Tim Jarvis is a high achieving explorer who is involved in amazing travel feats across our planet. He was formerly a Scout in Malaysia and believes this gave him the confidence to achieve many daring adventures.

In 1999, he became a Joint World Record holder for the fastest unsupported journey to the South Geographic Pole and the longest unsupported Antarctica journey in history (Operation Chillout Expedition). This was with fellow adventurer Peter Treseder.

In preparing for his journey in minus 35-degree temperatures, Tim was heavily involved in activities such as hours of gym work and hauling tyres across beaches. All designed to give him maximum strength and stamina. He also increased his weight so that he would have stored layers of fat, which would be wasted away due to the sheer physical energy required to pull the 220kg sleds on the expedition.

When the grandson of Sir Douglas Mawson (a great Antarctic explorer) heard of Tim’s phenomenal journey, he entrusted him with his grandfather’s famous black balaclava. Australian and British Prime Ministers John Howard and Tony Blair also signed up as patrons of the trek.

Tim’s life is like one big exciting challenge. Quite obviously this former Scout lives life on the edge. He has undertaken expeditions to the Arctic, Turkey, Central America and Asia. These involved activities such as ski-manhauling, climbing, cycling, trekking, and caving. He is an experienced skier with extensive cross-county experience in Scotland, Austria, and Arctic Norway and has also been a ski guide in the French Alps.

He has also completed an unsupported ski-manhaul across the Arctic Island of Spitsbergen, involving the crossing of approximately 600kms of frozen and crevassed ice sheet. In 2000, he completed the first unsupported crossing of South Australia's Pedirka Desert.

His extraordinary feats of exploration and endurance were achieved in no small part by the knowledge and skills he learnt through Scouts. “Scouting in my day was nowhere as dynamic as it is today. The range of activities and opportunities to learn and test oneself is virtually unlimited.

I was involved in Cubs and Scouts for five years. It gave me the opportunity to learn new skills in a fun environment, the confidence to explore the outdoors and do a few good deeds along the way.”

Scouts inspire environmental conservation in its members and it was certainly instilled in Tim. “They definitely contributed to my becoming involved in protecting this precious planet of ours.”

“Somewhere along the line to adulthood many people seem to lose or suppress the ‘Give it a go’ spirit. One day people will look back with regret at all the things they never tried. That’s bad for both individuals and society as whole. Scouts counter this.

Tim is a public speaker, talking regularly to a wide range of audiences, including schools, industries, conference groups and the public. He has just released a book about his world record journey to Antarctica called The Unforgiving Minute.

Source : Scouts Australia