Mountains high, oceans deep, Satya’s conquered all of them

Satyabrata Dam is the only person alive to have led successful expeditions to the North and South Poles.

And to Mount Everest in the Himalayas — the highest mountain in the world which Sir Edmund Hilary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay conquered in 1953.

It’s no mean feat, for each of these places demand the highest levels of discipline.

“I have seen the strongest athletes crumble under duress at the poles and on the mountains,” says Satya, as he is popularly

known. Small built but solid muscled, Satya, 46, is in Kenya for four months, part of a project he is working on to live in selected countries that are rich in biodiversity and culture.

Apart from the poles, he has scaled the seven highest peaks on the seven continents: Aconcagua in South America, Denali in North America, Everest in Asia, Kilimanjaro in Africa, Elbrus in Europe, Vinson in Antarctica and the Cartnez Pyramid in Australia.

What’s more, he has dived in all the seas, including circumnavigating the world twice, clockwise and anti-clockwise, and visited 135 countries.

“There are not more than 30 people in the world who have done this. I belong to the Adventure Grand Slam, the most extreme adventure club in the world, which has fewer than 20 members,” he says.

Membership is not by invitation or economic status but is based on extreme adventure travel feats.

“For me, it is not about the destination,” says Satya. “It’s the journey.”

Satya climbed his first mountain when he was four years old.

“My father was in the Indian army and was posted to the foothills of the Himalayas. I was hypnotised, standing one morning on the mountain with my father looking at the horizon and the mountains. By the time l was 10, l knew that climbing mountains was what l wanted to do.”

Extreme adventure isn’t all that Satya does. He is a criminologist and writes crime stories, besides solving macabre cases.

He trained under a leading forensic pathologist in India and served in the Indian navy for 22 years as a submariner.

He is equally at home deep sea diving or sky diving, and can ski very well. He’s a consultant on National Geographic.

If that doesn’t sound too much for one person, he’s also a published writer and photographer and belongs to various other exclusive clubs.

The impressive list reads: Member of the India Mountaineering Foundation, Japanese Alpine Club, American Alpine Club, Himalayan Club and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and TED.

TED invites people who have done something outstanding. There are about 100 TED fellows in the world.

In Kenya, Sue Kahumbu is a TED fellow for her innovative use of mobile technology to help rural dairy farmers reach the market.

At this point, Satya talks about his polar expeditions. He has been to the North Pole twice and once to the South Pole, and many times near them.

“At the poles, you are on top of the globe. All the longitudes meet there. It’s the spinning axis of the globe. When you stand at the North Pole, you have only the latitude of 90 degrees North. There are no longitudes at the two poles.

“Ideally, we should all be falling off the Earth,” continues Satya — who incidentally has had little formal schooling, having won a sports scholarship that ensured he spent more time in the field than in the classroom.

“But it’s the spin of the earth that holds us back. The Earth spins west to east, with the fastest spin at the Equator and none at the poles.

“So when you are at the North Pole, the only direction to look at is south, and vice versa while at the South Pole.

“The sun never sets on the North Pole. There are six months of summer and six months of winter at both poles. When it’s summer in the North Pole, it’s winter down south, and vice versa.

“When l learnt this in geography, l was curious to see it for myself. Curiosity has been the driving force in my life.”

While still in his teens, Satya was recognised as an expert in mountaineering and was invited on many expeditions as a technical advisor or leader.

“I’m not rich. Many expeditions l have been on have been funded by well-wishers or sponsors. Many manufacturers of mountaineering equipment such as Berghaus in the UK and Black Diamond in the USA have me as their brand name. I don’t own a house or many material things. I live very simply and choose to be single to live the life l want.

“The poles are very cold. The warmest temperature is minus 30 degrees Celsius. The real challenge is survival. On the Arctic Ocean and the Antarctic cap, you ski on frozen water.
“As human beings, we are not supposed to be living in these places. Your body revolts, screaming for warmth.

“However, as a leader, you have to emphasise safety rather than destination. It takes many years of training to get the team to par because every member is subjected to harsh physical and mental challenges.

“The poles, despite their stunning beauty, are filled with danger, and to lose your life there is easy. Breaking ice is among the many dangers.

“There are two phenomena in the Arctic. One is the water leads. There is ice floating on the ocean currents and it can split without a moment’s notice, exposing sea water beneath. The only way you can cross the poles is on skis. So you could easily drown. One of my team members fell in the water as the ice split open and luckily we managed to grab hold of his head and pulled him out. His body was encased in ice, which we had to chip off.

“On the other hand, when two ice packs collide — owing to tidal movements — ice dunes are formed. The collision of ice is deafening. You have to get your skies off and chisel your way through. Some ice hills are taller than a single story building. If it becomes too difficult to chisel through, you have to go along the ice hill to find a crossing.

“But the most hazardous of all is a meeting with the polar bear. They may look cute and cuddly in pictures but in real life these massive creatures are the fiercest predators on earth.

“They will attack without provocation. One polar bear followed a skier 500 kilometres and eventually killed him. They are not scared of humans, but are extremely curious about them. So we have to carry guns but only for self-defence. Hunting polars is illegal.

“They are endangered and, as global warming is taking its effect, they are being driven farther from their home range in search of food, which means blundering into human territory and hence the inevitable human-wildlife conflict.

The extreme end of the globe is the South Pole. “The South Pole lies on a continental shelf. It is solid rock topped with an ice cap, with a thickness of 1.5km to 3.5km.

“There is no life at the extreme South Pole. It is a monotonous landscape. One can only manage to get there in summer. No one has succeeded in crossing it in winter.

“At the poles, the sun never rises or sets. It’s always on the horizon, taking 24 hours to do a small circle. You can watch your shadow go 360 degrees if you stand in one spot.

“Extreme sport is an addiction. It’s about mind over matter. It will probably kill me one day but l can’t give it up. I can’t imagine life in an office, pushing paper around.”

Turning point

“Initially l was driven by extreme sports but as l’ve grown older, l’ve seen things change. There are more people and pollution on the planet. Humans are just not taking care of the planet.
“I feel that it is payback time for me. I have got so much from the mountains and whatever l am today is because of them.

“I am volunteering my services to scientific expeditions involved in conserving biodiversity and giving talks for awareness.

“I fully believe we have reached a situation where we are too late to stop much of the destruction... but we can, through collective action, delay the deterioration. We can’t give up.

“The solution is simple: We have to get away from consumerism, reduce wastage and go for renewable energy instead of fossil fuel. It can be done individually and by legislation. Holding environmental meetings and conferences in expensive hotels is nonsense. There’s just too much bureaucracy involved and too little action.

“The Earth is beautiful and bountiful. We are privileged to be living on it, so we should not destroy it. We have to forget about boundaries. It’s one planet, one humanity.”

On January 11, 2011, Satya will give a presentation on his travels at the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi at 7pm, before embarking on his next big destination.