Listen free for 30 days
-
Against the Ice
- The Classic Arctic Survival Story
- Narrated by: Tristan Wright
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Adventurers, Explorers & Survival
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £25.69
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Worst Journey in the World
- By: Apsley Cherry-Garrard
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 20 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This gripping story of courage and achievement is the account of Robert Falcon Scott's last fateful expedition to the Antarctic, as told by surviving expedition member Apsley Cherry-Garrard. Cherry-Garrard, whom Scott lauded as a tough, efficient member of the team, tells of the journey from England to South Africa and southward to the ice floes. From there began the unforgettable polar journey across a forbidding and inhospitable region.
-
-
Takes your breath away
- By Bettym on 17-06-13
-
An Unsung Hero
- Tom Crean - Antarctic Survivor
- By: Michael Smith
- Narrated by: Gerry O'Brien
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tom Crean was the farmer’s son from Kerry who sailed on three major expeditions to the unknown Antarctic over a century ago. He served with both Captain Robert Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton, spent longer on the ice than either and outlived them both. But Tom Crean returned to Ireland and never spoke about his exploits, taking his incredible story to the grave - until the publication of An Unsung Hero, which unearthed his story and saw him rightfully placed amongst the annals of the great explorers.
-
-
Awe Inspiring - Marred by Authorial Stereotyping.
- By John Corcoran on 01-02-22
-
Madhouse at the End of the Earth
- The Belgica’s Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night
- By: Julian Sancton
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
August 1897: the Belgica set sail, eager to become the first scientific expedition to reach the white wilderness of the South Pole. But the ship soon became stuck fast in the ice of the Bellinghausen sea, condemning the ship's crew to overwintering in Antarctica and months of endless polar night. In the darkness, plagued by a mysterious illness, their minds ravaged by the sound of dozens of rats teeming in the hold, they descended into madness.
-
-
awful awful narration
- By Jennifer Colgan on 26-01-22
-
Shackleton
- By: Ranulph Fiennes
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1915, Sir Ernest Shackleton's attempt to traverse the Antarctic was cut short when his ship, Endurance, became trapped in ice. The disaster left Shackleton and his men alone at the frozen South Pole, fighting for their lives. Their survival and escape is the most famous adventure in history.
-
-
A truly epic story!!
- By L. BETTLES on 20-10-21
-
Captain James Cook
- By: Rob Mundle
- Narrated by: Paul English
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Captain James Cook is one of the greatest maritime explorers of all time. Over three remarkable voyages of discovery into the Pacific in the latter part of the 18th century, Cook unravelled the oldest mystery surrounding the existence of Terra Australis Incognita - the Great South Land. He became the first explorer to circumnavigate New Zealand and establish that it was two main islands; discover the Hawaiian Islands for the British Empire; and left an enduring legacy.
-
-
Fantastic
- By DNix on 19-09-18
-
Batavia
- By: Peter FitzSimons
- Narrated by: Richard Aspel
- Length: 17 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story begins in 1629, when the pride of the Dutch East India Company, the Batavia, is on its maiden voyage en route from Amsterdam to the Dutch East Indies, laden down with the greatest treasure to leave Holland. The magnificent ship is already boiling over with a mutinous plot that is just about to break into the open when, just off the coast of Western Australia, it strikes an unseen reef in the middle of the night. While Commandeur Francisco Pelsaert decides to take the longboat across 2,000 miles of open sea for help, his second-in-command Jeronimus Cornelisz takes over....
-
-
Pronunciation is below poor
- By Daan Lagas on 17-07-20
-
The Worst Journey in the World
- By: Apsley Cherry-Garrard
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 20 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This gripping story of courage and achievement is the account of Robert Falcon Scott's last fateful expedition to the Antarctic, as told by surviving expedition member Apsley Cherry-Garrard. Cherry-Garrard, whom Scott lauded as a tough, efficient member of the team, tells of the journey from England to South Africa and southward to the ice floes. From there began the unforgettable polar journey across a forbidding and inhospitable region.
-
-
Takes your breath away
- By Bettym on 17-06-13
-
An Unsung Hero
- Tom Crean - Antarctic Survivor
- By: Michael Smith
- Narrated by: Gerry O'Brien
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tom Crean was the farmer’s son from Kerry who sailed on three major expeditions to the unknown Antarctic over a century ago. He served with both Captain Robert Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton, spent longer on the ice than either and outlived them both. But Tom Crean returned to Ireland and never spoke about his exploits, taking his incredible story to the grave - until the publication of An Unsung Hero, which unearthed his story and saw him rightfully placed amongst the annals of the great explorers.
-
-
Awe Inspiring - Marred by Authorial Stereotyping.
