Dog sled.

Sleigh bells twinkling across the snow

My sleigh is white.

Get a ride, dammit!

Ben Saunders skis to the North Pole

When we reach the border, there will be snow and we shall change to sleds.

What? No husky dogs? No sled?

Just when the wolves were tearing me out of my sledge...

I was, you can see there, pulling two sledges.

I'm telling you, crossing these things with 170 pound sled, that sled may as well have weighed 1,700 pounds, because that's what it felt like.

I took a photo of that. Sat down on my sledge. Did a sort of video diary piece.

When the ice was flat or flattish, I could just about pull both.

Arctic explorer Ben Saunders recounts his harrowing solo ski trek to the North Pole, complete with engaging anecdotes, gorgeous photos and never before seen video.

We'd catch cat naps at 40 below on our sled, incidentally.

Young people in northern Canada, kids in an elementary school, dragging sleds across the school yard, pretending they were Richard, Ray and Kevin. Amazing.

It also meant, if the worst came to the worst, I could actually jump in and swim across and drag the sledge over after me.

And in the process, I became the first person in history to make the entire 650 mile journey, from Hercules Inlet to South Pole, solely on feet, without skis.

We don't have any sledders here.

Some of them have a very precarious thin footbridge underneath them that could give way at a moment's notice, taking your sled, you, into the abyss, never to be seen again.

Houndstooth

Dog Barking

Dog Growling

And there's a race to get to the Pole between Amundsen, the Norwegian Amundsen had dog sleds and huskies and Scott, the British guy, Captain Scott.

Imagine, if you will, dragging a sled, as you just saw in that video clip, with 170 pounds of gear, in it everything you need to survive on your Antarctic trek.

Going to the Dogs

Don't be afraid of barking dogs.

Beware of the dog!

Caution, dangerous dog!

The seal of the seven jackals.

(dog barks)

My son, Yoichiro.

Clattering, Barking Continues

Barking Continues

That collie dog.

So, I created this compilation of the two I took my skis and I took a board and I put a mast foot in there, and some foot straps, and some metal fins, and here I was, going really fast on frozen lakes.

Europe s Dog in the Nighttime

You said he were noaccount.

Obviously it wasn't rabies.

Yeah, they can't be far away.

You hunting without bloodhounds?

Every South Pole expedition you may have heard about is either flown out from the Pole or has used vehicles or dogs or kites to do some kind of crossing no one has ever made a return journey. So that's the plan.

Snow and blizzard and blowing snow

Light snow and blizzard and blowing snow

I'm not ashamed, I'm frank. I openly admit that I do not tolerate pugs, lapdogs cats or socalled old friends.

Inui will keep us informed.