Climate change swim - Polar Bear man takes an icy plunge

By Clare Byrne Jul 11, 2007, 4:25 GMT

Johannesburg - How to raise awareness of climate change: you can hop onto a stage in front of thousands of adoring fans and sing about it or you can strip to a Speedo, dive into a crack in the polar ice and swim about it.

Lewis Gordon Pugh has opted for the latter. On Monday the British lawyer-turned-explorer set sail on a Russian icebreaker from Murmansk to the North Pole, where he aims to swim one kilometre in water so cold it makes the Pacific Ocean feel like a hot tub.

'It doesn't get any harder than this,' says the man dubbed the Polar Bear after becoming the first person to complete a long-distance swim in both Arctic and Antarctic waters in 2006 and whose other feats for the planet include swimming the entire length of the River Thames.

No-one has ever attempted a long-distance swim at the North Pole, not least because, until recently, there wasn't much open water to swim in.

Pugh says that finding a kilometre-long crack in the ice to swim in on July 15 will send a strong message about the effects of climate change.

'The original explorers who came here 98 years ago (Robert Peary was the first man to reach the top of the world in 1909) would never have thought someone would be swimming at the North Pole,' Pugh said by telephone from the Jostedals glacier in western Norway in late June, where he was in training for the expedition.

The pitch-black water at the Pole will be around minus 1.8 degrees Celcius when Pugh plunges in, wearing only swimming trunks, a cap and goggles.

In the moments before his feet leave the ice, Pugh will listen to powerful music - Eminem, Puff Daddy, Beethoven all serve the purpose - to get himself pumped.

He will also be using a unique ability called anticipatory thermogenesis to increase his body temperature to a little over 38 degrees Celcius (normal body temperature is 37 degrees).

A team of doctors, scientists, explorers and journalists will be anxiously monitoring his vitals as he progresses past 10 national flags posted every 100 metres on the swim that should take him around 20 minutes.

Pugh and his team will also be keeping a close eye out for one of the animals most endangered by climate change.

'There is always the potential a polar bear will join the party,' he said, explaining why he eschews using Vaseline or other types of grease as a barrier against cold: if one of the big meat-eaters bears down on him he wants his team to be able to yank him out as fast as possible.

After the swim it's straight into a hot shower on the boat. 'No mucking about.'

Pugh will be accompanied to the Pole by Jorgen Amundsen, relative of the famous Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, who was the first man to walk to the South Pole.

Amundsen's presence will be a strong incentive to complete the swim, he jokes. 'Given the fierce rivalry between Britain and Norway in all polar matters, there is no way as a Briton I'm not going to do that swim.'

Details and photos on the internet website www.lewispugh.com