Pole to Pole: James Hooper and Rob Gauntlett Set World Record

James Hooper and Rob Gauntlett, two British adventurers, have become the first two people to ever travel from the North Magnetic Pole to the South Magnetic Pole, then on to Australia, completely by man power. The two adventurers recently completed the 35,000 km journey, taking one year, one month, and one day.

The beginning of their journey was suppose to be the Magnetic North Pole, instead the two had to rely on an 8 day dog sledding trip through blizzard conditions because a helicopter could not get them there. From the North Pole, they traveled to Greenland, then on to New York. In New York, the pair began an 18,000 km bicycle ride to Punta Arenas, Chile. From Chile, they helped man an Australian expedition yacht to the Falkland Islands, then off to the Antarctic. Once reaching the Magnetic South Pole, the two continued on to Tasmania, then Sydney, Australia, their final destination point. (Whew, I got tired just writing all that!)

The two began this big adventure to bring some attention to global warming. They wanted to see how the Arctic and Antarctic ice were holding up, and they wanted to do it on their own power, and their own time.

James Hooper and Rob Gauntlett had a pretty good adventure resume before they began this journey. Way back in 2006, the pair, then 19, became the youngest westerners to summit Mt. Everest. Now at 21, they can lay claim to a new record, as well. The first to go from Magnetic Pole to Magnetic Pole, using man power alone. Congratulations Guys!

By the way, the two did encounter some trouble along the way. To find out about that, your going to have to click through to the New Zealand Herald to read their interesting and informative article covering the complete journey.