By heading out into the harshest environment known to man, all alone, equipped with yourself and whatever you remembered to pack, is a sure way to find out just what you are made of and what you are capable of,” Ray Chaplin writes on his website 3poles.co.za
Next year, Chaplin plans to embark on an adventure never attempted by a South African: Skiing to the South Pole, the North Pole and climbing Mount Everest — alone and unassisted.
But before that, his warm-up plans are just as remarkable. Chaplin’s intends walking from Cape Town to Pretoria in January and February next year, dragging a ”shack” behind him. He hopes to get enough attention and raise a significant amount of money, almost all of which will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.
Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit, non-governmental housing organisation that provides small upfront loans to families in need of houses. With the help of volunteers, it also physically assists these people in building their own homes.
Talking about his unique warm-up routine, named ”X-SA”, Chaplin explains that he decided to undertake the challenge because it was roughly the same distance and altitude as his South-Pole expedition, planned for later in 2007.
”While trying to prepare for that [the South Pole expedition], I was trying to think of something similar for a South African context,” Chaplin said, ”something that people in South Africa could relate to”.
Chaplin said he felt housing was a very big issue in the South Africa, and he decided that pulling a shack would be a way to raise awareness and funds.
The shack will be made out of a mixture of materials including corrugated iron and ”super-strong” aluminium for strength and durability.
It will also have solar panels and will be equipped with GPS tracking system, and a webcam that will stream footage of his journey. Chaplin will also be using the shack as a shelter to sleep in. Although he will be followed by a support vehicle, Chaplin will be the only one pulling the dwelling.
Mounted on mountain-bike shocks and wheels, the structure will weigh between 160 and 200kg. Chaplin said he intends to pull it for nine or 10 hours each day, and anticipates the journey will take around seven weeks to complete.
In preparation for the X-SA challenge, Chaplin has been dragging an old 4X4 tyre around with him, wherever he goes. ”Tony never leaves me, never gives up, demands that bit more from me all the time, and has been helping me prepare for the big haul,” he said.
Describing himself as ”the boy-next-door”, Chaplin (26), says prior to this, the most adventurous thing he did was join the boy scouts when he was younger. A network administrator, he quit his full-time job in September this year, opting to devote all his time to his 3poles project.
”It doesn’t pay like a full-time job,” Chaplin says, laughing, but adds that it has always been his dream to climb Everest by the time he was 30.
He will start the trek with the South Pole in 2007, followed by the North Pole in 2009 and Everest in 2010. Admitting to being ”very scared” about the first of the three legs, he says ”no South African to date has skied from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole without any assistance or replenishing of supplies … Everything I leave with will have to last me.”
Chaplin says he decided on incorporating Habitat for Humanity in his 3poles plan as it is a ”best-practice charity” where most of the funds raised go towards the cause and not towards administrative costs. ”And Habitat is not a hand-out but a hand-up,” he says.
”An undertaking of this magnitude cannot go unnoticed! It is a mammoth task and it would be sad to see it not achieve something for my fellow South Africans,” Chaplin says on his website. That’s why 70% of the income X-SA generates through online and cellphone donations, large corporate’s and community support will go to Habitat for Humanity, and 20% will go towards road safety.
And when he finally summits Everest in 2010, as he says on his website: ”What a 30th birthday present it will be!”