Forwardexpedition Blog

By John Huston and Tyler Fish

Videos posted below.

Today we officially announced our partnership with CaringBridge.  We are absolutely thrilled to be using our expedition to benefit this truly incredible organization.  You can read the press release here.

CaringBridge.org offers free personalized websites that support and connect loved ones during critical illness, treatment and recovery.  The goal of this service is to ease the burden of keeping friends and family updated, while also providing a way for them to send their love, support and encouragement.

We aim to raise at least $100,000 for CaringBridge.

CaringBridge is the world’s largest charitable nonprofit Web site, it connects over 20 million families each year through personal, private CaringBridge Web sites.   Yet, currently CaringBridge is used less than 2% of new cancer victims, the capacity for growth in awareness of CaringBridge is huge.  Help us spread the word, tell your friends and loved ones about CaringBridge.

Please join us in our aim to raise at least $100,000 for CaringBridge via our historic Victorinox North Pole ’09 Expedition. Your donation will move us several more steps closer to our CaringBridge fundraising goal.

We are proud that we are able to use our expedition to raise awareness and funds for CaringBridge.  We believe that with compassionate support and an optimistic mindset all people have a limitless power to push beyond their perceived limits and reach their goals.

While skiing to the North Pole our minds will often wander to the positive people in our lives and those who have been an inspiration in pursuit of our dreams.  Although we will only be two people skiing together on the ice, we know that thousands more will be pulling for us every step of the way. This knowledge will give us an immeasurably positive boost as we encounter challenges along the way, and we are extremely grateful for your support. Thank you for your support!

Watch the videos below.

 

By Tyler Fish

After a 24-hour stop over in London to join the grand opening celebration of Victorinox's new flagship store on Bank Street, John and I traveled to Norway for a week of busy, time-zone maladjusted days. 

In Norway we met with personal contacts, equipment companies like our official performance apparel sponsor Bergans of Norway and experts in the realm of polar travel.  Norway has a population slightly smaller than that of the state of Minnesota; it is one of the least densely populated countries in the world.   However, it may be the country with the highest concentration of polar explorer-type people anywhere. 

Norway geography is a stunning, diversely packed mix of sea, cliffs, mountains, glaciers, forests and plenty of nasty weather.  Here accomplished adventurers abound.  You never know when you've walked past one of the best skiers in the world or someone who has a few long distance ski trips under their belt.  

We spent last weekend a small town named Hell.  No joke, that's the real name.  Hell sits on a fjord 30 minutes north of Trondheim, Norway's second largest city.  We went to Hell to spend some time with Rune Gjeldnes, John's friend, mentor and teammate from a 2005 expedition on the Greenland Ice Cap.  Rune lives in Hell with his fiance and a boarder collie/poodle puppy.

Rune has skied unsupported across Greenland lengthwise, across the Arctic Ocean via the North Pole and across Antarctica via the South Pole.  He is a wealth of expedition knowledge and is a master at the mental approach to huge expeditions.  He loves John's Mexican cooking and has a great sense of humor.  Two other members of the 2005 Greenland expedition team, Harald Kippenes and Ketil Reiten, also convened in Hell.  The strong social vibe of that expedition was clearly evident all weekend.

After Hell, we flew south to Oslo and met with Sjur Mørdre, one of the founders of modern polar ski travel.  He and Rune are well known in Norway, but because they do not seek the limelight, they are little known elsewhere.  I find this humble nature quite admirable.  Their accomplishments may make them famous, but they don't set out on the their expeditions in hopes of becoming famous.  Like John and I, they are pretty normal people who live typical day to day lives, but chase dreams from time to time.  

Next time more from Norway.  We may start blogging twice a week now, as a lot is happening right now with sponsors, CaringBridge our charity partner and with our outreach events.

By John Huston

In some ways Tyler and I are already on the expedition.  These days as we are becoming increasingly busy with the administrative side of the expedition, we seem to be living our of our duffels bags more and more. 

A few weeks ago Tyler wrapped up season working as Youth Programs Coordinator for Outward Bound.  Since then he has been busy speaking at schools in Minnesota and Wisconsin.  Tyler is a gifted presenter with a creative knack for connecting challenges of wilderness travel to challenges anyone may face in life. 

