{"id":34502,"date":"2017-08-02T14:45:32","date_gmt":"2017-08-02T13:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/?p=34502"},"modified":"2017-08-02T14:47:34","modified_gmt":"2017-08-02T13:47:34","slug":"one-kilometre-along-arctic-sea-ice-hardest-ever-swim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2017\/08\/02\/one-kilometre-along-arctic-sea-ice-hardest-ever-swim\/","title":{"rendered":"One kilometre along the Arctic sea ice \u2013 my hardest ever swim"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love everything about my polar campaigns, except for the tense hours just before a swim.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The anxiety before this last swim, along the edge of the Arctic sea ice, was the worst I\u2019ve ever experienced.<\/p>\n

The training leading up to it was not what I\u2019d wanted. Even though my preparation went well, and I was fit and strong – probably in the best pre-swim condition ever – there was just not enough cold water training.<\/p>\n

When I arrived in Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen for the final acclimatisation, the water was 10C (50F) – and this was just 1,300 kilometres from the North Pole! Yet another example of the runaway climate change we are witnessing in the Arctic.<\/p>\n

When I did my North Pole swim in 2007, there were a number of leaders denying what was happening in the Arctic. Today there is just one.<\/p>\n

This swim returned us to the high Arctic ten years later to show the world the speed at which things are changing, and remind our leaders that what happens here affects all of us.<\/p>\n

There were some added pressures on this swim. For one, we had a Sky News team on the expedition filming a documentary – the first time we\u2019d had a TV crew on board.<\/p>\n

Report:<\/strong> Arctic sea ice melt \u201clike a train wreck\u201d says US scientist<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This would be my fifteenth\u00a0long distance swim in very cold water. People assume that it gets easier over time. It doesn\u2019t. It gets harder, because you know the place you\u2019re going to; you know the pain you\u2019re in for. Once you experience such extreme cold, you never really thaw out. Plus I\u2019m not getting any younger.<\/p>\n

Before I set out on this expedition I wrote the names of every person who has helped me prepare for this swim. There were 67 names in all, starting with Professor Tim Noakes who pioneered the science behind my cold-water swimming. Now I had one of the most competent safety officers a swimmer could wish for in Karin Strand, I had photographer Kelvin Trautman close by, and safety paddler Kyle Friedenstein alongside.<\/p>\n

The setting was perfect; a brilliant sunny day and a clean edge of Arctic sea ice at 80\u00b0\u00a0<\/strong>North, along which to mark our kilometre. When the team measured the water temperature, it was minus 0.5C (31F). They told me it was 2C (37F). In retrospect, I\u2019m glad they kept the truth from.<\/p>\n

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I've received lots of questions about how I\u2019m able to swim in the Arctic. Read this thread > pic.twitter.com\/rsop2Iqyov<\/a><\/p>\n

— Lewis Pugh (@LewisPugh) August 1, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n