[3] The elder of two boys, Saunders grew up in Devon and Kent, was educated at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and worked as an instructor at the John Ridgway School of Adventure.
[citation needed] Saunders first attempted to reach the North Pole in 2001 on a two-man unsupported expedition led by Pen Hadow that started from the Arctic Cape in Siberia, Russia.
[5] Saunders was dropped off by a Russian Mil Mi-8 helicopter on 5 March 2004, reached the North Pole on 11 May 2004, and was picked up on the Canadian side of the Arctic Ocean by a Kenn Borek Air Twin Otter ski plane on 14 May 2004.
Saunders' claim to have reached the North Pole solo in 2004 is disputed by ExplorersWeb,[6] a website maintained by explorers Thomas and Tina Sjögren, who consider only expeditions that begin their journey on land to be valid.
[12] A second speed record attempt in March 2010 was unable to start due to a three-week period of adverse weather conditions on the far north of Canada's Ellesmere Island.