Arctic Dreams and Nightmares
Arctic Expedition
In the darkness of the Arctic night, a helicopter landed on the north coast of Russia. Boerge Ousland and Mike Horn were beginning on of the most amazing expeditions in the history. It was January 22, and they planned to walk 600 miles [965 kilometer] to the North Pole-in winter.
There is no land at the North Pole, only water and rice that floats and moves. It’s always a dangerous place, but winter is the worst time of the year. The sun doesn’t come up for three months, and the temperature can be -40* F [-40C*]. But Borege grew up in Norway, and he loved skiing and climbing mountains. Mike Horn was a champion athlete form South Africa. They were ready for the challenge.
The two explores wanted to set out right away, but the ice was moving too fast. They were waiting in their ten when Boerge heard a strange noise. “Mike, is that you?” Boerge asked. Student, the tent ripped open. It was a polar bear! While they were looking for their guns, the bear grabbed some of their food. They didn’t sleep very well that night.
The next day, they set out on skis and pulled their equipment behind them. When they come to open water, they had to swim. They put on waterproof suits over their clothes and got into the icy water five or six times day. When they weren’t in the water, they were skiing. It wasn’t light enough to see, so they used headlamps.
Every day, they skied swam north. And while they were sleeping, the ice carried them south. But they kept on for ten hours every, covering 15 miles [24 kilometer] each day. They were making progress and getting close to the Pole when Mike become very ill. Blood was coming from his nose and ears. They had a cell phone, but Mike didn’t want to give want to give up and call for help. He took medicine, and he slowly got stronger. And every day, the sky got a little bit lighter.
On March 23, Boerge checked his GPS.
The North Pole was 100 yards [914 meter] away. “I’ve been there before,” Boerge told Mike. “You’ve never been. You go first.” “No,” Mike said. “We’ll do it together.” And together, the two explorers walked to the Pole and took this amazing photo.