North Pole Tenderfoot. Doug Hall
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I asked Randy what drew him to this kind of trip.
“I love the physical rigors,” he said. “I like it when the going gets tough. That’s when I shine.”
Gulp. Who were these people?
An accomplished guitarist with tastes ranging from classical to alternative, Randy said he found it difficult to explain to friends why he wanted to go to the North Pole.
“Nobody understands,” he said. “They all think I’m going to Alaska. Or they wonder if I’m going to stay overnight in lodges. Or they want to know if there’s a certain path I’ll be following. Most people don’t have any idea what this trip will be like.”
• Corky Peterson was from Minneapolis, where he had been the Hennepin County data processing director until his retirement. On the trip up to Wintergreen, Craig and I were most impressed (or intimidated) by Corky’s bio. We wondered what kind of guy at sixty-nine would sign on for a trip like this.
He clearly was no ordinary person. He had an intensity of focus and sense of priority unlike any of the rest of us.
Corky Peterson
“I went on a wilderness trip to Ellesmere Island last year and thought everyone would be about my age,” he said. “I was shocked to find they were mostly twenty years younger. People thought, ‘Oh, how wonderful it was that someone my age would undertake such an endeavor.’ I thought, ‘Hey, what’s the problem?’”
On our trip, Corky stood to become the oldest person to ever reach the North Pole by foot.
“But I hope I can do something worthwhile with the Aspirations! Expedition for people my age,” he said. “Maybe within my church and with others in my age group, maybe I can be an encouragement for us to get off our duffs, to stop letting people tell us we can’t do this or that.”
Like Alan, Corky has dreamed of going to the North Pole since he was a boy.
“I used to stare at the globe in school and wonder what was underneath that spindle at both ends. I want to be where time has no meaning, where all the longitudes come together. The pole is within reach, and now I have the time to do this,” he said.
“What do you think of the risk?” I asked. “What scares you?”
“I’ve read a lot about previous polar teams. Falling through the ice is a challenge, keeping up physically is a challenge. But I haven’t read anything that seems too difficult. Whatever happens, I’ll handle it.”
I knew I was in big trouble. Even Grandpa Corky had more of the “right stuff” than I had.
He was calm and ready. I was nervous and uncertain.
• Paul Pfau, Los Angeles County Assistant Attorney. Paul was the last to join the expedition. He’d helped run base camps on Mount Everest for numerous expeditions. He was very calm and focused. I took the calm as the sign of a real expert.
Paul Pfau
That night, Paul Schurke called us together to talk about the week ahead and about the trip to the North Pole. “You’ll be training at the lodge for a day or two, then we’ll head out on a camping trip with dogs, sleds, and skis. At the end of the week Bill and I will meet with each of you to discuss your suitability for the expedition, your role on the trip, and what you have to do to be more prepared.”
Then he asked for our questions. Craig, never timid about plunging forward, broke the ice with the most obvious one.
How cold will it be in the Arctic?
“Hopefully, very cold,” Paul said. “I’m hoping for minus 30, which will keep the ice fairly firm. As conditions warm, the ice breaks up and makes it a lot tougher to reach the pole. During my ‘95 trip, we had to make a dash to the pole because the ice was breaking up. And on my last trip in ‘97, we didn’t make it because of open water.”
I suddenly realized that reaching the pole was not a given. Even if I overcame my lack of physical fitness, even if I overcame my fear, circumstances beyond our control could prevent me from standing on top of the earth. It was not a happy moment.
More questions followed rapid fire. Paul’s answers were direct and honest. He should never run for public office.
How far will we be going?
“We’ll start about 130 miles from the pole as the crow flies. But since we can’t fly like a crow, we’ll end up walking two hundred miles when you add 25 percent for detours and three to four miles a day for the southerly ice drift. Remember, we’ll be traveling on a sheet of ice that historically floats south as we travel north.”
This is the portion of Peary’s trip known as the “last dash.” It was here that Peary decided to send back Captain Bob Bartlett, a white man, and to take Matthew Henson, a black man, with him to the pole. In 1909 a black man was not considered a reliable witness. Peary’s choice of Henson was made for many reasons, as I’ll explain later. However, to many who still harbored deep prejudices it was clear evidence that Peary had something to hide.
How dangerous is it?
“Safety will be our paramount consideration. But I do not consider a North Pole expedition to be a life-threatening or even a significantly dangerous endeavor. To my knowledge, only one casualty has resulted from North Pole expeditions in this century and that was a member of Peary’s support team who was allegedly bumped off by a couple of severely disgruntled teammates. None of our treks from 88 to the pole have resulted in injuries. The only significant situations we’ve had to deal with were a few unexpected dips in the drink. In each case, team members were dried off, warmed up, and back on track within an hour or two.”
How many dogs will we take?
“I’m guessing eighteen—two teams of nine each.”
How many people will we have on the team?
Looking around the room he said, “This is it. It looks like we’ll have eleven.”
As Paul talked I did some quick math. Although this trip is extreme, it is nothing compared to the admiral’s 1909 trip. We will be traveling from 88 degrees. He started from land, which is at 83.7 degrees, traveling over three times farther. We will be flown up to 88 degrees, then travel on foot to the pole where planes pick us up.
What if someone gets hurt?
“We’ll have to handle it on the ice. We’ll be sixteen-hundred miles north of Alaska. It can take as long as a week before a plane can get to us.”
A week? Jeez.
How do we get there?
“We’ll meet in Edmonton, Canada, then fly to Resolute, a small Inuit town well inside the Arctic Circle. From there, we’ll take Twin Otter planes to 88 degrees. We’ll stop along the way at the Eureka weather station and possibly at a fuel cache that’s been set up on the ice. If all goes well, we’ll be flown back from the pole a couple weeks later.”
What’s the biggest danger?
“Water. Not enough and too much. You can easily get dehydrated because the air in the Arctic is very dry and we’ll be sweating a lot. We’ll make water by melting snow. But while we need to stay hydrated, it’s important to get the water out of our systems. As you sweat, the water needs to be wicked away from your body. If it seals in, you’ll freeze when you stop moving. Water transfers your body heat twenty-five times faster than air.”
What about polar bears?
“Polar bears are known to travel the polar realm, but none have been sighted on our North Pole treks