INTERVIEW - A Swiss polar guide says: "I didn't know if I would drown or be eaten by a polar bear"

Thomas Ulrich, mountaineers used to climb the highest peaks, ski down eight-thousanders, cross stormy oceans and deserts with dangerous animals. Are there still real adventures today?

Yes, absolutely. In 2007, I set off from the North Pole with the Norwegian Börge Ousland and walked in the footsteps of Fridtjof Nansen, the famous polar explorer, to the Franz Joseph Land archipelago in northern Siberia and from there sailed on to the North Cape of Norway. No one has managed that for over a hundred years.

For the trip, which lasted more than a hundred days, you were named Adventurer of the Year by National Geographic magazine in 2008. In the mountaineering scene, however, it has long been about just one thing: speed .

Basically, everyone should do what they want. But challenges with a stopwatch are not my thing. Why should I measure how fast I am? I only go fast when it is necessary for safety reasons or when I run out of food. And then there is another reason.

Which one?

When I want to go home in the freezing cold. But in all my expeditions I have never looked at my watch, that would be too dangerous. Because an adventure is only a good adventure if you come home safe and sound. This also applies to the extreme mountaineers Alex Honnold, Dani Arnold and Ueli Steck, who died far too young. What the three of them achieved is impressive. The death of my friend Ueli Steck, who fell on Nuptse not far from Mount Everest in 2017, still affects me today. There are moments when I ask myself: Does what we are doing make sense?

What is a good adventure for you?

I want to enjoy nature and its beauty. And not know whether I need 92 or 93 days for an expedition.

Mountaineering legend Reinhold Messner often said about his expeditions: "We go where one could die, in order not to die." What do you think of that?

I go through all the scenarios before the expedition. I have optimized and tested my equipment and my emergency scenario hundreds of times. I am certainly not looking for danger, but simply an intense experience.

So do you contradict Messner?

Yes. Why does an adventure have to involve risking one's life? That would just be negligent. I want to live and survive. A bush walk can be just as spectacular and eventful as if I were to build myself a wooden hut in Alaska or Canada and spend the winter in it.

Keystone

You wanted to go to Canada once before, in 2006. Back then, your goal was to be the first person to cross the North Pole from Siberia to Canada alone. What went wrong?

Everything. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Shortly after setting off, I experienced a terrible storm. The ice floe, which was about the size of four or five football fields, broke apart like a puzzle that had been dropped to the ground. All I could see beneath me and my tent was black water. The worst-case scenario had happened. For the first time in my life, I had to set off the emergency alarm. The problem was that the Russian disaster control team didn't arrive until four days later because of the storm. That's just part of adventure.

How have you been these days?

Those were the worst days of my life. Two weeks before, I had been at a parents' evening with my daughter in Switzerland. Now I was sitting on a breaking ice floe, not knowing whether I was going to drown or be eaten by a polar bear. The result was severe panic attacks, only then came the anger and self-doubt. At some point, I was just sad. And then I cut up my tent.

You have cut up your only place of refuge. Why?

My daughters had painted the inside of the tent before the expedition so that I could see their drawings and motivational quotes when I lay in it. Because I eventually assumed I would never see them again, I put the cut-out drawings in the left side of my parka. I wanted them to be close to my heart in case I died.

They survived.

Sounds heroic, but it wasn't. I screamed and cried. And realized that I was the one who could keep myself alive. At the time, I had a gun with me, but the .44 Magnum was actually intended for the polar bears. In the end, I was very lucky to have survived.

How realistic is it that you will be attacked by a polar bear on an ice floe?

Anything can happen out there. I once went on an expedition in Greenland and only had one light carbon shovel with me. That was a mistake. A huge storm was brewing at the time. Since that experience, I always carry two strong shovels with me so I can dig myself and my customers in better.

Bury?

Yes, otherwise we would have flown away. Nevertheless, we had to endure the storm for one night. The next day we walked for twelve hours to a disused radar station. By chance, a Belgian guide was there with his clients. We spent five days together in the hellish storm. When the weather was good again, the Belgian headed north and we went east.

So everything turned out well?

After I arrived in civilization, I learned that he had fallen into a crevasse in front of his clients. The crevasse was too deep for him to be rescued.

