The 13-day trek across the frozen polar ice cap was in aid of the charity Walking With The Wounded which supports injured ex-servicemen and women.

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One winter day in northern Quebec some years ago, a polar bear wandered into a village and approached a seven-year-old Inuit child.

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Its lead author was UCL's Seymour Laxon, the renowned polar scientist who tragically died following an accident on New Year's Day.

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He tags along on a 1960s expedition to Greenland and saves the day when the group runs out of food, by felling a polar bear with a single shot.

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She will be pulling a 250lb sledge packed with food for her 5, 000 calorie-a-day diet, survival equipment and a .44 Magnum handgun in case she is attacked by polar bears.

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On the 14-day Jewels of the Arctic cruise operated by Aurora Expeditions, for example, passengers on the Polar Pioneer had access to a naturalist, geologist, an assistant expedition leader and Miller, an expedition leader who has spent 14 seasons in the Arctic and 20 in the Antarctic.

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