This Wednesday, Tyler and I fly to Norway with a quick 24-hour stopover in London.  After working and living 600 miles apart during the past few months, we are both looking forward to the time together.  In Norway we will visit with Bergans of Norway and our other Norwegian sponsors and of course spend some good time with our Norwegian explorer friends and colleagues. 

Since early October I've been at home in Chicago for only a few days.  I've been criss-crossing the nation visiting sponsors, meeting with CaringBridge our charity partner, attending weddings and giving presentations.  This is what my past month looked like...

Oct 4-5  Chicago.  Two presentations.    Does fall weather in Chicago get any better than this!

Oct 6-8  Miami, FL.  Presentations Gulliver Preparatory Elementary, Junior High and High School.  A very nice visit with some wonderful people.  HOT and humid down there!!!

Oct 10-13  Nashville, TN.  Wedding of a college friend.   I learn that I don't dislike country music as much as I thought.  Hot, but not as hot as Miami, thank goodness.

Oct 16-17  Monroe, CT  Tyler and I visit with the great people at Victorinox.  Wow, do I love this building, what a cool atmosphere to work in!  A green building and a truly peaceful work environment.  Fall colors are in full effect.  Mornings are nice and chilly.

Oct 21-22  Minneapolis, MN  Visit with the inspiring people at CaringBridge. Working with people who share our values makes for truly limitless collaboration.

Oct 22-Nov 2  San Francisco, CA Big reunion of friends in Sonoma County.  A very busy work week.  Good friends in California fall weather, what could be better!

Nov 3-4 Minneapolis, MN  Video shoot with CaringBridge.  I love my car!

Nov 5-13 Fly to London and Norway  Visit with vikings.  Go to the Fram Polar Ship Museum.  Fram = Forward in Norwegian.

 

 

By Tyler Fish

Over the past two years there have been many “firsts” on this project.  There was the first time John and I talked discussed the idea, the first day we named our website and the first money contributed, to name a few.   Before too long many more firsts will be experienced: the first day of REALLY cold weather (-50° or -60°F), the first night on the ice, the first ice ridge negotiated and the first open lead and on and on.

In his book, The Life of PI, Yann Martel writes something like, “First wonder strikes deepest.”  All the rest fit in the depression left by the first.  It may very well be that way on the expedition; we will so clearly remember the first sight of Ward Hunt Island, where we begin the journey.  After that it will be just a feature in the landscape, fading away.  It's also sort of like the first step into a cold, wet puddle of slush.  After that you just have wet feet.

Today was the first day of snow in northeastern Minnesota, enough to cover the ground, stick in some of the trees, and make the driving treacherous as the snow hit the warm ground, then melted and then froze into a sheet of ice half an inch thick.  In a way, all other snow that falls after this will be significant, but not as memorable as this.  It was the first time I saw a skim of ice on puddles, the first cold blast of northerly winds, a reminder of winter's grip, and the first scraping of the windshield and the first very cold, wet foot.  Today my wife, Sarah and I opted out of driving a couple of hours to an engagement, and instead we spent the day together.   It was also my son Ethan's first significant outdoor adventure, in a life that will hold many, I hope.  

This was the first time that our entire family, Sarah, myself, Ethan and Bud (German Shepherd) went for a walk outside.  We suited up Ethan in an outfit we call his blue bear suit.  The hood has two small bear-like ears.  Since his birth, we hadn't all been outside together--something that's pretty important to us. 

Today Sarah walked with Ethan strapped to her, Bud followed dutifully along side, and I pulled a tire for two and a half hours through the melting and flurrying northwoods.  Sarah mentioned that she would rather be nowhere else than out in the woods with all three of her boys.  In response Bud sniffed at things and Ethan, for the most part, slept.  I plodded onward with my wet foot, listening to what she had to say, basically that happiness is best when shared. 

Chris McCandless, from the popular book and film Into the Wild, after months of soul searching, wandering, watching for beauty, seeking the wisdom of others, and eventually starving to death alone, admitted the same thing.  Happiness is best when shared with others.  

