01223nam a2200145Ia 450000500170000000800410001702000180005808200210007610000260009724500240012326000220014730000140016950008830018365000110106620250707105126.0250707s9999    xx            000 0 und d  a9781848853065  a919.8904092bGRY  aNicoll, Alastair Vere 0aRiding the Ice Wind  bI.B. Taurisc2010  a272 pages  aLeaving the security of friends, work, and a wife, Alastair Vere Nicoll joined a team of young men to harness the katabatic winds and haul and kite-surf across Antarctica: the coldest, windiest, most violent continent on earth. Not since Shackleton nearly perished attempting the same thing in his Endurance expedition had such a crossing been attempted. This is the story not only of the first West-to-East traverse of the continent of Antarctica, but of the crossing of two phases in the author’s life—from youth into manhood, fantasy into reality. It is also the story of a race against time, as he fought to get home for the birth of his first child. As Alastair battled through the freezing wastes, exploring the earth’s wildest continent and his deepest self, he was haunted by the ghosts of past explorers and by the question of what it is to be a “modern man.”  aTravel