Thursday, February 09, 2006
into the darkness...
I have been wanting to post about this for a while but kept forgeting, so here it is.
There is a polar expedition going on right now that is the most insane thing I have ever heard of and I am totally hooked on tracking it. There are these two guys Mike Horn and Borge Ousland, who are two of the world's foremost adventurerers and they are attempting the first unassisted winter expedition to the north pole. For those of you not paying attention winter at the north pole is completely dark! The expedition will last roughly 60 days, cover nearly 1000 kilometers and be done in complete darkness at temperatures plunging below -30 degrees celsius (which roughly equates to fucking cold in fehrenheit). All the while these guys are pulling their food and equipment on sleds that weigh 300 pounds. To prepare for the trip one Horn was running up mountains with a 55 gallon drum tied to his waist. Some other interesting things about the trip: Food is an issue, not only do they not want to run out but because they have to carry the food for the entire trip they needed foods with high fat content to give them enough calories. One guys solution, eating and drinking pure olive oil and butter. (gagging sounds). They are also worried about sweating too much. Because there is no sunlight they cannot dry any of their clothes and with the temperatures so low their clothes could freeze solid and never thaw out. Another thing is the darkness, as one pshycologist put it: "There is no good evidence of what being exposed to darkness for long periods of time does to the human brain."
You can track the progess of the trip at www.mikehorn.com. So far the trip has had its ups and downs. They have been going for about 18 days so far and still have 900 or so kilometers remaining. Early on they had to swim a lot of open gaps in the ice using special suits. Can you imagine swimming 200m in the dark at -20 degrees celsius? I can't. Also they are haiving a problem with drift. Depending on which way the wind is blowing the ice they are on drifts. At times it is drifting so much to the south that they are losing half of the distance they hike during the "day".
Anyway, I thought this is was awesome, crazy and that I would tell you guys about it. Check out the site if you get time. Then you can feel like less of man the same way I do after following these two badasses.
There is a polar expedition going on right now that is the most insane thing I have ever heard of and I am totally hooked on tracking it. There are these two guys Mike Horn and Borge Ousland, who are two of the world's foremost adventurerers and they are attempting the first unassisted winter expedition to the north pole. For those of you not paying attention winter at the north pole is completely dark! The expedition will last roughly 60 days, cover nearly 1000 kilometers and be done in complete darkness at temperatures plunging below -30 degrees celsius (which roughly equates to fucking cold in fehrenheit). All the while these guys are pulling their food and equipment on sleds that weigh 300 pounds. To prepare for the trip one Horn was running up mountains with a 55 gallon drum tied to his waist. Some other interesting things about the trip: Food is an issue, not only do they not want to run out but because they have to carry the food for the entire trip they needed foods with high fat content to give them enough calories. One guys solution, eating and drinking pure olive oil and butter. (gagging sounds). They are also worried about sweating too much. Because there is no sunlight they cannot dry any of their clothes and with the temperatures so low their clothes could freeze solid and never thaw out. Another thing is the darkness, as one pshycologist put it: "There is no good evidence of what being exposed to darkness for long periods of time does to the human brain."
You can track the progess of the trip at www.mikehorn.com. So far the trip has had its ups and downs. They have been going for about 18 days so far and still have 900 or so kilometers remaining. Early on they had to swim a lot of open gaps in the ice using special suits. Can you imagine swimming 200m in the dark at -20 degrees celsius? I can't. Also they are haiving a problem with drift. Depending on which way the wind is blowing the ice they are on drifts. At times it is drifting so much to the south that they are losing half of the distance they hike during the "day".
Anyway, I thought this is was awesome, crazy and that I would tell you guys about it. Check out the site if you get time. Then you can feel like less of man the same way I do after following these two badasses.
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