Ben Saunders: To the South Pole and back — the hardest 105 days of my life

Translator: Ivan Stancel Reviewer: Linda Magáthová

So in the oasis of intelligentsia that is TED,

Takže v tejto oáze inteligencie TED

I stand here before you this evening

stojím dnes večer pred vami

as an expert in dragging heavy stuff around cold places.

ako expert na vláčenie ťažkých vecí po studených miestach.

I've been leading polar expeditions for most of my adult life,

Väčšinu svojho dospelého života vediem polárne expedície

and last month, my teammate Tarka L'Herpiniere and I

a minulý mesiac sme s kolegom Tarkom L'Herpiniereom

finished the most ambitious expedition I've ever attempted.

dokončili najambicióznejšie podujatie, o aké som sa kedy pokúsil.

In fact, it feels like I've been transported straight here

Cítim sa, ako keby som sa zrazu ocitol tu na pódiu

from four months in the middle of nowhere,

po štyroch mesiacoch uprostred ničoho,

mostly grunting and swearing, straight to the TED stage.

plných nadávok a hromženia.

So you can imagine that's a transition that hasn't been entirely seamless.

Viete si predstaviť, že tento prechod nebol úplne plynulý.

One of the interesting side effects

Jeden zaujímavý vedľajší účinok je,

seems to be that my short-term memory is entirely shot.

že moja krátkodobá pamäť je z toho celkom mimo.

So I've had to write some notes

Napísal som si preto poznámky,

to avoid too much grunting and swearing in the next 17 minutes.

aby som počas týchto 17 minút príliš nehromžil a nenadával.

This is the first talk I've given about this expedition,

Je to moja prvá prednáška o tejto expedícii.

and while we weren't sequencing genomes or building space telescopes,

Nepôjde síce o sekvenovanie génov ani konštrukciu vesmírneho teleskopu,

this is a story about giving everything we had to achieve something

no je to príbeh o tom, ako sme vydali zo seba všetko, aby sme dokázali to,

that hadn't been done before.

čo nikto pred nami.

So I hope in that you might find some food for thought.

Snáď si v ňom nájdete niečo na zamyslenie.

It was a journey, an expedition in Antarctica,

Bola to cesta, expedícia do Antarktídy.

the coldest, windiest, driest and highest altitude continent on Earth.

Na najchladnejší, najveternejší, najsuchší a najvyššie položený kontinent.

It's a fascinating place. It's a huge place.

Fascinujúce miesto. Obrovský svetadiel.

It's twice the size of Australia,

Má dvakrát väčšiu rozlohu ako Austrália.

a continent that is the same size as China and India put together.

Je veľký ako Čína s Indiou dohromady.

As an aside, I have experienced

Medzi nami, v týchto dňoch

an interesting phenomenon in the last few days,

som sa tu stretol so zaujímavým javom.

something that I expect Chris Hadfield may get at TED in a few years' time,

Astronaut Chris Hadfield toto asi zažije na TED-e až o niekoľko rokov.

conversations that go something like this:

Ide o konverzácie ako:

"Oh, Antarctica. Awesome.

„Fíha, Antarktída. Paráda.

My husband and I did Antarctica with Lindblad for our anniversary."

S manželom sme tam boli na zájazde s Lindbladom na výročie svadby.“

Or, "Oh cool, did you go there for the marathon?"

Alebo: „Super! Bol si tam na maratóne?“

(Laughter)

(smiech)

Our journey was, in fact, 69 marathons back to back

V skutočnosti to bolo ako 69 maratónov po sebe za 105 dní.

in 105 days, an 1,800-mile round trip on foot from the coast of Antarctica

Bezmála 3 000 kilometrov pešo z antarktického pobrežia

to the South Pole and back again.

k južnému pólu a zasa späť.

In the process, we broke the record

Touto cestou sme prekonali rekord

for the longest human-powered polar journey in history by more than 400 miles.

najdlhšej polárnej výpravy bez leteckej podpory o viac než 600 kilometrov.

(Applause)

(potlesk)

For those of you from the Bay Area,

Pre vás z oblasti zálivu

it was the same as walking from here to San Francisco,

bolo by to, ako ísť po vlastných odtiaľto z Vancouveru do San Francisca,

then turning around and walking back again.

potom sa otočiť a vrátiť sa naspäť.

