Step Too Far, A

Peter Bland's life has always been about overcoming challenges and taking that extra step, but sometimes it's a step too far. Like the time he stepped from his tent during and unsupported crossing of the Antarctic peninsula and was swept away by an avalanche ending up unconscious and near death 40 metres down a crevasse. Or the time he dived under a stricken yacht adrift among icebergs in the Southern Ocean on a voyage to the South Magnetic Pole - without a wetsuit and with the external air temperature minus 60 degrees Celsius - in order to free a rope that was wrapped around the propeller. Or how a year after major heart surgery to repair a massive aneurysm he dragged a sled 650 kilometres across the Arctic to become the first Australian to have reached both magnetic poles. A Step Too Far is Peter's story. It is a tale of gripping adventure and survival in some of the planet's most inhospitable regions, as well as a profound insight into what drives a person to take such risks in the search for new adrenalin highs, and the strains and stresses it places on those who love them. A Step Too Far is an exciting and utterly absorbing study of a great Australian adventurer.