Is there something in the water at Clifford Chance? Obiter only asks because another tale of derring-do has emerged from its Canary Wharf HQ. Just weeks after global director of risk management Chris Andrews completed an epic 2,935-mile rowing race across the Atlantic (see [2006] Gazette, 26 January, 10), three partners - Michael Bates, Alan Inglis and Mark Stewart - have announced that they are off on an unsupported ten-day trek to the Geographic North Pole. The trio are part of a team of eight City professionals that will be led by two guides on a 60-mile trek. That may not sound far, but there are stretches of open water and ice rubble fields in their path. The team seems well prepared, having undergone training - such as dragging tyres - around Dartmoor, the Brecon Beacons and, er, Hertfordshire for the past six months. The recent story on the news about a polar bear ransacking a tent in Greenland may have helped concentrate the mind, however. All donations will go to charities The Place2BE, which helps primary school children with emotional and behavioural difficulties, and Keech Cottage, a hospice for children with life-limiting illnesses. For more information, visit www.northpole2006.com.