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A British explorer who was one expedition away from topping The Explorer’s Grand Slam, one of the world’s toughest challenges, was forced to call off his North Pole attempt after his ice runway “broke in half”, and believes climate change is to blame.
Mountaineer Nick Hollis, 50, from Cookham, Berkshire, has climbed the world’s seven highest mountains, reached the South Pole and rowed across the Atlantic Ocean, but is one expedition short of completing the 721 challenge.
Twenty-eight people, including three Britons, have reached the seven summits and the poles, but Nick would have been one of the first in history to cross the pond as well, if he had reached the North Pole.
He was planning to ski to the Pole in April this year, which would have been the final piece of the puzzle, but less than than 24 hours before his departure, Nick received a phone call to say that the specially built ice runway at Barneo Base Camp was breaking up.
With nowhere to land, he has been forced to postpone his Arctic adventure until next year, and believes the delay is a product of the problem he has dedicated his life to solving: global warming.
“I strongly believe it’s due to climate change, that’s absolutely my view,” Nick, who is trying to raise 1.5 million US dollars (£1.2 million) for the charity World Land Trust, told PA Real Life.
“It’s an enormously frustrating situation to be in, with the bags packed, everything ready and all the effort that has gone into the preparation.
“Over the last 100 years that environment has changed dramatically and predictions suggest that between 2040 and 2050, in the summer, the Arctic will be ice free.”
Nick’s love of adventure started when he was 12 during a week-long school trip to Snowdonia, but did not develop until much later in life.
He followed a “conventional path”, graduating from Warwick university before carving out a lucrative career in business management at Hewlett Packard HP, where he spent 10 years.
During this time, Nick took full advantage of his company car to escape city life and explore the British countryside, using his 25 holiday days to go on expeditions further afield.
Nick summited Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak at 5,895 metres (19,340ft) in 2003 and soon after, Mount Elbrus in Russia, which at 5642m (18 510ft), qualifies as Europe’s tallest summit.
The more Nick climbed, the more he began wondering whether this could be a full-time occupation and, in 2012, he decided to leave his high-flying corporate career for mountaineering.
“I was doing all these qualifications in the background, qualifying as a mountain leader, then a winter mountain leader, a rock climbing instructor, and ultimately as an international mountain leader,” said Nick.
“Stepping away from the commercial world allowed me to focus 100% on my passion and what I wanted to do.”
Over the years, Nick added Mount Denali in North America, Mount Aconcagua in South America and Mount Kosciuszko in Australia to his tally, before braving two of the toughest climbs, Everest and Mount Vinson, the highest peak in Antarctica, at 4,892 metres (16,050 ft).
“When I arrived on the (Everest) summit at around 4.30am in the morning, the sun was starting to rise, but it was a heart-sinking moment because I realised that I was blind,” he said.
“I later discovered that during the night the wind was so strong, that when I took my goggles off, ice crystals in the wind had scratched the surface of my eyes, which was manageable with a headtorch, but when the sun came up the glare was like looking through a steamed up pane of glass.”
Climbing the seven peaks, Nick said he came face to face with the impact of climate change and was shocked by how quickly these environments were changing.
“It was seeing, not just how the world was changing, but how fast it was changing and particularly in these more extreme environments,” he said.
“Whether we are talking about the glacial melt on Everest or Kilimanjaro’s iconic white capped peak, which over the past 20 years I have seen just disappearing in front of my eyes.
“I knew deep down that my journey was only beginning and that I was going to dedicate the rest of my life to doing something about it.
“To a degree, this was to make amends for the damage I’ve done myself to the planet but also so that when I get to the end of my life, look in the mirror and say, you more than anyone knew what was going on, I can say to myself that from that point I did my bit.”
Nick arranged a meeting with the charity World Land Trust, who said they wanted to raise 1.5 million dollars to buy and protect 4,000 hectares of rich rainforest in Guatemala.
“I remember coming home and thinking, how am I going to help them raise 1.5 million dollars?” Nick said.
“Printing out a sponsorship form and sticking in a quid here and there wasn’t going to cut it.
“That’s when I realised I needed to step up and do something significant now.”
He began researching and discovered that at the time, only 18 people had achieved what is known as The Explorer’s Grand Slam, to complete the seven summits and reach the North and South Poles.
“Then you throw the Atlantic on top and I couldn’t find anybody who had done that,” he said.
“So I thought right, that’s it.”
Having already completed the seven peaks, Nick was left with reaching both poles and rowing 4,600km (2,800 miles) across the Atlantic Ocean.
In preparation for his full-distance journey to the South Pole, Nick underwent gruelling 21-day training in Hardangervidda, Norway, before setting off in November 2022.
“I was delayed by over two weeks which is significant when you have to reach the pole before winter sets in,” he said.
“I was consuming around 7,000 calories a day but my output was well over 10,000,” he said.
“I hadn’t even reached the half way point and I was making some body weight estimations and I had lost about 20 kilos – ribs were coming through.
“You expect a six pack, but kind of the reverse happens and that was a wake-up call.”
With only two challenges left, Nick set his sights on rowing the Atlantic, unfamiliar territory for the mountaineer, who said it “really pushed him to the limit”.
This time he “honed his nutrition”, using Ensure Nutrivigor shakes made by healthcare company Abbott, which were originally developed for people recovering from illness to regain muscle mass.
Nick left La Gomera in the Canary Islands on December 13, 2024 and was planning to row two hours on, two hours off, for 24 hours a day, but soon faced a seven-day battle with a weather system.
“There were times when I was rowing 22 hours per day, consecutively, day after day, because when the conditions are so challenging you have to be on those oars.
“It was a frantic battle. I have never hallucinated as much on a expedition, it was just sleep deprivation from start to finish.
“A great example is that I started seeing the weather system on my map as rocks that I was going to crash up against.”
During the crossing, Nick snapped his rudder and had no choice but to dive overboard and fit the spare, which took more than an hour and was an “incredible physical struggle”.
There were also unforgettable moments which were real, including sliding off the back of a whale and being repeatedly struck in the face by flying fish at night.
He completed the crossing in 50 days, reaching Antigua on February 1, 2024, and immediately started preparing for the final challenge, reaching the North Pole.
To mount the expedition, a plane surveyed the area about 200 nautical miles from the pole to identify a suitable landing spot using radar technology.
A team then parachuted on to the ice and built a runway so that small planes could land carrying more equipment for them to built an even bigger runway.
“Everything was set for success,” he said.
“But tragically the day I was due to depart the UK, I received a notification that the ice runway which had been created had broken up – it just literally cracked in half.
“That immediately meant the expedition was off.”
Nick has to wait until April 2025 before attempting to reach the North Pole for a second time, but sees what happened as an important warning sign.
“Come out of a state of paralysis and have confidence that the little things can add up to big things,” he said.
“If I look back at the things I’ve done in my life, they started with very small steps.
“Doomsday tactics are just not an effective way of changing human behaviour.
“I want to create a much more positive approach.”
