Robert Charles Swan, OBE, FRGS (born 28 July 1956) is the first person to walk to both poles.
He is currently an advocate for the protection of Antarctica and renewable energy. Swan is also the founder of 2041, a company which is dedicated to the preservation of the Antarctic and the author with Gil Reavill of Antarctica 2041: My Quest to Save the Earth's Last Wilderness.
In November 2017, Swan undertook the South Pole Energy Challenge, the first expedition of its kind: a 600-mile journey to the South Pole with his son, surviving solely using renewable energy.
Early life and education
He was born in Durham, England, and attended Aysgarth School and then Sedbergh School (1969–1974) before completing a BA in ancient history (1976–1979) at St Chad's College, Durham University.
South Pole: "In the Footsteps of Scott" (1984–1987)
Southern Quest set sail on 3 November 1984 to travel the to Antarctica. The expedition stopped over in Lyttelton, New Zealand, to meet Bill Burton, who at 96 years old was the last surviving member of Scott's expedition in 1912. Swan's initial Antarctic expedition was thus officially dubbed "In the Footsteps of Scott". Upon arrival on the frozen continent, Swan and his team spent the Antarctic winter at the Jack Hayward Base with colleagues John Tolson and Michael Stroud. When the winter had passed, Swan, Roger Mear and Gareth Wood set out to walk to the South Pole. They arrived at the South Pole on 11 January 1986, after 70 days without the aid of any radio communications or back-up support and having hauled sledges. Swan's team had achieved the longest unassisted march ever made in history. Once at the pole, they received the bad news that their ship, Southern Quest, had been crushed by pack ice and had sunk, just minutes before they arrived. There was much criticism of the adventure from the scientists working in Antarctica as time and money had to be spent in flying some of the party back out to New Zealand. However, Swan returned in 1987 with a ship to collect the rest of the team at Jack Hayward Base and to remove all traces of his expedition, i.e., rubbish and remaining stores.
North Pole: "Icewalk" (1987–1989)
Three years after reaching the South Pole, Swan assembled a team of eight people from seven nations for an attempt at the North Pole. The Icewalk expedition team consisted of: Misha Malakhov from Russia, Rupert Summerson of the UK, Graeme Joy of Australia, Arved Fuchs of Germany, Hiroshi Onishi from Japan, Angus Cockney of the Inuit, and Daryl E. Roberts of the US. Icewalk's base camp held 22 representatives from 15 nations, with the US represented by Mike Doyle and photojournalist Michael Forster Rothbart. They produced a series of educational films there and facilitated the removal of rubbish from the surrounding Arctic wilderness. Swan and his team reached the North Pole on 14 May 1989. The team nearly drowned during their expedition due to the unseasonable melting of Arctic ice. Their journey made Swan the first man to walk to both the North and South poles, unassisted.
Cleaning up 1500 tons of waste from Antarctica
In 1992, Swan was invited by the United Nations to be a keynote speaker to the first Earth Summit for sustainable development, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In response to the world leaders' challenge to "think global act local", Swan made a commitment to deliver a global and local environmental mission involving industry, business, and young people to the next World Summit in 2002.
In 1996–97, he organised a team for One Step Beyond, the South Pole Challenge. The mission was to remove and recycle 1,500 tons of waste that had been left at Bellingshausen station in Antarctica after decades of scientific research. The team worked for eight years to raise the money, plan, and execute the mission. The rubbish at the Russian base of Bellingshausen, King George Island, was cleared and the native penguins reclaimed their beach for the first time in 47 years.
The 2041 Yacht: from Earth Summit to World Summit to Rio
Swan's 67' foot racing yacht 2041 was named after the year in which the 'Madrid Protocol' comes up for debate. The protocol, signed by nearly every nation, provides additional protection for the Antarctic Treaty and designates the continent as "a Natural Reserve Land for Science and Peace". It also places a ban on mining and mineral exploration in Antarctica for 50 years (1991–2041).