Mile high

I stumbled across Ben Saunders' web site sometime last year, when he was hiking the Arctic.

Yeah, hiking it. Alone. And blogging it, with photos, nightly.

For a somewhat-world-traveler like myself, I have to say: That rocks. There is nothing cooler. (No pun intended.) I've never met the guy, never even sent an email, but I love the notion of his devoting his life to just doing way cool adventure things, and doing it with a real love, not mindless ambition or clueless commercialism. (There is some sponsoring going on, as this kind of trek isn't free, but it's fairly unobtrusive and even a little exciting itself.)

Ben, I have since learned, is the youngest person ever to reach the North Pole, and holds the British record for longest solo Arctic trek.

Anyway, he's going to do something like that again -- only this time, head South. The project is called South.

And the sponsors are ... all of us. Anyone. You can buy a mile. Among other things, your name will be on a flag he'll plant at the South Pole. I'm trying to decide if it's a complete idiocy to throw money into buying him a mile, or not. But if I do pick, I've already got my number chosen. I'll be amused by the person who buys mile 666.

Because, you see, there are 1800 to choose from.

Go Ben!