipment and your body is fatter, but going through the Pole fatigue sets in, you lose strength.

“It’s just tough from day one until the end.”

Baz first visited the region as a Royal Marine in 2005, when he spent two stints on HMS Endurance.

It was shortly after that he dreamed up the idea of crossing the icy desert.

Antarctica is the coldest place on earth, with temperatures dropping on the continent to -89.2 degrees, it is too cold to rain.

The trip will cost £300,000 including a specially designed tent which “cocoons” warmth, and provides a comfortable place to sleep.

The trip will surely be difficult for Baz’s friends and family; calls home using a satellite phone will cost about £40 a minute, whilst food and equipment will cost around £7,000.

Baz was inspired to undertake the expedition by polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, whose granddaughter Alexandra is a close friend.

Although Baz knows that the experience will be a difficult one, he remains undaunted:

“Antarctica has a bit of the calling of the Sirens in Greek myths - it is horrific at the time, but you can’t wait to get back.

“When you look at your achievements, even up to a year after, there’s a point where you start to get enjoyment out of it then.

“It’s the sort of problem Shackleton had - he couldn’t live without planning to be in Antarctica.”

Baz is mindful of the impact that the trip will have on his family: 

Speaking about his daughter Mia, who he frequently takes mountain biking, he said:

“She’s part of it, which I think is the best way to do it.

“The boys have been brought up with me going off and dangerous things, but Mia is a very outdoorsy child and I’ve involved her in everything.

“My older children remember me going to friend’s funerals - if I hadn’t had that life, it would be quite different, but they have that understanding.

“I could have stayed in the Marines until I was 55, but if I left it much longer this opportunity would have been gone.

“As you get older, your body can’t cope as much.”

The journey has to be done during the summer months - October to January - as the weather is too severe the rest of the year for a rescue team to swoop in.

Despite his apparent bravado, there are aspects of the trip which Baz is worried about:

“I’m nervous about falling in a glacier. When you are with teams on an exposed crevasse, you rope together.

“The more people, the more the risk is reduced. If you’re doing it solo, you don’t have that.”

He is in the process of finding sponsorship and plans to work with schools via satellite phone, allowing the children to watch a Polar expedition at first hand.

But despite the journey’s many dangers, Baz says he is less concerned about the terrain than by the conflict zones he entered during his time in service:

“Penguins don’t jump out from behind rocks with guns, and try to shoot you.

“If something goes wrong, it is my fault and no-one else's.

“My wife has every faith in my ability to do this.”