Ranulph Fiennes
Ranulph Fiennes
Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet, OBE, commonly known as RanulphFiennes, is an English explorer and holder of several endurance records. He is also a prolific writer...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionExplorer
Date of Birth7 March 1944
ahead allowed fear hold listen nor prevent rapid river roar
With fear, you must prevent not cure. Fear must nor be allowed to take hold in the first place. If you are in a canoe never listen to the roar of the rapid ahead before you let go of the river bank. Just do it!
instead life mountain passes running spend
Will I spend my life in a wheelchair? Tottering around my lounge, instead of running up mountain passes or navigating glaciers?
crying failure failures key learn milk point spilt
There is of course, never any point in crying over spilt milk - the key is to learn from failures and then to keep going.
attack heart
After my heart attack I thought, is this it?
mean white hazards
As a rule, anything that is pretty you avoid when on an expedition in the polar extremes. Normally anything other than white means a hazard such as a crevasse.
house agents goes-on
I go on expeditions for the same reason an estate agent sells houses - to pay the bills.
army weekend night
No one will pay you for planning an expedition at first: you have to work in pubs at weekends so you can pay the gas bills. I joined the Territorial Army, which paid me when I turned up to drill nights, and so did my wife.
winter want firsts
Rivalry is one of the factors pushing me. While my back was turned, the Norwegians managed to achieve the first Arctic crossing in winter. I didn't want the same to happen in the Antarctic.
book adventure earth
The ultimate starting point for planning any adventure or expeditionby far and away the greatest book on earth
adventure people england
People who go to the polar regions are statistically less likely to die than salesmen who drive on motorways in England.
team character skills
Whenever feasible, pick your team on character, not skill. You can teach skills; you can't teach character.
teaching adventure soldier
While I was serving, I worked as an adventure training officer, teaching soldiers how to ski, canoe and climb.
weather inappropriate clothings
There is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.
dog faithful savages
It is a truism to say that the dog is largely what his master makes of him: he can be savage and dangerous, untrustworthy, cringing and fearful; or he can be faithful and loyal, courageous and the best of companions and allies.