Cold and scary but never dull

The 18-year-old was among 24 students selected by the British Schools' Exploring Society to go to the remote island of Svalbard.

He said: "I learned a huge amount from the experience. Our first two weeks were spent training, learning how to mountain ski and use a pulk a kind of sledge we used to carry our kit on.

"To start with, in April, we had to melt snow to fill our water bottles and cook meals. It was so cold there was no running water."

James lived in temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees centigrade and spent most nights sleeping in a two-man tent.

"We actually squeezed three into each tent to keep us warm we slept like sardines," he said.

"The first one up got the stove going and started breakfast. It took us about two hours to make a meal because of melting the snow and so on."

After the two-week training camp, James joined a 12-strong travelling group on a tour of the Dixon Land, an area in western Svalbard.

He said: "We walked about 14 kilometres every day. In the evenings we had to set up camp and cook dinner.

"Sometimes we played chess or cards and I wrote a diary, to remember the trip by."

The group stopped at two investigation sites on Svalbard to study the island's geology, glaciology and ornithology.

All the students' findings were logged and sent to a BSES resource site, www.arcticyear.org

James said: "We spent 48 hours monitoring the snow bunting, the only songbird on Svalbard.

"We did shifts and had to assess whether the birds sang more or after getting a mate."

In June the young explorers made a little bit of history by lighting the first beacon in the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations.

"It was the most northerly beacon and, amazingly, a TV camera came out. I missed the whole thing because it was my turn to observe the snow bunting," laughed James.

James, who is taking a gap year before going to university, stumbled across a deserted mining town while he was in Dixon Land.

He said: "It was a very surreal experience. Pyramiden was set up by the Russians but they finally moved out last year, and they left almost everything behind.

"We found cupboards full of equipment in the sports hall and there was a pharmacy with shelves still full of medication."

James and his group spent the night in a Pyramiden hotel because sheets had been left on all the beds.

"It was cold, very cold, and a bit scary to be honest," he added.

James also visited a cabin on the west coast, belonging to former-banker Harold Strongtime.

"He visited the island and fell in love with it, so he gave up his job in Oslo and became a trapper," said James.

While he was on Svalbard James was unable to communicate with his friends and family but he says the sense of isolation was an important part of the experience.

He said: "We all had to spend 24 hours solo, and we had our watches removed.

"There weren't any hours of darkness and the sky was clouded when I did my solo day, so I couldn't gauge the time from the position of the sun.

"Spending time on your own in the wilderness is something else it has really taught me to respect the environment."

The trip has inspired James to plan an independent expedition across the Patagonian icecap.

He said: "I'm going to Glasgow University at the end of September, to study physics, and I'm hoping to organise the trip for the summer holiday.

"It will be something to look forward to life in England seems pretty dull after living in Svalbard."