So as camping trips go, it was a long one,

Táto túra bola teda dlhá

and one I've seen summarized most succinctly here

a veľmi výstižne to zhrnuli

on the hallowed pages of Business Insider Malaysia.

na stránkach uznávaného magazínu Business Insider Malaysia.

["Two Explorers Just Completed A Polar Expedition That Killed Everyone The Last Time It Was Attempted"]

[Dvaja bádatelia zavŕšili polárnu výpravu, ktorú naposledy nikto neprežil.]

Chris Hadfield talked so eloquently

Chris Hadfield hovoril veľmi výrečne o strachu,

about fear and about the odds of success, and indeed the odds of survival.

o šanci na úspech a vlastne o šanci na prežitie.

Of the nine people in history that had attempted this journey before us,

Z deviatich ľudí v dejinách, ktorí sa vydali na túto cestu pred nami,

none had made it to the pole and back,

ani jeden nedošiel až na pól a späť,

and five had died in the process.

pričom piati z nich zahynuli.

This is Captain Robert Falcon Scott.

Toto je kapitán Robert Falcon Scott.

He led the last team to attempt this expedition.

Bol vedúcim ostatnej podobnej výpravy.

Scott and his rival Sir Ernest Shackleton,

Scott a tiež jeho rival Sir Ernest Shackleton

over the space of a decade,

v priebehu jedného desaťročia

both led expeditions battling to become the first to reach the South Pole,

viedli súperiace expedície s cieľom dosiahnuť po prvý raz južný pól,

to chart and map the interior of Antarctica,

vytýčiť a zmapovať vnútrozemie Antarktídy,

a place we knew less about, at the time,

územie, ktoré sme vtedy poznali menej

than the surface of the moon,

ako povrch Mesiaca,

because we could see the moon through telescopes.

lebo ten sme mohli pozorovať teleskopmi.

Antarctica was, for the most part, a century ago, uncharted.

Antarktída bola ešte pred storočím z väčšej časti neznáma.

Some of you may know the story.

Niektorí ten príbeh poznáte.

Scott's last expedition, the Terra Nova Expedition in 1910,

Scottova posledná expedícia Terra Nova v roku 1910

started as a giant siege-style approach.

sa začala ako masívne obliehanie.

He had a big team using ponies,

Scott mal veľký tím ľudí, mal poníkov,

using dogs, using petrol-driven tractors,

psy a benzínové traktory,

dropping multiple, pre-positioned depots of food and fuel

ktoré zanechávali zásoby jedla a paliva vo vopred určených bodoch.

through which Scott's final team of five would travel to the Pole,

Po nich Scottov cieľový päťčlenný tím postupoval smerom k pólu,

where they would turn around and ski back to the coast again on foot.

odkiaľ sa mal potom na lyžiach vrátiť na pobrežie.

Scott and his final team of five

Scott a jeho ľudia

arrived at the South Pole in January 1912

dosiahli južný pól v januári roku 1912

to find they had been beaten to it by a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen,

a tam zistili, že ich predbehla nórska skupina pod vedením Roalda Amundsena

who rode on dogsled.

s použitím psích záprahov.

Scott's team ended up on foot.

Scottov tím šiel nakoniec pešo.

And for more than a century this journey has remained unfinished.

A viac ako sto rokov túto výpravu nikto nedokončil.

Scott's team of five died on the return journey.

Všetkých päť členov na spiatočnej ceste zahynulo.

And for the last decade,

Posledných desať rokov

I've been asking myself why that is.

som si často kládol otázku prečo?

How come this has remained the high-water mark?

Ako to, že tento výkon nikto neprekonal?

Scott's team covered 1,600 miles on foot.

Scottova skupina prešla pešo 2 500 kilometrov.

No one's come close to that ever since.

Tomuto sa odvtedy nikto ani nepriblížil.

So this is the high-water mark of human endurance,

Je to zatiaľ najvyššia méta ľudskej vytrvalosti

human endeavor, human athletic achievement

a ľudského úsilia; najťažší športový výkon

in arguably the harshest climate on Earth.

v najdrsnejších klimatických podmienkach na Zemi.

It was as if the marathon record

Ako keby od roku 1912

has remained unbroken since 1912.

nikto neprekonal rekord v maratóne.

