This December, Doug Stoup led a team of four Canadian adventurers on a 60 mile trek to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Inspired by their highly successful North Pole excursion in 2006, where they raised half a million dollars for children’s charities, Stoup and Canadians Fred Losani, Mark McLennan, Peter Turkstra and Steve Stipsits set to test their limits in the South. Battling relentless winds, extreme cold and demanding physical requirements, they overcame the challenges and achieved one of their greatest personal successes to date: reaching the pole while raising $540,000 for sustainable nutrition programs and access to the arts for youth in the Ontario region. Despite the harsh temperatures and wind conditions, Fred Losani had this to say about his experience, “There were times when I felt a rare peace that I have found at the ends of this world and that I will chase until the end of my days.”
For Stoup, it was the second time in 2008 that he reached the bottom of the world. On Jan. 18, he made polar history by completing a 48-day expedition from the Weddell Sea to the South Pole, a distance of 673 miles. The team of 2 set out and successfully completed Ernest Shackleton’s failed 1915 Imperial Trans-Antarctic crossing.