‘No human has ever been’: how former Dyson CEO charted a new Antarctic route on skis

This was no ordinary polar traverse. Dropped off by a small plane at a point over 2,000 metres (6,560 feet) above sea level, the duo skied a highly technical route through mountain ranges where wind funnels like water through a sluice, accelerating between granite peaks until it hits speeds that make skiing impossible and standing precarious.

Krueger and Ebbesen spent two full days pinned inside their tent, listening to the fabric strain against gusts exceeding 100km/h. When the sun – still low in the early-season sky – dipped behind the peaks, plunging them into shadow, the temperature inside the tent dropped to nearly minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit), even without wind chill. They fired up the stove just to keep the interior survivable.

“We didn’t expect the winds to be that strong, to be fair. But all our experience kicked in and we were able to deal with it,” says Krueger, the former CEO of Dyson and a former president of Infiniti Motor Company.

Their traverse required ropes and climbing gear to navigate fields of crevasses – some small and hidden, others gaping. They started above 2,000 metres, skied down to roughly 1,500 metres, then climbed again, descending repeatedly to thread a path through terrain never before charted on skis.