And of course some strange and predictable combination of curiosity,

A, samozrejme, istá zvláštna a predvídateľná kombinácia zvedavosti,

stubbornness, and probably hubris

tvrdohlavosti a zrejme aj pýchy

led me to thinking I might be the man to try to finish the job.

ma priviedla k myšlienke, že práve mne by sa to mohlo podariť.

Unlike Scott's expedition, there were just two of us,

Na rozdiel od Scottovej expedície, my sme boli len dvaja.

and we set off from the coast of Antarctica in October last year,

Vyrazili sme z antarktického pobrežia v októbri minulého roku.

dragging everything ourselves,

A všetko sme si ťahali sami na saniach.

a process Scott called "man-hauling."

Tento postup Scott nazýval „ľudský záprah“.

When I say it was like walking from here to San Francisco and back,

Keď hovorím o ceste pešo odtiaľto do San Francisca a späť,

I actually mean it was like dragging something that weighs a shade more

ide vlastne o ťahanie čohosi, čo váži len o chlp viac

than the heaviest ever NFL player.

ako najťažší hráč amerického futbalu.

Our sledges weighed 200 kilos,

Naše sane na začiatku vážili

or 440 pounds each at the start,

samostatne po 200 kíl.

the same weights that the weakest of Scott's ponies pulled.

Toľko ťahal najslabší Scottov poník.

Early on, we averaged 0.5 miles per hour.

Dosahovali sme vtedy asi 0,8 kilometra za hodinu.

Perhaps the reason no one had attempted this journey until now,

Jeden z dôvodov, prečo sa na takú výpravu žiaden človek nevydal

in more than a century,

viac ako sto rokov,

was that no one had been quite stupid enough to try.

môže byť, že sa na to nenašiel nikto dostatočne hlúpy.

And while I can't claim we were exploring

A hoci nemôžem tvrdiť, že sme objaviteľmi

in the genuine Edwardian sense of the word —

ako za čias kráľa Eduarda VII.,

we weren't naming any mountains or mapping any uncharted valleys —

nepomenúvali sme nové pohoria a nemapovali neznáme údolia,

I think we were stepping into uncharted territory in a human sense.

myslím si, že sme predsa len vstúpili na neznáme územie z ľudského hľadiska.

Certainly, if in the future we learn there is an area of the human brain

Ak v budúcnosti objavíme mozgové centrum,

that lights up when one curses oneself,

ktoré sa aktivizuje, keď človek sám seba preklína,

I won't be at all surprised.

nebudem ani trochu prekvapený.

You've heard that the average American spends 90 percent of their time indoors.

Počuli ste už, že priemerný Američan trávi 90 percent času vnútri.

We didn't go indoors for nearly four months.

My sme takmer štyri mesiace boli stále vonku.

We didn't see a sunset either.

A tiež sme nevideli zapadnúť slnko.

It was 24-hour daylight.

Celých 24 hodín bolo vidno.

Living conditions were quite spartan.

Životné podmienky boli úplne sparťanské.

I changed my underwear three times in 105 days

Spodnú bielizeň som si prezliekol trikrát za 105 dní

and Tarka and I shared 30 square feet on the canvas.

a s Tarkom sme spolu bývali na 9 štvorcových metroch celty.

Though we did have some technology that Scott could never have imagined.

Zato sme mali techniku, o akej sa Scottovi ani nesnívalo.

And we blogged live every evening from the tent via a laptop

Každý večer sme naživo blogovali zo stanu cez laptop

and a custom-made satellite transmitter,

a prispôsobený satelitný vysielač.

all of which were solar-powered:

Všetko fungovalo na slnečnú energiu,

we had a flexible photovoltaic panel over the tent.

na stane sme mali flexibilný fotovoltaický panel.

And the writing was important to me.

Písanie bolo pre mňa dôležité.

As a kid, I was inspired by the literature of adventure and exploration,

Ako malého chalana ma inšpirovala dobrodružná literatúra o objaviteľoch

and I think we've all seen here this week

a myslím, že tento týždeň sme tu všetci videli

the importance and the power of storytelling.

význam a silu rozprávania príbehov.

So we had some 21st-century gear,

Mali sme síce najnovší výstroj,

but the reality is that the challenges that Scott faced

ale fakt je, že sme museli čeliť

were the same that we faced:

rovnakým ťažkostiam ako Scott,

those of the weather and of what Scott called glide,

teda počasiu a tomu, čo Scott nazýval „glide“, či „kĺzanie“,

the amount of friction between the sledges and the snow.

miera trenia saní na snehovom povrchu.

