Leaving the security of friends, work, and a wife, Alastair Vere Nicoll joined a team of young men to harness the katabatic winds and haul and kite-surf across Antarctica: the coldest, windiest, most violent continent on earth. Not since Shackleton nearly perished attempting the same thing in his Endurance expedition had such a crossing been attempted. This is the story not only of the first West-to-East traverse of the continent of Antarctica, but of the crossing of two phases in the author8217;s life151;from youth into manhood,160; fantasy into reality. It is also the story of a race against time, as he fought to get home for the birth of his first child. As Alastair battled through the freezing wastes, exploring the earth8217;s wildest continent and his deepest self, he was haunted by the ghosts of past explorers and by the question of what it is to be a 147;modern man.8221;