Odd Harald Hauge is an adventurer, explorer and entrepreneur.
12.00 noon UK Time
Goldster Book Club
While climbing Everest and trekking to the South Pole, he was also the owner of the world’s most northern hotel on the island of Spitsbergen far up in the Arctic Circle.
He has written numerous books drawing on his high-risk expeditions and two stunning novels: Everest: The Death Zone (2017) and The Great Bear (2019). Everest is both an uplifting and a chilling read, giving vivid insights into the drive, grit and passion that propel people from all walks of life to stand on top of the world’s highest mountain. He is particularly skilled at illustrating a skewed moral compass when it comes to making a choice between helping the injured and reaching the summit. In The Great Bear we are transported to Spitsbergen in the High North for a spine-tingling thriller of inhospitable wastelands, espionage and individual human courage. Spitsbergen is an island in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. Under an international treaty, all nations are allowed access to the island for peaceful scientific research. However, it is also a strategic flashpoint between geopolitical rivals and Odd Harald Hauge gives us a gripping story based on an attempt by Russia to take control.
Join Humphrey Hawksley and Odd Harald Hauge at noon, on Friday 14th January, to hear adventures from the fog-swirling icy slopes of Everest to the frozen Arctic landscapes of Spitsbergen. And, on a lighter note, find out what it’s like to run a bar so close to the North Pole!