The lowest wind chill we experienced was in the -70s,

Najnižšia pocitová teplota za veterného počasia bola -70°

and we had zero visibility, what's called white-out,

a väčšinu cesty bola nulová viditeľnosť,

for much of our journey.

voláme to biela tma.

We traveled up and down one of the largest

Absolvovali sme výstup a zostup

and most dangerous glaciers in the world, the Beardmore glacier.

Beardmoreovým ľadovcom, jedným z najväčších a najnebezpečnejších.

It's 110 miles long; most of its surface is what's called blue ice.

Je dlhý skoro 180 kilometrov a väčšinu povrchu tvorí takzvaný modrý ľad.

You can see it's a beautiful, shimmering steel-hard blue surface

Ako vidíte, je to krásny, ligotavý, oceľovo tvrdý ľadovec

covered with thousands and thousands of crevasses,

pokrytý tisíckami trhlín.

these deep cracks in the glacial ice up to 200 feet deep.

Tieto praskliny môžu mať hĺbku aj 60 metrov.

Planes can't land here,

Lietadlo tu nedokáže pristáť,

so we were at the most risk,

takže technicky bolo riziko najväčšie

technically, when we had the slimmest chance of being rescued.

práve vtedy, keď šanca na záchranu bola takmer nulová.

We got to the South Pole after 61 days on foot,

Južný pól sme dosiahli po 61 dňoch chôdze

with one day off for bad weather,

s jednodennou prestávkou pre zlé počasie,

and I'm sad to say, it was something of an anticlimax.

a, nerád to hovorím, bolo to určité sklamanie.

There's a permanent American base,

Na južnom póle je stála americká základňa

the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station at the South Pole.

Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

They have an airstrip, they have a canteen,

Majú tam pristávaciu plochu aj jedáleň,

they have hot showers,

majú horúcu sprchu,

they have a post office, a tourist shop,

poštu, obchod pre turistov

a basketball court that doubles as a movie theater.

a basketbalové ihrisko, ktoré slúži aj ako kino.

So it's a bit different these days,

Zmenilo sa to tam.

and there are also acres of junk.

A navyše sú tam celé kopy odpadu.

I think it's a marvelous thing

Je síce úžasné,

that humans can exist 365 days of the year

že človek dokáže žiť 365 dní v roku

with hamburgers and hot showers and movie theaters,

na hamburgeroch, horúcej sprche a filmoch,

but it does seem to produce a lot of empty cardboard boxes.

no zdá sa, že je z toho hŕba prázdnych kartónových škatúľ.

You can see on the left of this photograph,

Na tejto fotke vidíte

several square acres of junk

niekoľko hektárov smetí,

waiting to be flown out from the South Pole.

ktoré čakajú na odvoz.

But there is also a pole at the South Pole,

Ale na póle je aj naozajstná zemská os

and we got there on foot, unassisted,

a my sme k nej prišli po vlastných, bez pomoci,

unsupported, by the hardest route,

podpory zvonka, najťažšou trasou,

900 miles in record time,

1 500 kilometrov v rekordnom čase

dragging more weight than anyone in history.

a ťahali sme najťažší náklad doposiaľ.

And if we'd stopped there and flown home,

A keby sme odtiaľ odleteli domov,

which would have been the eminently sensible thing to do,

čo by bolo nanajvýš rozumné,

then my talk would end here

moje rozprávanie by v tomto okamihu

and it would end something like this.

skončilo nejako takto:

If you have the right team around you, the right tools, the right technology,

Keď máte okolo seba tých správnych ľudí, správne vybavenie a technológiu,

and if you have enough self-belief and enough determination,

a keď máte dostatočnú vieru v seba a dostatok odhodlania,

then anything is possible.

všetko je možné.

But then we turned around,

Lenže my sme sa vydali späť

and this is where things get interesting.

a až teraz to začalo byť zaujímavé.

High on the Antarctic plateau,

Vysoko na Antarktickej náhornej plošine

over 10,000 feet, it's very windy, very cold, very dry, we were exhausted.

vo výške 3 000 metrov bolo veľmi veterno, chladno a sucho a boli sme vyčerpaní.

