Photo Credit: Podknox – flickr.com

Thirty-three-year-old Brit Wez Swain isn’t your average Scout leader. For one, he’s a trained circus performer, certified in the arts of juggling, stilts and spinning plates. But more notably, and certainly more hardcore, he has a crazy dream to make it to the earth’s most extreme point… and he wants to take his Scouts along with him.

The plan is to set off for the North Pole in Spring 2014 with a dozen or so Scouts (aged 18-24) and make it back alive.

Preparations are already underway, with Swain’s Scouts training their bodies and minds in the rugged moorland of Devon, England. One day in early November, the Scouts attended a presentation by polar explorer Antony Jinman, who skied and snowshoed more than 500 miles to the Pole in 2010. The next day, the Scouts hiked 18 miles across Devon’s famous “tors” — ancient, undulating hills topped with outcroppings of bedrock.

Swain aims to whittle down the ranks until only the most able Scouts in the group remain.

“It’s more than just physical strength,” Swain tells This Is Cornwall. “We’re looking for people who are good all round and those who can help us fundraise to make this happen.”

The Scout leader says the expedition will cost about £200,000, or more than $300,000.

That’s a lot of dollars, but it’s an expedition for young Adrenalists worth every penny.

Cover Photo Credit: U.S. Geological Survey – flickr.com