Bear Grylls, of Man vs. Wild fame, has been cruising across Antarctica to promote Ethanol Ventures, but things have not gone well:
Sorry for the radio silence over the last 24 hours — but I have had a bit of an accident. We were all flying across the ice using the kite skis, which is when you use the big flexi-foil kites on long lines attached to your harness that propels you across the snow and ice. I was doing speeds of over 50 kilometres an hour when I hit a patch of blue ice, lost a ski and got catapulted into the air, crashing down very hard. There is no doubt my helmet saved my life, but I smashed my shoulder and hands and was badly winded. I knew at once I had done something bad to my shoulder and was in absolute agony, my shoulder was drooped down and a bone was sticking out at a weird angle. I am safe at our expedition basecamp now and the shoulder is all strapped up tight, but is very painful. The bottom line is I am lucky.We spoke on the satellite phone to a surgeon in the UK, who tried to diagnose the injury. But there is no doubt that I have snapped the main ligament and will require an operation on it. Weirdly Gilo had a similar accident some years ago and snapped the same ligament and looking at his 8″ massive scar across his shoulder isn’t very inspiring. We’ve called for medical repatriation but all of that is easier said than done. The weather is an ever present issue and not many planes or pilots can fly this far and land on the ice. But the priority needs to be to get back to get some proper medical attention and surgery.