Wife fears for explorer stranded at North Pole
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Your support makes all the difference.The wife of a British explorer who became the first person to complete a solo trek to the North Pole fears for his safety after bad weather prevented his rescue.
Pen Hadow, 41, reached his target on Monday but two attempts to pick him up by aircract yesterday were thwarted because of bad visibility.
His wife Mary said last night: "While Pen is mentally immensely strong, because he is so utterly exhausted I am worried that he will be experiencing moments of deep gloom all alone in his tent with nothing to do and no one to talk to, and not knowing when he will be taken out.
"I am also concerned that once the adrenalin levels drop, he will be feeling rather unwell." From their home in Dartmoor she added: "I think because he is all alone and so tired, Pen will be having a really horrid time."
The battery for Mr Hadow's satellite telephone has ran out leaving him without communications. His support team is planning a food drop if the explorer has not been rescued by Wednesday. His rations for normal meals run out today and after that has a meagre supply of snacks such as nuts and chocolate.
The last time Mrs Hadow spoke to her husband was on Monday when he called to say he had completed the 478-mile solo trek from Canada.
"I don't know if he was psychologically prepared for this wait or not," she added.
Mr Hadow has had no direct human contact since 17 March and has prepared a landing strip on the ice using a flare and his remaining ski. He lost the other after falling through thin ice on 30 April. Mrs Hadow called her husband "invincible" after his success in which he hauled a 150-kilo sledge over constantly moving, cracking sea ice.
The couple have two children, Wilf, four, and one-year-old Freya, who are both named after explorers.
Mr Hadow, who runs the Polar Travel Company, braved freezing temperatures, swam in the freezing sea, and negotiated huge pressure ridges to complete the trek. In 1994 he completed three-quarters of the distance before a knee injury forced him to quit.
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