We'd covered 35 marathons,

Prešli sme vzdialenosť 35 maratónov

we were only halfway,

a boli sme iba v polovici.

and we had a safety net, of course,

Samozrejme, mali sme záchrannú sieť

of ski planes and satellite phones

v podobe lietadiel, satelitných telefónov

and live, 24-hour tracking beacons that didn't exist for Scott,

a 24-hodinových signálnych zariadení, ktoré Scott nepoznal,

but in hindsight,

no pri pohľade späť,

rather than making our lives easier,

to, čo nám malo uľahčiť život,

the safety net actually allowed us

nám skôr umožnilo

to cut things very fine indeed,

ísť naozaj na doraz,

to sail very close to our absolute limits as human beings.

lavírovať na absolútnom okraji našich ľudských možností.

And it is an exquisite form of torture

Naozaj skvelý spôsob, ako sa trápiť deň čo deň

to exhaust yourself to the point of starvation day after day

až do vyčerpania a vyhladovania,

while dragging a sledge full of food.

pričom ťaháte sane plné jedla.

For years, I'd been writing glib lines in sponsorship proposals

Roky som písal sponzorom pekné reči

about pushing the limits of human endurance,

o posúvaní limitov ľudskej vytrvalosti,

but in reality, that was a very frightening place to be indeed.

ale v skutočnosti to tam bolo naozaj strašidelné.

We had, before we'd got to the Pole,

Kým sme sa dostali k pólu,

two weeks of almost permanent headwind, which slowed us down.

zažili sme dva týždne nepretržitého protivetra, a to nás spomalilo.

As a result, we'd had several days of eating half rations.

Preto sme potom niekoľko dní jedli polovičné porcie.

We had a finite amount of food in the sledges to make this journey,

Zásoby jedla v saniach boli obmedzené,

so we were trying to string that out

tak sme sa snažili pokryť celú cestu tým,

by reducing our intake to half the calories we should have been eating.

že sme znížili denný príjem kalórií na polovicu.

As a result, we both became increasingly hypoglycemic —

Dôsledkom bola u oboch prehlbujúca sa hypoglykémia,

we had low blood sugar levels day after day —

hladina krvného cukru každý deň klesala

and increasingly susceptible to the extreme cold.

a rástla citlivosť na extrémny chlad.

Tarka took this photo of me one evening

Tarka ma jedného večera odfotil po tom,

after I'd nearly passed out with hypothermia.

čo som takmer zamdlel kvôli hypotermii.

We both had repeated bouts of hypothermia, something I hadn't experienced before,

Obaja sme boli viackrát podchladení. Nič také som ešte nezažil.

and it was very humbling indeed.

Bolo to vskutku pokorujúce.

As much as you might like to think, as I do,

Môžete si rovnako ako ja povedať,

that you're the kind of person who doesn't quit,

že ste typ osoby, ktorá z boja neuteká,

that you'll go down swinging,

že padnete s noblesou,

hypothermia doesn't leave you much choice.

no hypotermia vám aj tak nedá na výber.

You become utterly incapacitated.

Stanete sa doslova neschopným.

It's like being a drunk toddler.

Ako také opité batoľa.

You become pathetic.

Úbožiak.

I remember just wanting to lie down and quit.

Pamätám si, chcel som si len ľahnúť a skončiť.

It was a peculiar, peculiar feeling,

Bol to ozaj veľmi zvláštny,

and a real surprise to me to be debilitated to that degree.

a prekvapujúci pocit byť takto veľmi oslabený.

And then we ran out of food completely,

A potom sa nám jedlo celkom minulo.

46 miles short of the first of the depots

75 kilometrov pred prvým stanovišťom so zásobami

that we'd laid on our outward journey.

na spiatočnej ceste.

We'd laid 10 depots of food,

Založili sme 10 stanovíšť.

literally burying food and fuel, for our return journey —

Doslova sme zahrabali jedlo a palivo na návrat –

the fuel was for a cooker so you could melt snow to get water —

išlo o palivo do variča na roztopenie snehu na vodu –

and I was forced to make the decision to call for a resupply flight,

a bol som nútený rozhodnúť sa a požiadať o zásobovací let,

a ski plane carrying eight days of food to tide us over that gap.

lietadlo s jedlom na osem dní, aby sme preklenuli toto okno.

