Dr Peter Friend

Prof Mike Hambrey

Mr David Hempleman-Adams

Dr. Peter Friend (Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge) Dr. Peter Friend has been based in the University of Cambridge throughout his geological career. He is presently Senior Lecturer in the Department of Earth Sciences, but has also worked for the University's Scott Polar Research Institute. His first major research programme involved seven summer expeditions in Spitsbergen, followed by three in East Greenland. These were all self-contained, light-weight expeditions using sledges, small boats and camps. For a number of years he chaired the Cambridge Expeditions Committee and was a member of the Screening Committee of the Mount Everest Foundation. He is currently also Chairman of the Trustees of the Cambridge Arctic Shelf Programme, which carries out geological research in many different parts of the world. His more recent areas of fieldwork have included the Middle East, the Himalayas (Pakistan and India) and the Pyrenees and Sierra Nevada of Spain. [Back to top]   Professor Mike Hambrey (Director, Centre for Glaciology, University of Wales, Aberystwyth) Professor Mike Hambrey worked in the University of Cambridge for fourteen years, becoming Senior Research Associate in the Department of Earth Sciences and at the Scott Polar Research Institute, and working on Arctic geology and the Earth's glacial record. After leaving Cambridge in 1991, he moved to Liverpool, before joining the Centre for Glaciology in Aberystwyth, becoming its Director in 1999 and Professor of Glaciology in April 1999. For shorter periods he has been Guest Scientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research and President of the British Branch of the International Glaciological Society. He was awarded the Polar Medal by HM the Queen in 1989. His fieldwork has been primarily in Svalbard, Antarctica, Norway, the Canadian Arctic and the Swiss Alps. His current projects include work on the Cenozoic evolution of the Antarctic ice sheet, involving field work in the Western Ross Sea region. [Back to top]   Mr. David Hempleman-Adams OBE As a teenager, David Hempleman-Adams was initially inspired by the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme to take up mountaineering and exploring. While a student at Manchester and Bristol, he visited Mt. Everest, and with Steve Vincent reached the summits of Mt. McKinley (Alaska, the highest peak in North America) and Mt. Kilimanjaro (the highest summit in Africa). With polar trekking as a new challenge, in 1992 he led the first ever team to the Geomagnetic North Pole after abortive attempts on both the Geographic and Magnetic North Poles. During the next three years, he reached the summits of Mt. Everest, Mt. Elbrus, Mt. Aconcagua, Mt. Vinson and the Carstenz Pyramid, thus reaching the highest points in Asia, Europe, South America, Antarctica and Australasia respectively, and becoming only the third Briton ever to reach the highest point on every continent. In 1995 he received the MBE. In 1996 he reached the Geographic South Pole after a 680-mile solo walk, and within a month had also reached the Magnetic South Pole by boat. In May 1996 he led the Ultimate Challenge team to the Magnetic North Pole, and after another abortive attempt, finally completed an unsupported expedition to reach the Geographic North Pole with Rune Gjeldnes in 1998. He became the first man in history to reach the Geographic and Magnetic North and South Poles as well as climb the highest peaks in all seven continents, and was awarded the OBE. [Back to top]   ©Derek Marshall for Cambridge Greenland Glaciology Expedition 2002