You can marry my daughter - if you walk with me to the North Pole

Jake Thompson got more than he bargained for when he asked Steve Bennett for his daughter Hannah's hand in marriage

Stone cold love: Jake Thompson and Hannah Bennett

When he decided to propose to his girlfriend, Jake Thompson thought he’d do the traditional thing and ask her father’s permission first.

He expected Steve Bennett to ask the odd tricky question and make sure his intentions were honourable towards eldest daughter Hannah.

But 23-year-old Jake was stunned when Steve’s permission came with a strict condition. Yes, he could marry Hannah... but only if he walked to the North Pole with him first.

The arduous 10-day charity trek would be full of dangers, from the risk of frostbite in temperatures as low as -50C to the threat of predatory polar bears – but if he really loved Hannah, then of course he would do it.

“I got a bit more than I bargained for,” admits Jake. “But it was an honour to be able to go on an adventure like that and I would have done anything to marry Hannah.

"Even if he said I’d have to walk to the South Pole with him too, I would have done it.”

“I was going to do it by myself at first,” explains Steve, 48, who runs a gemstone company and employs both Jake and Hannah.

“But then I was told I had to do it with someone else. Jake asked for my permission to marry Hannah and I told him my condition.

“I’m not sure what I would have done if he’d said no. But I didn’t give him much of a choice, to be honest. It was an offer he couldn’t refuse... and the perfect opportunity to prove his commitment.”

Cold comfort: Jake, Hannah Bennett and Steve

Hannah, 23, who works as a buyer, was initially kept in the dark about why Jake was going on her dad’s expedition, so his proposal plans could remain secret.

“Last October he just came home one day and told me, ‘I’m trekking to the North Pole. With your dad’.

“I didn’t believe him at first and then I was quite shocked. But then I just laughed.

“My dad had been training for ages so he’d have loads of catching up to do.

“They’re both quite adventurous so I knew they’d be OK. And they’ve known each other for a long time so I wasn’t too worried about how they’d get on. I was more nervous about them making it safely.”

Hannah and Jake, who live in Broms­grove, Worcs, have been together for eight years after meeting at school. As other childhood relationships began and ended, theirs went the distance.

After accepting Steve’s challenge, sales manager Jake immediately started training in earnest, joining his future father-in-law on long country walks or going out alone with a car wheel attached to a harness to simulate the heavy sledges they’d have to pull.

Ski you there: The pair had to trek 160 miles in temperatures of -50C

“I got a few weird looks but it stood me in good stead,” he says.

Then on a family ski trip to Switzerland in December, he proposed to Hannah on a ski lift. She said yes, and he could finally explain why he was joining her dad’s expedition.

“I laughed,” says Hannah. “I couldn’t believe that’s why he was doing it. But it was really flattering.”

In April Steve and Jake set off from Heathrow to Longyearbyen in Norway and then on to Russian-operated Camp Barneo, where their trek would begin.

Saying goodbye was particularly difficult for Hannah, who was worried about both men. “It was really nerve-wracking,” she says. “None of us knew exactly what to expect.”

Jake and Steve were joined on the trip by a doctor and by explorer Alan Chambers, who was the first Briton to walk to the North Pole unaided.

Jake explains: “Alan had has done it several times, knew exactly what the routes were and briefed us. Polar bears were the biggest risk, especially as a couple had been spotted two days before we arrived. We had rifles with us and flare guns and just hoped nothing would happen.”

Sled to wed: Jake, left, and Steve on their way

Phone calls back home had to be brief because their satellite phone couldn’t be charged.

The group survived on dehydrated foods such as chilli con carne and stews they reconstituted with melted ice water.

Temperatures dipping to 50 below zero made everything difficult. Even seemingly straightforward tasks like melting ice for drinking and cooking was a complicated procedure, and at one point Jake became dehydrated.

“You’d melt ice on the stove then have to cool it enough to drink without letting it freeze again, which in those temperatures is harder than it sounds,” he says. “But then I started enjoying it. Everything changed and it became OK.”

The shared ordeal brought him closer to Steve, who says now: “Jake more than proved himself. The doctor was really struggling so one night, without telling any of us, Jake took loads of his stuff out of his sledge and put it in his. We only found out later, and I thought that was a lovely thing to do.”

Frosty beards: Jake and Steve with guide Alan in the North Pole

Jake just shrugs off the compliment. “I found the walking quite easy, so it made sense,” he says.

Halfway through the trip the doctor developed frostbite and had to be airlifted out.

It made Steve and Jake realise just how perilous their mission could be.

Although the journey was only 60 miles as the crow flies, the group covered almost 160 miles due to forced changes of direction.

Steve says: “You’d walk for a day and then all of a sudden you’d realise there was a
10 metre break in the ice so you’d have to turn back.”

He says he found it wearying when they regularly had to retrace their footsteps to find a suitable crossing point.

But after 10 days they arrived at the North Pole and the hardships of the trip were quickly forgotten.

Raising £30,000 for the National Osteoporosis Society and the Colourful Life Foundation – which helps deprived communities around the world – was a big lift to their spirits too.

Final destination: Jake, Steve and Alan at the North Pole

“It was incredible,” recalls Jake, “ It was an experience I’ll carry with me forever.”

When they got back, Hannah was unsurprised to hear of Jake’s selflessness in helping to transport the doctor’s gear.

“That’s just the sort of person he is,” she says. “At school, he was just the same. We went on a hike once and when
Jake saw I was struggling he carried my bag for me.”

Both men suffered frost-nip in their toes during the walk. That’s one step away from frostbite. Only now, two months later, are they regaining feeling in those toes.

Now as the happy couple plan their wedding – the date has not yet been set – Hannah has noticed a much closer bond between Jake and Steve.

“Now he wants to go and visit my parents to spend time with my dad. And they have all these little in-jokes too. They start laughing but when I ask what it’s about they brush me away.

“I sometimes wonder if it’s made them a bit too close!”