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Sir Ranulph Fiennes

Rescue operations to the polar regions were a much more hit and miss affair during the early days. In the summer seaplanes would struggle to land on melting ice, while helicopters of the era did not have the range to reach stranded explorers.

Snowmobiles were used by Sir Ranulph and his team for the record-breaking Transglobe Expedition in 1980. It wasn't until the mid-1970s that he and his colleagues started using steel polar sledges.

Gore-Tex clothing didn't arrive until the early 1970s and many polar explorers still preferred using wolf skins made by the Inuit. It took time for them to be convinced of the advantages and to make the switch.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes' team conducts glacier research in Norway in 1967.

While the equipment may look recognisable, much of the kit has transformed over the years. When Sir Ranulph Fiennes first started out in the 1960s much of the technology was primitive by today's standards including using morse code to communicate.