Transcript

NICK DRAKE:

When I was 12, to win a bet, I walked across the thin ice of the frozen Severn and never looked back. Later, I resolved to walk from Alaska to Svalbard across the sea ice. My Inuit friends left a map pinned to the door, marked with the places they thought I would die.

It was 3,800 miles. We left in February. 4 men and 40 dogs. And in July, we made camp because the sea ice was not drifting in our favour. When the sun returned, we continued through the next summer to reach 90 degrees north.

Trying to stand on the North Pole was like trying to step on the shadow of a bird circling overhead. I telegraphed the Queen. Two weeks later, a man took the first step on the moon, and by the time we got home, we were forgotten.

You couldn't walk it now even if you wanted to. Why not? Because the sea ice is melting, and no one can walk on water.