Ben Saunders: Living on Ice

Inspiration has always come in many different shapes and sizes for us, so I’m sure I won’t have to ask for too much forgiveness from you all in sharing this short documentary on British Polar explorer Ben Saunders, as he prepared for his North Pole speed record attempt last year. Admittedly this is a little off topic for us but I’m not particularly sorry on that score because I know so many of you will appreciate Ben’s courageous attempt to overcome such an adverse and unforgiving polar environment, this chap is basically pushing the boundaries of human kind here.

Predominantly the film that’s been put together by Temujin Doran follows the build up to Ben’s attempt, unearthing the ridiculous amounts of preparation that’s involved in this kind of voyage. The lengths the dedicated team have to stretch too in order to shed weight from Ben’s kit is really quite remarkable. This actually highlights lots of unneeded elements on a range of products that Ben will have used on his journey too, so I hope the manufacturers amongst us are taking notes.

This project has actually been nominated over on Vimeo for this years Festival awards in the Documentary category, but surprisingly it’s got rather low views at the moment. I thought I’d nip in and share this with you all before the cat get’s out of the bag so to speak, I’m certainly tipping Ben’s film to win amongst some fierce competition though. I just love the fact that this project goes a long way in highlighting the backdrop of something so extreme and out of the norm as a polar expedition, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed for Temujin Doran and his team come the 7th of June.

Given his passion for pushing the boundaries in extreme environments it’s not surprising to me that Land Rover have used Mr Saunders as their brand’s ambassador. He’s also quite the acclaimed motivational speaker so if you haven’t heard any of his speeches through TED I’d recommend heading in that direction and checking back in the archive, much like “Living on Ice” this isn’t to be missed. In the meantime watch on below & enjoy!

www.bensaunders.com
www.studiocanoe.com

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