Sir Ranulph Fiennes: the coldest journey The current expedition is certainly more of an unknown than anything we have attempted before, however. We haven't been able to learn by other people's failures. In the past we have found out what has gone wrong on previous expeditions: where and how people fell into crevasses, or why a mountain face was so difficult to tackle. But nobody has ever tried this: you just can't test what is going to happen to human bodies and steel machinery after prolonged exposure to the extremes of the Antarctic winter. Given the unpredictable nature of what we are undertaking, our apprehension is greater than it has ever been. It may seem that the Antarctic has a particular lure for me, constantly reeling me in for new, ever more demanding challenges. The Norwegians, who are probably the world's top polar travellers, refer to a condition known as polarhullar, which essentially means a hunger for the poles; an addiction. I don't think I suffer from that. The truth is a little more prosaic. Rivalry is one of the factors pushing me. While my back was turned, the Norwegians managed to achieve the first Arctic crossing in winter. I didn't want the same to happen in the Antarctic. It was this sense of rivalry that drove me to be the first to complete the "big three" - reaching the South Pole, the North Pole and the summit of Everest - just as a Belgian and a Norwegian were also attempting the same feat. Put simply, I wanted to do it first then just as I want to be the first to cross the Antarctic in winter now. Perhaps the biggest reason, however, is that I have always done this for a living. It is not a popular answer to give, as it is not very romantic, but it is probably the truest. When I had to leave the Army after eight years of service, my wife, Ginny, who has since died, and I had no money, and we had to work out what to do. While I was serving, I worked as an adventure training officer, teaching soldiers how to ski, canoe and climb. We thought we could do something similar as a civilian job, leading expeditions rather than training. Few people were doing it - you could count them on one hand. Chris Bonington was making a living out of it, but he covered mountains, which we didn't. No one will pay you for planning an expedition at first: you have to work in pubs at weekends so you can pay the gas bills. I joined the Territorial Army, which paid me when I turned up to drill nights, and so did my wife. She joined the Royal Signals, as the idea was that she would do the communications on the expeditions (it was Morse code in those days). We made a very unambitious start: the first expedition was in Norway, involving parachuting on a glacier. A newspaper picked it up and ran a photograph, which gave us a little momentum, and then we went from there, moving on to the first complete journey up the Nile on a hovercraft. And that was it: we were doing it for a living. On my passport, I give my profession as expedition leader and travel writer. Not explorer - I largely agree with the view that there is no such thing as an explorer these days. The "world's greatest explorer" epithet, which the Guinness Book of Records attached to me in 1984, was very helpful, but I have only once been an explorer, in the real sense of the word, when we mapped a huge area of the Antarctic for the first time. I spent winter there with Ginny, Charlie Burton and Oliver Shepard, during our Transglobe Expedition, at about 5,000ft above sea level. Five years later, polar-orbiting satellites made our work redundant - but at the time, we produced a map of a part of the world that nobody knew. That was genuine exploration. It was also beautiful. Ice and mountains are majestic, much more so than endless white ice. On a still, moonlit night, with the aurora australis in the sky, we would go out between the huts, and it was breathtaking. For once we could appreciate it - you just can't do that when you are on the move during an expedition, and I don't envisage being able to do that this time. As a rule, anything that is pretty you avoid when on an expedition in the polar extremes. Normally anything other than white means a hazard such as a crevasse. That said, I have never felt the world to be a more beautiful place than when I was in the Arctic. It was towards the end of our Transglobe Expedition. We had gone to the North Pole, and travelled 1,500 miles to reach a ship, which we hoped would take us back after many stressful months on the floating ice. Anton Bowring was our marine leader, even back then. We knew the ship was 18 miles away, but it could have been moving away in a different current, and things were hard to see with ice up to 30ft high in our way. We were beginning to get really worried - it was make or break after 10 years of preparation and travel. I climbed up a mound of ice to see two black dots, the first thing we had seen that wasn't white in eight months: the masts of the ship. It was the most wonderful moment of my entire life. Although I have spent a lot of time at the Poles, I prefer visiting hot places. We tried for a long time to do this, including spending 26 years searching on and off for a lost city in the Arabian Desert. But the British media like the cold stuff, and one depends on them when seeking support for an expedition. You can't just go to a polar region; you need to do something that