Eric Philips

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Eric Philips OAM (b. April 1962) is an Australian polar explorer, adventurer and ski guide.

Philips has completed major expeditions on the worlds four largest icecaps icecaps and was the first Australian, together with companion Jon Muir, to ski to both the North Pole and South Pole. Philips skied to the North Pole from Siberia in 2002 and has since guided seven commercial North Pole expeditions. A film, Icetrek North Pole, was produced about this expedition.

In 1998-99, together with Jon Muir and Peter Hillary, Philips skied from McMurdo Station in Antarctica to the South Pole via the Ross Ice Shelf and Shackleton Glacier. This 84-day, 1425km ski expedition utilised traction kites to harness the wind. A film, Into the Teeth of the Blizzard, was produced about this expedition. Philips also guided a 925km commercial ski expedition from the Ronne Ice Shelf to the South Pole in 2007-08. In 2004 Eric was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for achievements in polar exploration.

In 1995 Philips completed a ski/kite/kayak traverse of Greenland from Ammassalik to Kangerlussuaq, resulting in the Emmy Award-winning film, Chasing the Midnight Sun. He used similar methods to cross the South Patagonian Icecap from Chile to Argentina, producing the film, Riding the Tempest. Philips has also skied across icecaps in Iceland (2003) and Ellesmere Island (1992) and in 2008 skied from Ny Alesund to Longyearbyen on the island of Spitsbergen.

In 1996-97 Philips worked as a Field Training Officer at Mawson Station for the Australian Antarctic Division and in 2006-07 sailed with his family on board the ice-strengthened ship Sarsen to Commonwealth Bay in Antarctica. He has also cycle toured through Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, around the South Island of New Zealand and from the Netherlands to Egypt.

Philips studied at the University of South Australia, attaining a Diploma of Teaching, a Bachelor of Education and Graduate Diploma in Outdoor Education and was the Director of Outdoor Education at the renowned Timbertop campus of Geelong Grammar School.

Through his experiences Philips has developed alternative and highly effective methods of travel in the polar regions and has embraced the use of specialized plastics in the construction of polar-specific equipment. He is the inventor of the Flexi ski binding, used extensively by polar adventurers.

Philips is the author of Icetrek. The Bitter Journey to the South Pole.

He has a black belt in Judo and is the 2007 Australasian Masters Games Judo Champion for his weight division.

Philips lives in Hobart, Australia with his wife, Susy, daughter, Mardi and son, Kip, where he runs his own guiding business.