Riding the Ice Wind

Adrift in a life without risk or surprise and with a burning desire to make some sense of his place in the world, Alastair Vere Nicoll dived into the unknown. Leaving the security of friends, work and a wife, he joined a team of young men to harness the katabatic winds and haul and kite-surf across Antarctica: the coldest, windiest, most violent continent on earth. For Alastair, Antarctica was a land of legend and mystery, the ultimate test of strength, endurance and bravery; a place where he might feed his restlessness and find meaning in the emptiness. Not since Shackleton had nearly perished attempting the same thing in his Endurance expedition had such a crossing been attempted. This is the story of the first West to East traverse of the continent of Antarctica and of a race against time as Alastair fought to get home for the birth of his first child. Told with honesty and wisdom and adorned with some bewitching descriptions of Antarctica, "Riding the Ice Wind" is a compelling and subtly important book for our times.

Alastair Vere Nicoll runs a renewable energy business and lives in London with his wife and two children. This is his first book.

Foreword by Bear Grylls
Introduction
Chapter 1: Beginnings
Chapter 2: Flaubert's Parrot
Chapter 3: A New Life
Chapter 4: Altered Reality
Chapter 5: Constructing the Creature
Chapter 6: There but still Nowhere
Chapter 7: Family Matters
Chapter 8: Fly on my Wind
Chapter 9: A New Horizon
Chapter 10: The Icefall
Chapter 11: The Layer Cake
Chapters 12: Down and Out
Chapter 13: Silence Valley
Chapter 14: The Sword of Damocles
Chapter 15: Difficult Decisions
Chapters 16: It's all in the Mind
Chapter 17: Uncontactable
Chapter 18: Divide and Rule
Chapters 19: Heat Miser
Chapter 20: Travelling without Moving
Chapter 21: The South Pole
Chapters 22: Leaving the End of the Earth
Chapter 23: North
Chapter 24: The Winds of Change
Chapters 25: Touching the Void
Chapter 26: Mutability
Chapter 27: The Final Burst
Chapter 28: An End and a Beginning
Epilogue