Hans Kammerlander recently said that of his friends, only Reinhold Messner, with whom he climbed several eight-thousanders, remained . All of his other mountain companions have died.

It was precisely for this reason that twenty years ago I decided against extreme mountain climbing and instead chose huge ice deserts. I can still remember Cerro Mayo in Argentina. I was there with my friend Börge Ousland, we were abseiling down an 800-meter-high ice wall when suddenly tons of ice crashed over our heads. Ten seconds earlier, and the ice avalanche would have buried me.

During your lectures you always show the advertisement from Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, with which he recruited participants for the crossing of the Antarctic : "Seeking volunteers for dangerous journey. Low pay, bitter cold. Return uncertain." What do you think of when you see this advertisement?

That I was born in the wrong century. Today, I sign insurance policies before expeditions and book flights to the starting points. That is a huge difference from the past. Ernest Shackleton set off on his expeditions at the beginning of the 20th century without knowing whether he would ever return home.

Do you admire him?

Yes. And also Fridtjof Nansen, the Norwegian polar explorer. In 1888, Nansen was the first person to cross Greenland and years later headed for the North Pole. He went down in history as the man who paved the way for all subsequent expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic. Nansen is a pioneer. I would have loved to have traveled with him.

Are there still such adventurers today?

Today, there are several people like Ousland, the South African Mike Horn and perhaps myself who have the courage to undertake such expeditions. But we must not forget that even the smallest ache can cost us our lives. A few years ago, I developed chilblains on my face in the Arctic. I looked as if I had stuck my face in a wasps' nest. If I hadn't had the right antibiotics with me, I could have died. It is only in such inhospitable places that you realise how worth living life is.

Yet you are always drawn to these hostile places. Where will you go next?

I no longer travel only with friends, but now also offer such adventures commercially. At the end of November, I set off with a private customer. With him, I walked from the South Pole towards Mount Vinson, which at 4,897 meters is the highest mountain in Antarctica. For us, it was a herculean task: first 1,400 kilometers on foot with skis, kites and sledges through Antarctica and then climbing a 5,000 meter high mountain!

And how much does it cost?

For that money you can buy a James Bond car from Aston Martin. I've never had that much money in my bank account. But food and accommodation are included.

There is a soup included, how generous.

Well, it's not like I pack my things on Friday evening and fly off on Saturday morning. An expedition like this requires months of preparation. My customers also know that when they travel with me and entrust their lives to me, they will only get the highest and best quality in terms of materials, experience and organization. I am as precise as a Swiss watch, I always work.

How do you spend two months with a stranger? Not only are you together all day, you also sleep in the same tent.

As soon as we land, there is no longer an expedition operator and a customer. We set off as a team and friends, and we return as a team and even better friends. The conditions are clear: he has the money for the trip, I have the experience. I think that's a good team.

Always?

There have also been tours where a participant explained to me how we could get through the Arctic faster. I told him: "Buddy, at home you're the boss. But if you want to come home again, you have to do what I tell you now. Otherwise you won't survive."

How did he react?

He took it well. Shortly after we arrived, he called me again and booked me for the next tour. You have to know: the people who book a trip with me worth the price of a luxury car are not the most down-to-earth. They usually have a lot of money. But out on the ice, often thousands of kilometers from civilization, this money is of little use to them. Different rules apply there.

Your laws?

I listen to every opinion, but only take it into account in my decisions if it is useful. Because ultimately I am responsible. People have to submit to me because I am the one with the necessary experience. So I advise everyone to listen to me. That makes their life out there a lot more pleasant.

In your experience, do men and women prepare differently for expeditions?

When a woman signs up for an expedition, I know that almost nothing can go wrong. Women leave nothing to chance and are always in top shape. Men, on the other hand, often struggle with chronic overestimation of their own abilities. They go jogging twice a week and then think that's enough for the Arctic.

And how do you deal with fear?

I'm only human. And a fearful one at that. A trip to a hostile natural environment naturally brings with it certain dangers. This is an area where bad luck can have far-reaching consequences. Every participant must sign a declaration and be prepared to bear the risk themselves.