Fiennes, Sir Ranulph << fynz, RAY nuhlf >> (1944-…), is an English explorer famous for his polar expeditions. From 1979 to 1982, he led the Transglobe Expedition. This expedition followed the Greenwich meridian and the international date line around the world, crossing the North and South poles. See International date line .
During the 1980’s and 1990’s, Fiennes and Michael Stroud, an English doctor, made several attempts to reach the North Pole without help from a backup team. In 1992 and 1993, Fiennes and Stroud attempted the first unsupported crossing of Antarctica. Pulling heavy sleds, they completed the 1,345-mile (2,164-kilometer) journey across the continent in 95 days. However, before they could cross the Ross Ice Shelf to open water, frostbite and illness forced them to radio for help. In 1996 and 2000, Fiennes made solo attempts to cross Antarctica. He had to give up because he developed kidney stones on the first attempt and frostbite on the second.
Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham Fiennes, a baronet, was born on March 7, 1944, in Windsor in the United Kingdom. He was educated at Eton College and in South Africa before starting an Army career. He served with the Royal Scots Greys regiment and the Special Air Service (SAS). He also served in the armed forces of the sultan of Oman. In 1969, Fiennes began organizing and leading a series of adventurous expeditions. These expeditions included an air cushion vehicle journey up the White Nile; a parachute jump onto Jostedalsbreen, a glacier in Norway; and trips along several rivers in Canada and Alaska. He made his first overland journey toward the North Pole from 1976 to 1978.
Fiennes has written several books about his adventures. They include To the Ends of the Earth: Transglobe Expedition 1979-1982 (1983), Living Dangerously (1987), and Atlantis of the Sands (1992). The British motion-picture star Ralph Fiennes is his third cousin.
