“Ice explorer”:http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2009/08/05/antony_jinman_feature.shtml
By David Fitzgerald

Antony Jinman leaves the warmth of his Devon home and travels to Baffin Island, where arctic conditions are well below zero and even the cost of a loaf can leave a small hole in your pocket.

The challenges of a British summer can appear pretty harsh to us but for 28-year-old Anthony Jinman, from Wembury, it’s nothing compared to Baffin Island, off the north east coast of Canada.

“I love travelling in the Arctic environment where survival is the main thing. To be able to navigate by the sun, to read the weather and snow conditions is thrilling and to push yourself against the elements, making sure you’re eating enough calories and of course to avoid becoming the calorie intake of a Polar bear, that’s what drives me on.”

Antony’s been to the Inuit island, which is twice the size of Britain, several times before but this trip in 2009 was twofold.

“The purpose of this expedition was to produce a short film for schools on who the Inuit people are and what life is like in the Arctic, especially with climate change.

Baffin is twice the size of Britain

“The second part of the trip was to ski some 150 miles solo through the Auyuittug National Park.”

Most normal people book a table for dinner on Valentine’s Day or order flowers – but not Antony.

He arrived in Qikiqtarjuag via Iqaluit, the main town, with two great names to remember when cheating at Scrabble.

Island temperatures are -50c and colder and the 25,000 people who live there have learnt how to handle the extreme conditions.

“Qikiqtarjuag has a population of just 500 and is about 150 miles to the next closest village. There are no roads, only planes, during the winter and food supplies arrive by boat in the summer.”

This, Anthony says, makes edible items incredibly expensive.

“It’s about £3.50 for a small loaf of bread or £20 for a bottle of orange juice! For this reason hunting is still very much the main occupation within the community and life is tough!”

After a short stay in Qikiqtarjuaq, Antony set out on the 150-mile trip to the village of Pangnirtung.

Self portrait in temperatures well below freezing

“The route has some spectacular landscapes. The sea ice around the coast gives way to an immense glaciated valley, with towering granite peaks and glaciers forking off from the Penny Ice Cap.

“Sleeping on it can be a little unsettling though. As you lie there, you think you hear footsteps and with Polar bears loving 28-year-old explorers, getting a decent night’s sleep is rare. But usually it’s just the ice moving with the sea pushing up under the shelf.”

The evidence of global warming on Baffin is certainly visible, says Antony: “I came across extreme flooding that took place last year. The glacial moraines that have stood there since the last ice age have been sheared in half.

“I visited a glacial lake some 12km long and 3km wide. It’s now around 15ft lower because it burst its banks last year. I am no scientist but even I can see that things are changing drastically.”

But one of the main problems for him is a natural bodily function.
“If you sweat at -30c you will die! It tends to enter your clothing and then it will just freeze as it’s unable to evaporate in the sub zero air.

“As your clothing fills with ice it stops keeping you warm and frostbite and severe hypothermia sets in. It’s constantly in the back of your mind.

“The only way to solve the sweat problem is to adjust your clothing layers and ski to keep warm. When you stop, you put on a nice warm jacket but you only stop for 10 minutes so that you don’t cool down too much.

“And by the way, before you ask, going for a pee in -30c is also a skilled process.” Something I’ll take Antony’s word for.

As for food it doesn’t get much better: “Instant powder, just add hot water. Yummy!” Says Antony. “You need between five and seven thousand calories a day, about the same as eating five to seven pizzas!”

For Antony though, this was a working adventure: “While I was skiing I would receive texts from students back home in the UK.

It’s a case of pulling your own luggage

“I run my own school outreach project. The core aim of this non-profit project is to use my expeditions to help make classrooms come alive through photography and film. People can ask free questions to my satellite phone and I reply using photography, audio and text. It’s all about making students as young as five-years-old feel as if they’re part of the expedition. I follow this up with Arctic workshops in schools when I return.”

Back home in south Devon, Antony reflects on his latest Baffin Island adventure.
“My journeys have been remarkable and the last trip was without doubt one of the most emotional and deeply rewarding experiences of my life.

“It will not be my last and I’m now looking at becoming the first Briton to ski to both poles and across Greenland in just 12 months.”