They took 12 hours to reach us from the other side of Antarctica.

Trvalo 12 hodín, kým doleteli z druhého konca Antarktídy.

Calling for that plane was one of the toughest decisions of my life.

Privolať to lietadlo bolo jedno z najťažších rozhodnutí v mojom živote.

And I sound like a bit of a fraud standing here now with a sort of belly.

S týmto bruchom teraz asi vyzerám ako klamár.

I've put on 30 pounds in the last three weeks.

Za uplynulé tri týždne som pribral asi 13 kíl.

Being that hungry has left an interesting mental scar,

Ten veľký hlad sa mi ale zvláštne podpísal na psychike,

which is that I've been hoovering up every hotel buffet that I can find.

lebo teraz vybielim každý hotelový bufet v dosahu.

(Laughter)

(smiech)

But we were genuinely quite hungry, and in quite a bad way.

Ale my sme boli skutočne veľmi hladní a bolo to hrozné.

I don't regret calling for that plane for a second,

Ani na chvíľu som neľutoval, že som zavolal o pomoc,

because I'm still standing here alive,

lebo tu teraz stojím živý

with all digits intact, telling this story.

a bez ujmy vám rozprávam tento príbeh.

But getting external assistance like that was never part of the plan,

No takáto pomoc zvonku nebola súčasťou plánu

and it's something my ego is still struggling with.

a moje ego sa s tým stále nezmierilo.

This was the biggest dream I've ever had,

Toto bol môj najväčší sen v živote

and it was so nearly perfect.

a takmer to bolo dokonalé.

On the way back down to the coast,

Cestou späť k pobrežiu

our crampons — they're the spikes on our boots

sa naše mačky, tie špice na topánkach

that we have for traveling over this blue ice on the glacier —

slúžiace na pohyb po ľade,

broke on the top of the Beardmore.

dolámali hore na ľadovci.

We still had 100 miles to go downhill

Ostávalo ešte 160 kilometrov zostupu

on very slippery rock-hard blue ice.

po veľmi šmykľavom a tvrdom povrchu.

They needed repairing almost every hour.

Museli sme ich opravovať skoro každú hodinu.

To give you an idea of scale,

Pre lepšiu predstavu o tej vzdialenosti,

this is looking down towards the mouth of the Beardmore Glacier.

toto je pohľad smerom k ústiu Beardmorovho ľadovca.

You could fit the entirety of Manhattan in the gap on the horizon.

Do priestoru na obzore by sa vošiel celý Manhattan.

That's 20 miles between Mount Hope and Mount Kiffin.

Je to 30 kilometrov medzi vrcholmi Mount Hope a Mount Kiffin.

I've never felt as small as I did in Antarctica.

Nikde som sa necítil taký malý ako v Antarktíde.

When we got down to the mouth of the glacier,

Keď sme zišli k ústiu ľadovca,

we found fresh snow had obscured the dozens of deep crevasses.

zistili sme, že početné hlboké trhliny zahalil čerstvý sneh.

One of Shackleton's men described crossing this sort of terrain

Jeden zo Shackletonových mužov opísal prechod takýmto terénom

as like walking over the glass roof of a railway station.

ako chodenie po veľkej sklenenej streche železničnej stanice.

We fell through more times than I can remember,

Prepadli sme sa nespočetne veľa ráz,

usually just putting a ski or a boot through the snow.

obvykle len lyžami alebo nohami.

Occasionally we went in all the way up to our armpits,

Niekedy to bolo až celkom pod pazuchy,

but thankfully never deeper than that.

ale, vďakabohu, nikdy nie hlbšie.

And less than five weeks ago, after 105 days,

A pred necelými piatimi týždňami, po 105 dňoch,

we crossed this oddly inauspicious finish line,

sme prešli tou zvláštne neprajnou cieľovou čiarou,

the coast of Ross Island on the New Zealand side of Antarctica.

pobrežím Rossovho ostrova na novozélandskej strane Antarktídy.

You can see the ice in the foreground

V popredí môžete vidieť ľad

and the sort of rubbly rock behind that.

a potom drobivé skálie.

Behind us lay an unbroken ski trail of nearly 1,800 miles.

Za nami leží neprerušená biela stopa dlhá skoro 3 000 kilometrov.

