Devon stands in for polar icecap

Steven Morris
The Guardian, Wednesday 31 December 2008

Dartmoor is to be the training ground for three explorers who are about to set out on a £3m scientific expedition to find out just how vulnerable the Arctic icecap is.
Polar veteran Pen Hadow is leading the team that in February will take radar measurements of the icecap. Their findings will be made available to next year's UN climate change conference and will hopefully help scientists calculate how long the dwindling icecap could last.
Hadow, and his team members Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley, are building up their stamina by dragging car tyres over the awkward terrain and clambering over the granite outcrops with heavy packs."We are using Dartmoor to help replicate the icescape that we will travel across," said Hadow. "The tors are as good as gyms." The team is also toughening up with mentally and physically punishing sessions at the commando training centre at Lympstone, in east Devon.
"We are going to be on the sea ice for about 100 days ... measuring the thickness of the ice and snow in temperatures as low as -50C," said Hadow. "Up to 12 hours a day pulling sledges of up to 100kg requires a huge physical effort."