No Baloney when it comes to polar bears

Polar bear attacks are just one of the dangers a Cork magician and children’s entertainer will face when he attempts to reach an area of the arctic never before reached by mankind.

Anthony Galvin, AKA Tony Baloney, was chosen by world renowned explorer Jim McNeil to take part in the ambitious group expedition to the Northern Pole of Inaccessibility next February.

Defined as the furthest point from land on the Arctic Ocean, the Northern Pole of Inaccessibility is over 270 miles beyond than the geographic North Pole and has never been reached before.

Mr Galvin, who is 56 and currently recovering from a hip replacement, is a well-known writer, magician and children’s entertainer based in Conna.

He was selected as part of Mr McNeil’s Ice Warrior #LASTPOLE Expedition which invites people from all walks of life to take part in extraordinary expeditionary feats.

Explorer Jim McNeil has over 30 years’ experience in arctic adventure and this will be the 8th major Ice Warrior expedition.

As well as being a record-setting adventure, the expedition aims to gather data on the condition of the Arctic Ocean, weather, pollution, and polar bear numbers.

Mr Galvin said he’s always had an obsession with the polar regions.

Speaking with the Cork Independent Mr Galvin said he even spent 20 seasons in Lapland working as a magician for children where he experienced temperatures of -45 degrees Celsius.

Mr Galvin said: “I absolutely love the cold and snow, always have since I was a child. Any time we get a snowfall I’m straight up the Galties.

“Jim posted on Facebook about the Warrior Selection Weekend. To be honest, I went along just for the experience, I wasn’t thinking of taking it any further. I thought my time had come and passed.”

Mr Galvin will join one of 4 teams, each of which will do one of 4 legs of the journey across the frozen ocean where temperatures will average at -44 degrees Celsius. Each team will spend 3 weeks on the ice.

The dangers they will face include hypothermia, frostbite and polar bears, which Mr Galvin said they have been trained to “deal with”.

He continued: “I know we joke about them and we’d love to see one, but polar bears hunt humans. They are a genuine risk. If they show any interest in coming close, we’ll use flares to scare them away. We will have a shotgun and a rifle with each team but that’s very much a last resort.

“The last thing we want to do is injure one but we won’t let them eat us at the same time,” said Mr Galvin.

Throughout the gruelling trek, Mr Galvin will spend 8-10 hours a day pulling a 90 kilo sled across the ice filled with crucial supplies.

Every night, he and his team mates will set up camp where they will cook and sleep inside one large tent to conserve body heat.

He added: “There will be a lot of misery, there’s no point pretending. We’re going to be issued with 3 baby wipes each per day for toiletry and cleaning purposes.

“That’s not exactly luxurious living. But I think it’s the sort of misery that you look back on afterwards and say, ‘Ah that was a bit of craic’ - the pure joy of being in a place that very few people get to experience,” said Mr Galvin.