THE STANDARD CHARTERED TRANS- WINTER EXPEDITION SUPPORTED BY THE COMMONWEALTH On Earth

PATRON: HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES, CHAIRMAN: Tony Medniuk, DEPUTY CHAIRMAN: Gavin Laws (Standard Chartered Bank), SCIENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Sir Peter Williams CBE FRS FREng, SCIENCE COMMITTEE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN: Prof Dougal Goodman FREng, EXPEDITION ORGANISER & LEADER: Sir Bt OBE, MARINE ORGANISER: Anton Bowring, COMMONWEALTH LIAISON: Derek Smail, EXPEDITION POLAR PLANNER: Martin Bell, EXPEDITION POLAR CONSULTANT: Jim McNeill, INTERACTIVE EDUCATIONAL WEBSITE DIRECTOR/MICROSOFT LIAISON: Phil Hodgson (Durham's Education Development Service), EXTREME COLD TEMPERATURE EQUIPMENT: Steven Holland and Team, SPONSOR LIAISON: Eric Reynolds The TAWT TRUST Ltd (UK Registered Charity 7424188) CHAIRMAN: Tony Medniuk, DEPUTY CHAIRMAN: Gavin Laws; Michael Payton, Richard Jackson, Alan Tasker, Anton Bowring, Sir Ranulph Fiennes Bt OBE

IN CONFIDENCE

EXPEDITION AIMS AND OUTLINE SCHEDULE

1. OVERALL

The aim of the TAWT Expedition is to complete the first historic crossing of the Antarctic Continent, to raise over £10 million for our charity SEEING IS BELIEVING, to educate school children, and to complete our science programme.

In order not to alert other polar groups, such as our long-time rivals in , we will only announce the Expedition when we are 100% ready to go! The earliest date that we could leave the UK will be 1 October 2012. The alternate date, given any unforeseen delay, will be 1 October 2013.

Relevant Antarctic Records

1902 First Penetration of the unknown continent : Scott/Shackleton/Wilson (Brit)

1908 First Penetration of Inland icecap : Shackleton/Wilde/Marshall/?+1 (Brit)

1911 First to reach : Amundsen + 4 skiers (Norwegian)

1950s First 2-way-pincer Crossing of . One expedition under (NZ). One expedition under Dr (Brit)

1979/80 First 1-way-only Crossing of Antarctica : Fiennes/Burton/Shepard (Brit)

1992 First solo unsupported to South Pole : Erling Kagge (Norwegian)

1992 First unsupported crossing of Antarctic Continent : Fiennes/Stroud (Brit)

1996 First unsupported solo crossing of Antarctica : Borge Ouslund (Norwegian)

All of the above expeditions were in the polar summer. No expedition has crossed the continent, or even reached the South Pole, during the polar winter.

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We are currently assuming departure on 1 October 2012. If this looks likely by the end of February 2012, we will probably, pending the decision of the main financial Sponsor, STANDARD CHARTERED BANK, and our Trustees, hold an initial Press Conference in early summer 2012.

The Expedition has been put together by our group of unpaid volunteers and is only possible through the generosity and efficiency of our Sponsors (as listed alphabetically on the attached list).

2. MARINE

Our preparations continue slowly but surely with Anton Bowring, the Expedition Leader in charge of all marine sides of the Expedition, visiting Spain and to obtain the best ice-strengthened ship on the market. Once he has sealed a suitable deal, whether by purchase or charter, he will contact our volunteer crew, mostly professional ex-merchant navy individuals from nine different countries who have worked on our record-breaking expeditions for over 30 years. They will bring the ship back to our Thames-side berth at Trinity Buoy Wharf where the site owner, Eric Reynolds, also a long-time member of our Expedition Team, has sponsored the venture with anchorage, HQ office and storage space.

The ship will be re-named The STANDARD CHARTERED EXPLORER.

Work will then commence to prepare and load the ship, and this work will be carried out by volunteers. The ship will be in the immediate view of the occupants of the Canary Wharf buildings and will be in the immediate vicinity of Olympic Games venues.

On or close to 1 October the ship will depart for Christchurch, New Zealand, where major celebrations are proposed (100 years after Scott left Christchurch on his last expedition). Ran Fiennes has already met and briefed the NZ Prime Minister, John Keys, about the schedule.

Anton plans to land the Ice Group at McMurdo Sound, Ross Island on Antarctica’s Pacific coast by the end of December 2012.

The STANDARD CHARTERED EXPLORER will then complete an oceanographic research programme prior to collecting the Ice Group and all their gear in January 2014, before returning to the Eric Reynolds HQ at Greenwich after a long and remarkable voyage.

3. ICE GROUP (Members)

The Ice Group will consist of :

Expedition Leader – Ran Fiennes

Doctor and Nutritionist – Mike Stroud

Antarctic Logistics Expert – TBC

Resident Scientist – TBC

Finning Caterpillar Chief Mechanic – TBC

Finning Caterpillar Number Two Mechanic – TBC

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The Logistics expert will be selected on his return from Antarctica in March 2012.

The Scientist will be chosen by our Science Committee following standard peer review processes by June/July 2012.

The two mechanics and two reserves will be selected following Trials of our vehicular set-up and tests of our 5 applicant mechanics in early February 2012. These trials will take place, thanks to the generous Sponsors involved, at the GKN Testing Site in Arjeplog, North Sweden.

ICE GROUP (Vehicles)

Andy Thomas, Chief Engineer at Finning Caterpillar, has, during 2011, modified many aspects of our two 20-ton D6N Caterpillars for expected low temperatures and for crevasse hazards.

Ian Hunt of Kalliope Ltd has designed our two cabooses: the LIVING CABOOSE sponsored by STONEHAGE (global investment advisers) and the SCIENCE CABOOSE sponsored by ALFRED DUNHILL (famous internationally for designer clothing).

The Cabooses each consist of a modified steel (ship) container mounted on a LEHMANN sled chassis. Internally they consist of a great many features manufactured and sponsored by the very best companies in the world (see attached list).

The containers are sponsored by Eric Reynolds of Container City (URBAN SPACE MANAGEMENT) and will be modified by S.E.S. at their Upminster site prior to transport to our Container City site beside our ship anchorage (as above).

The engineer will be John Cummings, the specialist polar fitting engineer will be Steve White, and progress will be checked by our Chief Polar Planner Martin Bell.

Our Environmental Risk Plan is being supervised by Liz Pasteur (late of the ).

A place in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Thames procession has been booked for our ship by Eric Reynolds.

It is expected that our Sponsors will be asked by Ian Hunt to centralize and, in certain cases, fit the products with which they are kindly sponsoring us in or after March 2012.

Although BBC News film crews have already been filming the progress of the Expedition’s plans since 2009 and will film the Trials in Sweden in February, this will not feature on the national news until the Expedition’s official announcement. The documentary of the Expedition is currently under discussion with two or three interested producers, including for the channel.

The interactive educational website of the Expedition (Marine and Ice Group) will commence as soon as the Expedition is officially announced, and this will be under the direction of Phil Hodgson of the Durham Education Development Service, with support from MICROSOFT (Cloud Technology). Live film will be sent from both the Ship and the Ice Group using PANASONIC cameras, Tuffboook laptops and IRIDIUM transmission gear.

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The above is the overall project plan. Whether we set out in October 2012 or October 2013 will depend upon Anton’s negotiations with the Spanish and/or our Commonwealth Liaison, Derek Smail’s ongoing negotiations with the South African government. We will send you a progress report in March 2012 (if not before!) Meanwhile, 1,000 Thanks from all our Team for joining this historic challenge though your generous sponsorship.

Ranulph Fiennes

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