Given that I am mentioned in Geiger's book and even listed in the index, I am surprised not to have been interviewed or even contacted during writing. Not only because his entry of my South Pole expedition could have been more balanced and accurate but because I have had many 'visitations' during multiple polar expeditions. Three notable occasions.

Greenland traverse 1995.  I felt the strong presence of my wife who was pregnant with our first child. Despite skiing and hauling heavy sleds, I felt I was sitting with her next to a waterfall surrounded by lush vegetation. I could hear and smell the water. South Pole 98-99.  My brother passed away suddenly in 1997. While skiing behind Jon Muir he kept morphing into my brother who was dressed in swanky clothes, he was quite the partygoer. My brother's presence was palpable and at the end of the day I finally felt at peace over his death.

North Pole 2002. Jon Muir and I were running out of food and fuel, running out of time. We had 8 days food left and still 170km to the North Pole. I climbed a pressure ridge and looked north, feeling suddenly elated that the ice was clear ahead. The three of us skied on for 10 minutes before I stopped dead in my tracks and looked around. Three of us! What the hell. I waited for Jon and told him that something, someone was with us, that we would make it to the Pole and that we would arrive on my birthday in 6 days time, a preposterous suggestion that would have us ski 26km per day. The presence left immediately and I was left on a high. We arrived at the North Pole on April 30 2002. We celebrated with truffles, it was my birthday.

I am uncertain of what these occurances are. I innately feel that they are self-generated, a stress-induced dissociative state, but I can't discount the fact that there may be external guiding influences.