Polar explorers Mike Horn and Børge Ousland have arrived in Nome, Alaska where they are preparing to set out on what promises to be an epic adventure unlike anything we’ve seen in the Arctic in some time. The duo are planning to sail and ski across the entire Arctic Ocean, via the North Pole of course, with an eye on eventually ending at Svalbard, Norway. The entire journey is expected to take three months to complete.
The current plan is for Horn, Ousland, and their support team to sail out of Nome and head as far north as they can before Horn’s ship –– the Pangaea –– can’t sail any further due to the pack ice. The goal is to reach 86ºN, although just how far they can sail will depend on the thickness and health of the pack ice. Once they reach that point, the two men will disembark from the ship and start skiing towards the North Pole, although in reality that point on the map will be just their halfway point. After achieving 90ºN, they intend to keep skiing, heading back south to the far edge of the Arctic Ocean, where the Pangaea will presumably be waiting to pick them up.
Exactly when they’ll embark for the high arctic remains to be seen, but it seems that they are preparing to set out soon. The goal is to get a healthy start before temperatures in the Arctic take their seasonal plunge, which at this point of the year is really only a few weeks away. As ExWeb points out, the sun will set at the North Pole on September 23 and won’t return until March 20, which means Horn and Ousland will be skiing into short and shorter days, before reaching total darkness.
This isn’t the first time these two men have faced such a challenge together. Back in 2006, they skied for 61 days to reach the North Pole, the entire journey spent in darkness as they completed a full winter expedition to the top of the world. That experience will serve them well once again, as it is expected that they will ski at least 500 km (310 miles) just to get to the Pole itself. After that, they’ll add another 800 km (497 miles) as they make the return trip to the edge of the ice. If they do take three months to complete the journey, that schedule would have them wrapping up the expedition sometime around the early part of December. That’s still ahead of the onset of winter, but conditions will still be difficult and demanding throughout the entire journey.
You can follow their progress on Horn’s website or his Facebook page. According to his last update, the Pangaea was preparing to depart, and may have already done so. This massive expedition is going to be a lot of fun to follow, so stay tuned for regular updates.
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How exciting and what a treat to see them teaming up again. I followed their 2006 expedition daily and look forward to following this new expedition. Great story.