Adventure nut Sir Jim Ratcliffe has trekked to North and South poles, climbed Matterhorn and did Ironman triathlon at 64

11 months ago 69

SIR Jim Ratcliffe’s sense of adventure knows no ends.

The billionaire businessman, 71, is a 25 per cent owner of Manchester United, and has delved into the world of cycling, sailing and more.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe conquered the North Pole with sons Sam Ratcliffe, left, and George Ratcliffe, centre[/caption]

But, although rebuilding a crumbling Old Trafford might seem like a challenge, that pales into what Ratcliffe has put his 6ft 4in frame through

A lover of the outdoors, as well as a pub owner, he has trekked BOTH the North and South poles.

A keen long-distance runner, the petrochemicals tycoon has also competed the gruelling Marathon Des Sables across the Sahara Desert.

Add to that climbing the Matterhorn, and completing the Ironman triathlon aged 64 – the sense you get of Ratcliffe is a man who sees no barriers.

Risk taker

As man who has conquered the business world, Ratcliffe might have taken a few risks.

When it has come to his own personal adventures, he has admitted caution in the past.

“I don’t take risks unnecessarily,” he once said.

“To give you an example, I won’t and would never jump out of an aeroplane, because you either live or die depending upon how well someone’s packed your parachute.

‘I’ve done a bungee jump because I don’t think there’s too much risk attached.

“I’m quite careful, but you’re only here once so you get more out of life if you challenge yourself a bit more.”

That philosophy hasn’t stopped him from taking on life’s hardest tasks.

Forget sea and sand

Although his £30billion wealth means he belongs in the jet-set, and he does reside in a mansion in Monaco, it’s colder expeditions that get Ratcliffe excited.

In 2009, he and his sons Sam and George climbed the North Pole – embarking on a treacherous journey through broken and shifting ice,

“You pull a big heavy sledge and it’s very cold and uncomfortable,” he told The Times.

“The ice cap’s always moving with the currents and the wind and parts of it break off. Then you encounter mountains of ice and you’ve got to drag your sledge over them.”

Two years later, they returned to do the South Pole The date, December 14, 1911, they trekked it was significant.

It was the 100-year anniversary of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen’s historic expedition, who was the first to plant a flag there.

“It was one of the more miserable experiences of my life,” Sir Jim said.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, left, crosses open water on the Arctic Ocean on his North Pole voyage[/caption]

The Ratcliffes pose for a picture on their treacherous journey[/caption]

“There’s nothing uplifting about spending all day [on skis] pulling an 80-kilo sledge over ice waves.

“But there’s no feeling quite like getting to the South Pole after you’ve walked 200 kilometres.

“It’s the highs and lows of life, isn’t it? The highs are better if you’ve experienced a few lows beforehand. You can’t just have highs all the time.”

Climbing the Matterhorn

The splendid Matterhorn mountain of the Alps stands at 14,692 ft above the sea level.

Accompanied by a guide, Sir Jim and his sons decided to climb it. They, like him, share the same sense of daring.

He chooses his guides carefully.

He revealed: “Yeah, they grew up understanding risk and a bit of adventure and just getting out there and challenging yourself a bit really.

“If you go up the Matterhorn there’s obviously risk, but you’re going up with a guide who’s been climbing all his life.

“I always try to pick a guide who’s got a wife and children because they have the most to lose. What you don’t want is a 25-year-old gung-ho guide.”

However, there was a dicey moment when his youngest son George was almost lost on the Matterhorn.

“George was only 13 when we climbed the Matterhorn. Sam was 15. It was a nice moment, sitting at the top, having a sandwich,” he said.

The stunning Matterhorn provided Ratcliffe another challenge he endured[/caption]

Ratcliffe also navigated the Northwest Passage, dodging icebergs along the way in a small vessel[/caption]

“Then on the way down George slipped. The guide had to arrest him on the rope really quickly, but he survived. The most dangerous bit of the Matterhorn is after you leave the summit, because it’s seriously vertical and it’s ice and you’re on crampons.

“If you slip when you’re going up you just fall forward, but when you’re going down and you slip you don’t stop until you hit the ski resort a couple of miles below.”

The treacherous trip through the Northwest Passage is not one for the faint-hearted.

In the explorer vessel, Sherpa he dodged icebergs in isolation.

“For three weeks I didn’t see another ship or meet another human being, only polar bears,” he said.

Endurance tester

When he’s not travelling around the globe, Ratcliffe is putting his body through the ringer.

Astonishingly, at the age of 64, he completed an Ironman triathlon.

He swam 2.4 miles, cycled 112 miles, then ran a full marathon in a very respectable 14 hours and 44 minutes.

While in 2013, he completed the Marathon Des Sables – an ultramarathon in South Morocco regarded as the toughest foot race on earth.

At 64 Ratcliffe complated an Ironman Triathlon[/caption]

Competitors must trek across the Sahara Desert in scorching energy-zapping conditions, which is the length of SIX normal marathons.

To celebrate his 60th birthday in 2012, Ratcliffe took a group of 12 companions, including his sons and daughter on a 6,000 motorcycle trip around southern Africa over 100 days.

Though it wasn’t all plain sailing for Ratcliffe.

He broke three bones in his foot, and when a local hospital bandaged his injury too tightly he feared amputation.

There was only one thing to do. He took a chainsaw, cut off the cast, to allow the blood supply to repair his broken appendage.

Instead of the cast, he ordered a ski boot to be shipped to him so the bones could set.

“I think I’m the only person ever to have worn a ski boot in Namibia,” he joked.