- By John Corcoran on 01-02-22
-
Madhouse at the End of the Earth
- The Belgica’s Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night
- By: Julian Sancton
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
August 1897: the Belgica set sail, eager to become the first scientific expedition to reach the white wilderness of the South Pole. But the ship soon became stuck fast in the ice of the Bellinghausen sea, condemning the ship's crew to overwintering in Antarctica and months of endless polar night. In the darkness, plagued by a mysterious illness, their minds ravaged by the sound of dozens of rats teeming in the hold, they descended into madness.
-
-
awful awful narration
- By Jennifer Colgan on 26-01-22
-
Shackleton
- By: Ranulph Fiennes
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1915, Sir Ernest Shackleton's attempt to traverse the Antarctic was cut short when his ship, Endurance, became trapped in ice. The disaster left Shackleton and his men alone at the frozen South Pole, fighting for their lives. Their survival and escape is the most famous adventure in history.
-
-
A truly epic story!!
- By L. BETTLES on 20-10-21
-
Captain James Cook
- By: Rob Mundle
- Narrated by: Paul English
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Captain James Cook is one of the greatest maritime explorers of all time. Over three remarkable voyages of discovery into the Pacific in the latter part of the 18th century, Cook unravelled the oldest mystery surrounding the existence of Terra Australis Incognita - the Great South Land. He became the first explorer to circumnavigate New Zealand and establish that it was two main islands; discover the Hawaiian Islands for the British Empire; and left an enduring legacy.
-
-
Fantastic
- By DNix on 19-09-18
-
Batavia
- By: Peter FitzSimons
- Narrated by: Richard Aspel
- Length: 17 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story begins in 1629, when the pride of the Dutch East India Company, the Batavia, is on its maiden voyage en route from Amsterdam to the Dutch East Indies, laden down with the greatest treasure to leave Holland. The magnificent ship is already boiling over with a mutinous plot that is just about to break into the open when, just off the coast of Western Australia, it strikes an unseen reef in the middle of the night. While Commandeur Francisco Pelsaert decides to take the longboat across 2,000 miles of open sea for help, his second-in-command Jeronimus Cornelisz takes over....
-
-
Pronunciation is below poor
- By Daan Lagas on 17-07-20
Summary
Now a major Netflix film co-written by and starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones)
The harrowing, amazing, and often amusing personal account of two mismatched Arctic explorers who banded together to keep themselves sane on an historic expedition gone horribly wrong
Ejnar Mikkelsen was devoted to Arctic exploration. In 1910, he decided to search for the diaries of the ill-fated Mylius-Erichsen expedition, which had set out to prove that Robert Peary’s outline of the East Greenland coast was a myth, erroneous and presumably self-serving. Iver Iversen was a mechanic who joined Mikkelsen in Iceland when the expedition’s boat needed repair.
Several months later, Mikkelsen and Iversen embarked on an incredible journey during which they would suffer every imaginable Arctic travail: implacable cold, scurvy, starvation, frostbite, snow blindness, plunges into icy seawater, impossible sledding conditions, Vitamin A poisoning, debilitated dogs, apocalyptic storms, gaping crevasses, and assorted mortifications of the flesh. Mikkelsen’s diary was even eaten by a bear.
Three years of this, coupled with seemingly no hope of rescue, would drive most crazy, yet the two retained both their sanity as well as their humor.
Indeed, what may have saved them was their refusal to become as desolate as their surroundings….
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who co-adapted the book into a screenplay, provides a new foreword to this brand-new edition of the classic exploration memoir, which was one of The Explorer's Club’s 100 Best Books of the 20th Century.
Originally published as Two Against the Ice: A Classic Arctic Survival Story and a Remarkable Account of Companionship in the Face of Adversity. Translated from Danish by Maurice Michael.
Critic reviews
"One of the Hundred Best Books of Twentieth-Century Exploration"—The Explorer's Club
"Readers will be amazed and amused by the way the two explorers keep their spirits about them and downplay the terrifying dangers as though it were all in good fun. Fascinating and fun reading."—Booklist
"Mikkelsen is an artisan of cold places, and if his labors are mighty and consuming, they are also of love."—Kirkus Reviews
More from the same
Narrator
What listeners say about Against the Ice
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Lori J
- 22-01-22
FABULOUS.
I had trouble enjoying this at the beginning as I am a dog lover. However, the story gripped me in my guts and occupied my mind. There is no way to describe the struggle and isolation these men survived- you must hear it in their words. I often listen to audios while 'doing other things' but not with this one.
I have finished it and want to say that I feel a profound gratitude for all the comforts of life that I enjoy.
And a happy ending. What more could a history/adventure buff desire?
Shelve it beside Shakleton's Endurance.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- j s good
- 12-06-22
Just like Being There
I couldn’t stop listening. The narrator made me feel like I was listening to the explorers themselves.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Sarabeth
- 03-03-22
Accent
wow that accent is rough. Just find a danish guy or a decent impersonation. Think I'll read this one