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southwalesargus.co.uk

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

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southwalesargus.co.uk

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Epic trek across ice, where -10C feels warm

Newport based auctioneer Paul Fosh, 48, returned from the challenge of his life at
the end of last month. The father-of-two, who lives in Osbaston, walked 352 miles
through the Canadian Arctic over eight days, carrying all his food and possessions
on a sled in one of the most difficult races in the world. Out of 24 who entered,
only eight finished with Mr Fosh coming in fourth

RESIDENTS in Monmouth
will still have access to advice services from around
Monmouthshire despite the
towns Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) announcing its
closure.
The chairman of the Monmouthshire County CAB,
Brian Counsell, said his bureau was actively looking to
ensure services would continue in the town, following
the decision of the towns
bureau to shut in June.
The County CAB was
formed in September 2013
when the former CABs
based in Abergavenny, Caldicot and Chepstow merged.
That CAB has also extended services to Usk and Wyesham.
Mr Counsell said: We
were saddened to hear of
Monmouth CABs decision
to close after its proud history of offering advice services in the town.
Just as we have elsewhere
in Monmouthshire, we will
also work closely with town
and community councils to
ensure that local needs are
well understood and that the
first class service that people
are used to will continue.
JOB: Paul Fosh at his office in

Newport

WE STARTED in the northern Yukon just below the line of the Arctic
Circle and walked from that point,
in temperatures down to -30C.
First we followed the Dempster
Highway, put in when they started
oil exploration in Northern Canada,
which is basically a gravel track.
After about 230 miles the road
runs out and you go onto the Mackenzie River, frozen over for six or
seven months of the year.
Even early on this river can be
half a mile wide, but when you get
on to the Arctic Ocean near the finish its just a vast expanse.
You get walls either side from
where they cleared the ice with
snow ploughs.
Initially the Dempster Highway
was incredible, with mountains and
forests either side, but increasingly
it was just snow and stunted trees
for kilometre after kilometre after
kilometre imagine an undulating
road going on for 10km or more.
Sometimes you could only see a
rise and youd think, Oh, maybe
there will be something after that.
You get there and theres just an-

THOUGHTS: Paul Fosh with his then fiancee, now wife, Sarah, on the day of

their engagement in October 2012

SONS: Paul with Julian and Keiran in the Brecon Beacons in 2012

NEWS IN BRIEF
Charity concert

AN ANNUAL charity concert organised by fundraiser John Williams will

this year take place at The
Millennium Hall, Garndiffaith, on Saturday, May 16
at 7pm.
This year it is to support
the mayor of Torfaens
chosen charities of St Davids Hospice, Tenovus
Cancer Care and Torfaen
Opportunity Group.
Tickets cost 6 and are
available from the mayors
office on 01495 742578, or
John Williams on 01495
448261, also The Millennium Hall and choir members.

Service awarded

THE former Baptist Minister in Griffithstown and

Rotary Club of Pontypool
member, Clive Knight, was
recently awarded with a
Paul Harris Fellowship
in recognition of his long
service to Rotary particularly in Pontypool.
Mr Knight joined Rotary
on February 1, 1985 and
since that time has served
on and been chairman of
several committees.
He has been club president on three occasions.
District governor Sandra
Townsend accompanied
by president Roger Saunders made the presentation to Mr Knight.
Members of his family
and other Rotary members
from the district attended
the special meeting.

ROAD: Paul Fosh on his 352-mile Arctic trek

other one ahead of you.
Its that sort of thing actually that
made some people quit, just the
mental aspect of it.
The further you went the flatter it
got until you reached the ocean and
the only thing you saw were temporary hunting shacks used by the
Inuit and something that I learned
is called a pingu when the ocean
pushes up and creates an island
with the force of ice.
Early on when my head was clear
I was thinking about work, my wife
and family, just anything really.
But towards the end I was thinking
about virtually nothing.
My wife cropped up in my
thoughts quite a lot and I had a lot
of conversations with her. I also had
a lot of conversations with the sled,
which my kids nicknamed Jack
Frost.
I was trying to encourage Jack to
push me up the hills and help slow
me when I was going down the hills
but he never quite got the hang of
it.
I spoke a bit to Aurora Borealis,
the Northern Lights. Id ask her to
give me a good display as it turned
dark every night, because its quite
lonely. Id have a chat to her and say
Give us a good show tonight even
though you couldnt really appreciate it very much.
Towards the end I thought of
nothing other than it sounds a bit
cheesy really but asking my wife
to give me a hug and help me on
my way. It was out loud there was
nobody there.
On the ice road you would see a
vehicle I suppose every hour or so.
They would wave and some would
put their phones out the window to
photograph you, some would give
you a honk on the horn.
That was quite cheery actually to

