When fifty-year-old Helen Thayer decided to ski alone to the North Pole, no woman had ever done it before. She set off on her 585-kilometre journey on 30 March 1988. For the next twenty-seven days, she skied and walked across the the ice with only a dog called Charlie for company. Charlie had been taught by the local Inuit people to protect people from polar bears.
All of Helen's supplies were in a sled, which she pulled, not Charlie! His job was to look out for bears. The first bears they met ran away when Helen fired her flare gun, but one day they met a bear that was not afraid of the gun. It ran at them. Charlie grabbed the bear's leg and wouldn't let go. The bear tried to bite the dog, but Charlie moved out of the way. Eventually the bear ran away. Helen thanked Charlie by letting him sleep in her tent from then on.
Other dangers Helen and Charlie had to face were freezing temperatures and terrible storms. Near the end of their journey, a storm blew away almost all of Helen's supplies. The only things left were a few nuts. When Helen finally reached the North Pole, she was weak from hunger.
When their adventure was over, Charlie went to live with Helen in the United States. Helen never forgot what she owed the dog. 'What Charlie wants,'she said,'Charlie gets!'