About Shackleton Foundation

Sir Ernest Shackleton is widely known as one of the most inspirational leaders of the twentieth century.

Whilst he never achieved his personal dream of being the first to reach the South Pole, his reputation as a leader of men is based on a still greater success: the survival and safe return of all of his team members, whilst overcoming almost unimaginable odds. Shackleton's name lives on as a synonym for courage, bravery and most of all, leadership.

Shackleton's era of heroic exploration is now long gone. However, The Shackleton Foundation believes innumerable and significant challenges still exist where the rallying power and indomitable spirit of Shackleton is needed, in order to make a tangible contribution to the greater good.

Thomas Pynchon wrote “Everyone has an Antarctic”. The Foundation exists to support and encourage people who may not otherwise have the opportunity to identify and cross their own Antarctic, particularly where the applicant’s chosen project can be shown directly to benefit the less advantaged. Whilst we support projects within and outside the physical arena, it is evidence of Shackleton’s spirit that we seek.

We believe that singular people making singular contributions to the public good can act as beacons of inspiration, and we wish to support them in their endeavours.

The Foundation hopes that beneficiaries will develop or possess the personal qualities that define leadership: a fierce personal commitment to succeed, a willingness to take intelligent risks, and the ability to inspire and energise those around them to do their utmost towards worthwhile causes.

Our history

We are the descendants of Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1907-9 Nimrod Expedition, in which Shackleton and three others walked 800 miles across previously untrodden territory, to within 97 miles of the South Pole. 
 
At that 97 mile point, so close to fulfilling the years of effort the team had put in to being the first men in history to reach the South Pole, Shackleton took the immensely hard decision of turning round and heading for survival.  As he later wrote to his wife Emily, "better a living donkey than a dead lion". 

This decision, together with the amazing exploits of Shackleton and his men on the 1914-16 Endurance Expedition, marks Shackleton out as one of modern history's greatest leaders.  In an era in which the South Pole was as inaccessible as the moon, Shackleton led his men through almost unimaginable hardship and challenges where the rewards of achieving their goals were potentially so great, yet to Shackleton the wellbeing and safety of his men remained paramount.  He never lost a man.

As the launch event for The Shackleton Foundation, a team of three descendants of Shackleton's teams will follow the same route as the original Nimrod team.  We will set off from Shackleton’s hut on Ross Island on October 29th 2008, exactly 100 years after the original team set out. We will travel along the Ross Ice Shelf, up the longest glacier on earth and then along the Polar Plateau.  At the 97 mile point where the original team were forced to turn back, we will continue to the Geographical South Pole. We will send daily progress reports back to our website at www.shackletoncentenary.org via satellite phone.

We will be travelling on skis, hauling all the supplies we will need for the 80 day journey in specially designed sleds weighing 120 kg each fully packed.  We will encounter temperatures as low as -30C, made worse by the strong headwinds.  We will eat dehydrated food, to which we will add water by melting snow. We will consume around 5000 calories a day, although we will burn more than this.  Weight loss will be a serious factor.  The journey will be extremely demanding physically and we are training hard to be as strong and aerobically fit as possible, whilst putting on weight at the same time. 

Why are we doing this?  We want to raise as much money as we can for The Shackleton Foundation.  We believe passionately that, in recreating the original Nimrod Expedition, we will help to ensure that the leadership qualities, vision and determination of Ernest Shackleton can be used to make a difference to today's world.  We are extremely grateful for any financial support you are able to offer us, large or small.