ICY: Temperatures fell to -30C

have that. Occasionally someone
offered you an apple or something,
which was very tempting but you
have to be totally self-sufficient.
The main danger was frostbite
and the medics at each checkpoint
were keen to say Fingers and toes
OK? and do a quick visual of your
nose. My beard is quite recent and
was to keep as much skin covered
as possible.
There are a lot of brown and black
bears but they are all hibernating.
Even at the finish the chance of
seeing a polar bear was possible but
very remote. People did see lynx
and one of the locals said wolves
had been following a few of us,
but only because they must have
smelled the food we were carrying.
Going to the loo was interesting.
Basically you cant really go off the
road because there are deep snowdrifts either side. Because its very
remote, you just squat at the side
of the road and do your business
and then push a bit of snow over it.
I was known for my weeing in the
snow I used to do a letter P.
On day four I pulled away from
two Irish guys a bit younger than
me who had been leaving me some
friendly banter messages in the
snow, with their Keep up dads and

that sort of stuff.

Anyway I overtook them and carried on doing my signature P. At the
end of it they said it used to really
wind them up seeing these Ps. They
got over it by analysing it saying
Hes a bit dehydrated. Silly little
things like that keep you going.
My lowest point was probably at
the beginning of day three, when
my ankle and calf had swollen up
and I just could not walk.
I actually had a good blubbing
session then.
I was on my own and I knew I
was out of the race. But when your
eyelids stick together with the tears
freezing you realise theres no point
crying and you might as well carry
on.
The pain eased off and although it
was painful every day I managed to
push through.
Another low point was perhaps
about two days from the end.
The penultimate check point was
just a car parked on the ice road,
about 12km away.
It was dark and I could see the
headlights, but you can see for so
far because youre basically on the
Arctic Ocean.
It took about two maybe three
hours to get there which was so
frustrating.
Thats when I had some really
bad hallucinations mostly auditory, I was hearing cows mooing,
sheep and people calling my name
from behind. Its funny, you dont
get scared by it really. You think,
Thats weird, I dont think Ive seen
any sheep and then you think, Oh,
derr and you just move on, you
accept it.
At that point I was probably having three or four hours sleep a day.
Partly because youre so tired you
just want to keep going and you

FINISH: Paul crosses the line

become almost like an automaton.
Basically each day you get up
when you wake up and you wake
up because youre cold. You get out
of your bivvy as quickly as you can,
get your shoes on and sled packed
up.
After youve walked for half an
hour or so you can think about
something to eat.
You cant eat straight away because youre too cold to prepare it.
I had loads of trail food which
included broken up chocolate
you couldnt take a whole bar of
chocolate because youd snap your
teeth on it.
I hadnt really thought about the
fact frozen food is not the nicest or
easiest to eat. Id tip a load of jelly
babies into my mouth and even now
my tongue is still damaged from the
frozen food.
Then its basically walking walking, walking, walking.
All being well you go all day and
stop when the sleep monsters attack
you and you have to give up.
There are stories of people falling
asleep on their feet and walking
off the road or into the ice walls on
either side.
One of the best moments came
after I had been on the ice road for a

day. It felt really warm although I

subsequently found out it was about
-10C there was clear blue sky and
not a soul was about. I made myself
a cup of tea, sat down and just
sunbathed before I forced myself
back onto my spikes, aching and
knackered.
Funnily enough one of the most
painful times was the very last day.
The last kilometres were just hell
on earth. I was absolutely exhausted by that stage, the ocean seemed
to be going uphill.
When I walked over a crest and
saw the finish line it was just an
incredible feeling.
They said break the tape but
I had no energy to actually walk
through the barrier. I just put my
poles over and leaned on it with all
these frozen snotsicles around my
face.
Immediately after finishing they
took my harness off me and drove
me to the village hall where the
competitors who had pulled out
were all staying.
I had my feet checked over by one
of the medics there were some big
blisters on my bad foot but in many
ways they were nothing compared
to the pain of my foot and ankle.
On the ice road you have spikes
which fit over your shoes which
actually are really brutal on your
knees.
Somebody got me a cup of tea and
I was sitting there in numb shock
really at having done it.
Its such an incredible barren
wilderness it will be so sad that if
in years to come the environment
has changed because of global
warming.
My family probably think Im a bit
mad. Im desperate to run again and
hopefully Ill go for a first run in a
few days time.