‘No human has ever been’: how former Dyson CEO charted a new Antarctic route on skis
Roland Krueger talks about his gruelling 275km journey skiing along the peaks of Queen Maud Land with his friend Lars Ebbesen
When most of us think of an adventure, it might be a demanding mountain hike or a remote backpacking trek. But for corporate executive and polar explorer Roland Krueger, it is navigating a continent entirely hostile to life.
In his most recent expedition, in November last year, Krueger and long-time friend Lars Ebbesen completed a gruelling 275km (171-mile) journey through the remote and spectacular peaks of Queen Maud Land, stretching across East Antarctica.
This was no ordinary polar traverse. Dropped off by a small plane at a point over 2,000 metres (6,560 feet) above sea level, the duo skied a highly technical route through mountain ranges where wind funnels like water through a sluice, accelerating between granite peaks until it hits speeds that make skiing impossible and standing precarious.
Krueger and Ebbesen spent two full days pinned inside their tent, listening to the fabric strain against gusts exceeding 100km/h. When the sun – still low in the early-season sky – dipped behind the peaks, plunging them into shadow, the temperature inside the tent dropped to nearly minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit), even without wind chill. They fired up the stove just to keep the interior survivable.
“We didn’t expect the winds to be that strong, to be fair. But all our experience kicked in and we were able to deal with it,” says Krueger, the former CEO of Dyson and a former president of Infiniti Motor Company.
Their traverse required ropes and climbing gear to navigate fields of crevasses – some small and hidden, others gaping. They started above 2,000 metres, skied down to roughly 1,500 metres, then climbed again, descending repeatedly to thread a path through terrain never before charted on skis.