Alone in the Cold out in the blue

golok

golok

Joined
Oct 20, 2000
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I often wonder who compels a man to wander alone in that ocean space of wilderness called the North Pole.

There was a famous Japanese explorer, whose name escapes me right now, who had actually sets several records in his solitary expeditions out there in the cold.

Then in his last expedition alone, he failed to return. Nothing has been heard of him up till today.

Now what force pushes a man like that to the limit of human endurance and beyond. I can understand the challenge but the remote chances of returning alive from such a journey is rather daunting.
 
he wrote "into thin air" and "into the wild"

he wrote for alot of articles for and outdoor magazine can't seem to remember the name. they were about pushing oneself into dangerous situations with nature. both those books talk about why? and give real world experience.

they are also excellent survival tales as well.

as for me I, I think survivalist means not challenging nature but harmonizing with it and thus surviving.

I think some like the thrill too much.
 
Golok,

I find your posts interesting, many of them seem to have a cold weather theme. Are you contemplating a move? ;)
 
To your question, Swede79, in my part of the world, winter is a very remote possibility.

However, the mathematical average of experiencing a nuclear winter has added percentage points much against my favour in the last couple of years.

So even though I am living close to the Equator, the prospect of a nuclear winter in the event of the unthinkable is there. Two decades ago, such a probability was not even worth considering but these days, the odds are much in a madman's favour.

Although, I am not contemplating of living in wintry conditions, your query has sparked several scenarios in my mind. One must learn to survive in all kinds of extreme circumstances, extreme cold is but one of the several unfriendly conditions.
 
Chrisaloia sp?,
Good point, Krakuer's stuff is really pretty interesting and insightful. BTW he writes/wrote for Outside magazine. I haven't read his books but I have read a lot of his shorter works in the magazine. Also, The Perfect Storm really has nothing to do with freezing on mountains or in the North Pole, but it does have some of the same man against nature elements. Reads well.
Lagarto
 
You could try <I>Polar Dream</I> by Helen Thayer. She was the first woman to get solo and unaided to a pole.

For real hair-raising stuff, go to a good library and look up the original materials written by the men who were searching for the northwest passage in the 19th century. Especially interesting was the Franklin Expedition, in which all participants were lost: http://www.ric.edu/rpotter/SJFranklin.html

The Denver Public Library, for example, has a decent collection.

http://collections.ic.gc.ca/arctic/explore/intro.htm is another website with northwest passage info.

db
 
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