A LAKE District adventurer fended off two hungry polar bears threatening to break into his shelter while on an Arctic expedition.

Windermere's Philip Poole, who works as an international mountain guide for Impact International, was in Greenland when the bears attempted to gain entry to the hut he was sleeping in.

His team was forced to use flares and a gun to scare off the bears. One had smashed a window in its efforts to force its way in.

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"I was woken at 5am by a loud banging which sounded like someone stamping in the main room next to our bedroom," said Philip. "It stopped and a few seconds later, was followed by another loud crash.

"I soon saw that everyone was in the room. We looked at each other and I swore and thought: 'Bear!'

"In seconds we were out of our bags with adrenalin sky high. We opened the door a crack to see the window on the other side of the room smashed in.

"We quietly moved in and went for the window. I was still trying to work out how to get the safety off the gun, make sure it was loaded and not shoot my team member, Matt, when this huge bear put its head up to the smashed window.

"Matt fired a flare out of the window and I pushed past him and fired the gun over the bear's head and it retreated a couple of hundred metres, fairly unconcerned.

"All eyes were fixed on this bear and cameras were now dug out. We were so focused on that bear that we didn't notice that another was about ten metres away. We scared this one away with another hand flare out of the window and the pair of them gambolled away out of sight."

The mountain guide team were staying in a hut at Syd Kap, to the east of Greenland, when the bears attacked. They had been guiding snow boarders and other groups to different locations in the Staunings Alps.

The encounter prompted them to leave Syd Kap earlier than expected.

"I have been going to Greenland for about 15 years now and I have seen polar bears on three occasions but I have never been this close to them before," said Philip. "This was exciting. Your adrenaline is sky high until you think you have the situation under control. You don't have time to feel scared.

"It's hard to think clearly in a situation where the adrenalin is that high. We have had training and just have to try and use it."