hasn't been done before, and my expeditions have progressively become more difficult as I have sought out challenges yet to be attempted. I also cannot train as I used to. I now have a daughter by my second wife Louise, as well as a stepson to think about. This is this first time I have led an expedition with that in mind, and there is a feeling of guilt that didn't exist before. You also simply cannot stave off old age. You can try. Every Sunday I religiously go out for two-and-a-half hours on what used to be called a run, then a jog; now it would probably be called a shuffle. But at least I keep on going for two-and-a-half hours. Even when I am not on an expedition, I like travelling when it has a point to it. I prefer it when I am looking for something, whether it is searching for an ancestor, relics or a lost city. On a break to the Caribbean, for example, I went looking to uncover my grandfather's links in Antigua. He had been the governor-general there in the Twenties, and we went in search of signs of his legacy, a leper hostel on the island. I always do as much as I can to encourage others to be adventurous with their travels too. Two big blights today are health and safety, and the blame-game culture, and I do whatever I can to counter those and try to get people to stretch themselves. I prefer not to deal in hypothetical questions, so I couldn't say for sure where I will travel in my retirement. There are three places, however, where if I had the choice, I would spend more time - not just for a week's holiday. In order of preference, they are south Oman (Dhofar), the Cape Province, then probably the north-west of Scotland in summer (apart from the midges). But I'll reflect on that more another time. I generally have a habit of not allowing myself to think beyond the next goal, whether it is Everest or crossing the Antarctic in winter. The only thing I would say is that, unlike climbing Everest, which took me several attempts, I won't be trying this one again. As told to Jolyon Attwooll Sir Ranulph Fiennes has partnered exclusively with the Platinum Card from American Express to share his experiences. Find out more about the Platinum Card from American Express by visiting amex.co.uk/platinumcard The Coldest Journey: people and equipment The six-man team's ship, SA Agulhas, left London in December, and will soon arrive in Crown Bay, near Princess Elisabeth Station, from where a base camp will be established. The ski traverse will include two bulldozers dragging industrial sledges with living quarters, supplies and a science lab. The journey from the coast to the geographic South Pole is due to start on March 21, and last an estimated 84 days, then another 61 days from there to the Ross Sea. If things go according to plan, the team will stay at a base camp in McMurdo Sound, waiting to be picked up in February 2014. A fundraising initiative will run side-by-side with the expedition with the aim of raising $10 million (£6.2 million) for Seeing is Believing, a charity which helps combat blindness around the world. See The Coldest Journey website (thecoldestjourney.org) for more. Sir Ranulph Fiennes: a timeline 1968-69 Along with his late wife, Ginny, he led the first hovercraft expedition up the Nile, the world's longest river 1979-82 Was the first to travel on sea and land around the world crossing through both the North and South Poles 1990 Set a world record for unsupported northerly polar travel 1991 Was in charge of an expedition that located the Lost City of Ubar in southern Oman 1992-93 Made the first unassisted crossing of the Antarctic continent 2000 Attempted an unaided attempt to reach the North Pole, and lost most of the fingers on his left hand to frostbite 2003 Ran seven marathons on seven continents in seven days, just four months after a heart attack 2009 Became the oldest Briton to reach the summit of Mount Everest, aged 65, after earlier attempts The Adventure Travel Show The Telegraph Adventure Travel Show takes place at Olympia in London this weekend. The show is the only one in Britain dedicated to experiences off the beaten track, with inspirational talks, photography workshops and offers from the world's leading adventure-holiday providers. Among the speakers are: Ben Fogle, the television presenter and Telegraph Travel writer known for his intrepid style and impressive adventure. Ben's talk is on Sunday, 11.30-12.15pm. Graham Hughes, who spent four years visiting all 201 member states of the United Nations, without travelling by air. To read more about his journey, see telegraph.co.uk/odyssey201. Graham's talk is on Saturday, 12.30-1.15pm Roz Savage, the first woman to row the Atlantic solo. During her 3,000-mile crossing she fought storms that broke all her oars, as well as her navigations instruments. Roz's talk is on Saturday, 12.30-1.15pm. James Cracknell, the former Olympic rower. Now an adventurer and television presenter, James has recently recreated journeys made by explorers such as Colonel Fawcett and Dr Livingstone. James's talk is on Saturday, 2.30-3pm Nicholas Crane and Dallas Campbell are also among tomorrow's other speakers; Sunday's include Dwayne Fields and Geoff Hill. For more details see adventureshow.co.uk Every visitor will receive a free DVD of the Banff Mountain Film Festival, and a free copy of the Telegraph at the show. Tickets are available on the door for £10.