Test for potential explorers

workouts
(Image credit: Unknown)

1) You're crossing the Arctic and your sled falls through thin ice. Do you:
a) Make someone else reach into the water to get it?
b) Get straight on the satnav phone and ask to be rescued?
c) Plunge your hands into the savagely cold Arctic Ocean to retrieve it yelling, 'Frostbite be damned!'?
 
2) You get frostbite in one hand. Do you:
a) Not worry - the hand is on someone else's arm?
b) Get your fingers amputated professionally by a doctor?
c) Hack off the damaged flesh with a fretsaw?
 

3) You plan to run seven marathons in seven days but suffer a heart attack three months before the first race. Do you:
a) Die?
b) Put it off for a year?
c) Decide you're going to run them, even if you have to do it while still hooked up to an IV unit?
 
4) You're near the top of Everest when you start experiencing chest pains. Do you:
a) Lie down and wait for death?
b) Arrange for someone to come to your rescue?
c) Take a few pills, climb down and vow to have another crack at it when you're feeling better?

5) You suffer from extreme vertigo. Do you:
a) Take a lift down to the lowest level of an underground car park and lie on the floor?
b) Get hypnotherapy to cure it?
c) Scale the 1,800m north face of the Eiger, Europe's most lethal mountain?
 
Mostly As:
You're better to suited to filing than expeditions. Have you considered a job in your local council's archive department?

Mostly Bs:
You're fairly adventurous, but you probably don't quite have the grit required to take on the hardest challenges. Stick to half-marathons and the odd bit of surfing.

 
Mostly Cs:
You're the next great expedition leader. Start looking for sponsors to fund your ocean-floor walk around the globe. BTW, you'll be relying on long straws as breathing apparatus and sea cucumbers for food during your trip.

For a revealing interview with Sir Ranulph Fiennespick up a copy of the October 2010 issue of Men's Fitness.

Nick Hutchings worked for Men’s Fitness UK, which predated, and then shared a website with, Coach. Nick worked as digital editor from 2008 to 2011, head of content until 2014, and finally editor-in-chief until 2015.