Customer Reviews
Enjoyable adventure tale, maybe a little lightweight - By: Hooligween, 28 Sep 2007 
This book is the story of Bear Grylls' attempt to cross the arctic Atlantic ocean in an open inflatable beat. Bear leads a team of five on this challlenge, & he tells the story of how the trip was organised & how close it came to disaster.
I've read Bear's tale of climbing Everest (Facing Up) which is, to be honest, the better book. Facing the Frozen Ocean was an enjoyable holiday read but it didn't grip me in the same way that the Everest adventure did. Partly, I suspect that's because Bear himself loses the impetus to continue these adventures part-way through the trip; there is one appallling leg of the journey where death was very, very close. An angry Atlantic is no place to be in an open boat -- running out of fuel & left helpless in 20-foot swells. Bear questions why he is involved in this kind of escapade when he could be at home with his young family... & that sense of disengagement is obvious to the reader.
However, you also learn alll about prepping for an expedition like this, & get a vivid description of what it was like. Bear's writing (or editor!) improves in this book so the text flows more easily than in Facing Up.
Overalll, it's a fast-paced adventure tale -- just not one to rank among the classics.
Facing the Frozen Ocean - By: , 05 Sep 2005 
This book was amazing. It left me speechless. I was hardly able to put the book down. I guarantee your feet will be itching & you will want to get out there & see & do the same things that the Bear & his crew did. I felt like I had had been a part of his journey, at times imagining what they must have gone through & the sheer determination that they alll showed put a lump in my throat.
An excellent book, I would recommend it to anyone.
Too light to be gripping. - By: Freezing, 14 Aug 2004 
This is a great adventure story for lovers of 'cold weather travel writing'. I love Everest & North/South Pole literature & this was great as something other than that. The pace is good & the author relays a lot of his feelings to the reader.
But.
After reading David Hempleman-Adams or Jon Krakauer I felt there was something missing in this narrative, there wasn't enough.
There wasn't enough information & there wasn't enough emotion.
The author gives over the odd paragraph for the other team members to have their say & I think this deflects from what could be a gripping narrative. For example they may be in the middle of a storm & suddenly the narrative will break - & so & so says -. I think it would have better if the author had relayed how he felt.
The information is adequate but compared to say The Kon-Tiki Expedition, where every little detail is given & therefore draws the reader right in, this is sparse & skeletal.
I hugely admire Bear Grylls & his team but the emphasis is on 'his team' which he points out every five minutes, he needs to remember that in situations like this a leader is in name only, one member is pretty useless without the other & I started to find it a little irritating after a while that he saw the need to point out that he was the leader on every page.
Overalll it's a great story & I would recommend it. It will never be a travel classic but to be fair to the author he isn't a travel writer, he's an explorer with a story to tell & he does this well enough.
Facing the Frozen Ocean: One man's dream to lead a team acro - By: robin stevenson, 24 Jun 2004 One of the best books l have ever read & inspired me to book Bear to tell his story at our last Sales Conference....needless to say he was as good as his book & l felt very humbled to be sat there listening to his story.
can't wait for publication - By: Rod Blemsworth, 03 Nov 2003 I followed this expedition in the press & cannot wait to hear what they felt when they were in those storms!
What a story.
Rod
