Meet the fearless expedition doctor who spends two months a year living on a freezing cold ice shelf – in Antarctica. Paddy Mitton, 47, says he feels in his “element” supporting adventurers destined for the South Pole, where the mercury goes below -50c and winds reach up to 200mph.
The dad of two decided to step foot on the freezing tundra six years ago to combine his “love” of the wilderness with his medical training. And he now leaves the UK each November and December to live in a tented camp roughly 700 miles from the pole.
Paddy has rescued climbers from crevasses and assisted British army officer Preet Chandi who became the first woman of colour to ski to the South Pole solo last year. And although he says his friends consider his job “pretty cool”, he admits to missing his children - aged 10 and eight - while he's stationed in the ice-cold environment.
He said: “I think my friends and family think it’s pretty cool, and I feel like I’m in my element. I’m absolutely in love with it.
“It’s an incredible place and the people who I work with are extraordinary, and my clients are doing incredible things. But it’s a very cold and a very dangerous environment if you get caught out, so the key is to spend all of your energy and thoughts on preventing stuff happening."
He added: “I miss my kids, my wife, my friends and family, but it is only two months out of the year.”
Paddy, from Porthtowan, in Cornwall, said he had love of mountaineering before he went to med school at Exeter University. And when the chance arose to work for US company Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions in 2016, he felt it was the perfect opportunity to unite his two passions.
He said: “I used to go on mountaineering expeditions in the Himalayas, and when I finished med school, I was looking to combine it with my love of the wilderness. Now, if there are any accidents, I’m part of the search and rescue response. We go out to any problem and facilitate extraction.
“It’s an incredible hazardous environment, below -50c. The coldest I’ve been in is -53c. We have had people fall from in crevasses and hurt themselves, and then they require patching up in the field. They’ll usually then be extracted to one of our camps and need ‘medi-vacing’ off the continent, normally back to Chile for further treatment."
Paddy said he arrives at a base camp, perched on the Union glacier, at the start of November and then lives in a mountaineering tent for the next few months. And during this time he looks after 500 clients who climb the continent’s highest peak, ski across the tundra or visit its famed colony of emperor penguins.
He said: “We’re based in a tented camp, and we set off for the summer expedition season, which actually starts in a few weeks' time. It’s away from the coast, so it’s a desert, there is no life. But occasionally, once a month, we might get a seagull that gets lots and gets blown in from the coast.
“I’ll live in a mountain tent and our eating hall are all big tents, essentially. The expeditions we look after are huge. Some of them might be 1000 km away, and we’d need good weather to fly the planes."
Paddy assists high-profile expeditions in the Antarctica. But despite his love of the ice-cold climate, he says he always manages to make it back home for Christmas, so he can be with his devoted family.
He said: “We’re 80 degrees south of the equator, and we also have a camp at the South pole itself. But because of my kids, I do come back for Christmas.”
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