Maybe you are bored at work or maybe you hate your boss so much that you'd rather run a thousand miles than be in his verdant presence. In which case, a trip to the North Pole may be in order.

In what seems to be something akin to the BT Global Challenge (but on frozen water instead of the liquid version) explorer Jim McNeill is looking for a few good volunteers to accompany him on a scientific expedition in 2009. Around 40 novices from all walks of life and mostly those who experience of snow extend to that stuff that comes from a can used to liven up Xmas shop displays will become polar explorers following training.

"What we're offering is the chance to achieve something quite extraordinary; purposeful, worthwhile, extreme adventure," said McNeill. "And at the end of their 27 days of training participants will be qualified to take part in the one of Ice Warrior's major expeditions contributing towards International Polar Year."

The plan is to have four major expeditions and two smaller ones cover nearly 2,500 miles of Arctic by foot and visit all four North Pole (presumably True, Magnetic, False and where Santa lives). The expedition will also gather data on climate change.

Participants will be put through an intensive weekend selection process to see if they have what it takes to be an explorer. Successful applicants will then undergo their first week of intensive training based in Norway, from 27th January to 3rd February 2008.

They will then continue through a comprehensive syllabus, training them in every aspect of Arctic expeditioning which makes them safe and competent polar travellers and able to endure temperatures of minus fifty degrees Celsius, polar bears, frost bite and treacherous sea-ice conditions.  

McNeill said the project is all about "replicating the fantastic journeys of the golden era of polar exploration, bringing them into the 21st century; and achieving something that not only pushes the boundaries of human endurance but is wholly worthwhile by benchmarking the condition of the Arctic Ocean and delivering the reality of global climate change through our media partners".

The whole process is achieved through fundraising and sponsorship, which everyone is expected to contribute to. See here for full details.

As for us, we would go but we plan to have our hair cut that day.