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Risks of The Journey
- Extreme weather conditions which can change rapidly and without warning;
- Extreme low temperatures which, particularly when compounded by strong winds, can have rapid and adverse effects on the human body and on its metabolism;
- The effect of oxygen depletion in the polar regions, due to the relative thinning of the atmospheric layer above both polar regions, compounded by the increased altitude of the Interior of Antarctica (notably in the region of the South Geographic Pole) and increased altitude associated with mountaineering;
- Exposure to solar radiation may be more intense than in other parts of the world and may be aggravated by reflection from ice and snow creating additional dangers and risks to skin and eyes;
- The potential adverse effect of extreme low temperatures, and the effect of oxygen depletion, on any drugs or medication. (In particular, and without limiting the generality of these risks, the self-administration of any medication for accelerated acclimatisation to altitude is not recommended);
- The remoteness of the polar regions from any modern facilities - medical conditions that do not normally pose a serious threat to one's health or safety where medical treatment facilities are readily accessible may be exacerbated by the logistic delays involved in obtaining medical treatment in the Arctic and the Antarctic;
- Hazardous, little known terrain covered in ice and snow which may disguise or completely obscure dangers such as unstable slopes, crevasses, rivers and lakes;
- Hazardous, constantly changing, frozen maritime environments, which may disguise or completely obscure dangers such as thin, unconsolidated, disintegrating, and moving sea ice;
- Risks to air travel - the general lack of air traffic, air traffic control facilities and meteorological prediction facilities in the polar regions all mean that information normally available to aircrews is often unavailable;
- Search and rescue infrastructure is limited and may be subject to considerable delays and operational difficulties due to, but not limited to, weather and surface conditions and quality of communications between the Expedition and search and rescue co-ordinators.
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