We'd made the longest ever polar journey on foot,

Podnikli sme doteraz najdlhšiu pešiu polárnu výpravu,

something I'd been dreaming of doing for a decade.

niečo, o čom som sníval desať rokov.

And looking back,

Keď sa obzriem za seba,

I still stand by all the things

stále si stojím za všetkým,

I've been saying for years

čo som roky hovoril

about the importance of goals

o dôležitosti cieľov,

and determination and self-belief,

odhodlania a sebadôvery,

but I'll also admit that I hadn't given much thought to what happens

ale pripúšťam, že som nepomyslel na to, čo sa stane,

when you reach the all-consuming goal

keď človek dosiahne ten náročný cieľ,

that you've dedicated most of your adult life to,

ktorému venoval väčšinu dospelého života.

and the reality is that I'm still figuring that bit out.

Skutočnosť je taká, že ešte vždy premýšľam, čo s tým.

As I said, there are very few superficial signs that I've been away.

Ako vravím, napohľad veľmi nevidno, že som niekde bol.

I've put on 30 pounds.

Pribral som 13 kíl.

I've got some very faint, probably covered in makeup now, frostbite scars.

Mejkap asi zakrýva, že mám niekoľko bledých jaziev po omrzlinách.

I've got one on my nose, one on each cheek, from where the goggles are,

Na nose, na obidvoch lícach tam, kde som mal okuliare,

but inside I am a very different person indeed.

ale vnútorne je zo mňa vskutku iný človek.

If I'm honest,

Úprimne,

Antarctica challenged me and humbled me so deeply

Antarktída ma preverila a pokorila tak hlboko,

that I'm not sure I'll ever be able to put it into words.

že to asi nedokážem nikdy vyjadriť slovami.

I'm still struggling to piece together my thoughts.

Mám čo robiť, aby som si utriedil myšlienky.

That I'm standing here telling this story

To, že som teraz tu a rozprávam,

is proof that we all can accomplish great things,

je dôkazom, že všetci dokážeme veľké veci

through ambition, through passion,

vďaka ctižiadosti, vášni,

through sheer stubbornness,

čírej tvrdohlavosti,

by refusing to quit,

neochote vzdať sa,

that if you dream something hard enough, as Sting said,

a že keď ideme vytrvalo za svojím snom, ako tu povedal Sting,

it does indeed come to pass.

naozaj sa splní.

But I'm also standing here saying, you know what,

Ale opakujem aj známe klišé, viete,

that cliche about the journey being more important than the destination?

že cesta je dôležitejšia než cieľ.

There's something in that.

Niečo na tom je.

The closer I got to my finish line,

Čím viac som sa približoval k cieľu,

that rubbly, rocky coast of Ross Island,

k sutinovému, skalnatému pobrežiu Rossovho ostrova,

the more I started to realize that the biggest lesson

tým viac som si uvedomoval to najväčšie ponaučenie,

that this very long, very hard walk might be teaching me

ktoré mi ťažký pochod dal:

is that happiness is not a finish line,

že šťastie nie je konečná méta,

that for us humans,

že pre nás ľudí

the perfection that so many of us seem to dream of

nemusí byť dokonalosť, o ktorej toľkí snívajú,

might not ever be truly attainable,

nikdy úplne dosiahnuteľná,

and that if we can't feel content here, today, now, on our journeys

a že pokiaľ necítime uspokojenie dnes, tu a teraz, na ceste

amidst the mess and the striving that we all inhabit,

uprostred neporiadku a námah, kde žijeme,

the open loops, the half-finished to-do lists,

v nedokonalosti, v tom, čo sme nedokončili,

the could-do-better-next-times,

a v našich druhých pokusoch,

then we might never feel it.

že asi nebudeme spokojní nikdy.

A lot of people have asked me, what next?

Veľa ľudí sa ma pýta: „A čo ďalej?“

Right now, I am very happy just recovering and in front of hotel buffets.

Teraz som spokojný. Dávam sa dokopy a chodím po hotelových bufetoch.

But as Bob Hope put it,

Ale ako povedal komik Bob Hope,

I feel very humble,

cítim veľkú pokoru,

but I think I have the strength of character to fight it. (Laughter)

no myslím, že som silný charakter, a prekonám to. (smiech)

Thank you.

Ďakujem.

(Applause)

(potlesk)