I would never trek to the North Pole alone.  It's a wonderful thing that John will be there with me to share the difficulty, the beauty, the moments and, of course, the firsts.  And so I think about the classroom visits that I have coming up this week, because I'm sharing my experience with so many students.  For some it might be the first time they hear about the Arctic Ocean and polar bears, winter camping or an unsupported expedition, Global Warming and the impacts of our society's actions.  This whole expedition project experience means more to us when it is shared with others.  

by Tyler Fish

Last night at 7pm I went out into the drizzle to run and walk with ski poles for two hours in the dark fall of northern Minnesota.  Physical training isn't always easy to fit into a person's full life, so sometimes you find yourself in less than ideal conditions.  As I plodded and bounced and breathed up some of the hills at the nordic ski area, retired ski jump slopes to my right and the forest to my left, I thought of one of my skiers on the ski team I coach.  What message I would tell him about training?

Some good skiers have talent and don't have to work at it very hard at it.  
The rest of the good skiers don't have a lot of natural ability, but really dedicate time and effort to be good.  
Great skiers have talent and work hard.  They work hard not only in practice, not only when it feels good to train and not only when it's convenient.  They train when they don't want to, when it hurts and when it doesn't really fit into the schedule.  
People say that you shouldn't fear your own greatness.  I think it's perfectly natural fear your own potential, because to accept your own potential for greatness is to simultaneously take on a lot of blood, sweat and tears.  Ultimately, that's how you really achieve.

Many athletes, coaches and armchair fans have strategies for training.   Admittedly, it's not always easy and sometimes downright depressing to have to go and trudge along for two hours or more.  As I ran last night I came up with a few tips that work for me.

1.    Have someone force you to get out there.  Whether it's a coach, a friend who meets you for regular training sessions, or your wife, you are accountable to someone.  They can give you the extra nudge to put your heart into action.
2.    Force yourself to complete a route or goal.  You usually don't quit within the first half an hour, so if you begin on a loop, destined to end where you began, at some point you find yourself out there with slightly more to go forward than backwards, but forwards is more interesting.  That can be the difference between an hour and a half or a two hour workout.  That extra half an hour, when added consistently, really boost the training times.
3.    Make it interesting.  Bjorn Dahlie, legendary Norwegian cross country skier, Olympic and World Cup champion, believed that training must be fun.  You have to do what is interesting; have enough options to add variety to the routine.  For example, I can run, bike, rollerski, pull a tire...just to name a few, somewhat interchangeably.  
4.    Be consistent.  Training leads to more training.  It's easier to motivate when you are successful, because you see the differences that it makes, but also because you become addicted.  Your body wants to be physically active.  For me, I can go two days without training, but after that two things happen:  Either I begin to be overwhelmed by guilt or by either physical and mental restlessness or lethargy.  The first drives me crazy and the second one disheartens me.
5.    Prioritize training in your schedule.  Everyone has a time that works best for them.  Know what that time is and schedule your life around it so that you are more likely to train.  Personally, if I don't train in the morning it gets exponentially harder to see it happening as the day wears on.

Much like a connect-the-dots page in a children's book, it's a lot easier to see the big picture if you have a lot of dots to work with (many training days) and connect them regularly. Unlike a connect-the-dots, when training you can't just sit down one day and draw a picture the day before the race and win.  You have no choice but to connect one dot at a time.  The trick is in making it as easy as possible to do so, the say can be said for connecting the dots to the North Pole, but more on that later.

by Tyler Fish

Birth is an expedition.  It starts somewhere and it ends someplace entirely different.  My family now includes Sarah and me, our German Shepherd and Ethan Torbjorn Fish, newest addition.  He's here to stay.  My life is altered.

When you're an expecting father, you get a lot of advice, both solicited and unasked for, and one of the most common phrases offered to me was, “it'll change your life.”  For me those words were the beginning and the end of it.  Nothing more was said; “it'll change your life” wasn't expanded upon very much.  I didn't know what that meant, and no one seemed inclined to fill me in.  It was like everyone was saying, “get ready,” but they wouldn't explain how.  Now I think I begin to grasp it.

The appearance of Ethan changed my life from the moment I stared at him.  Traditionally newborn infants haven't been very interesting to me.  Needy, hard to communicate with, kind of clumsy and loud.  Not very predictable--all in all they share the characteristics of bad expedition partners.  So when I just stood there and stared at him for fifteen minutes in the nursery at the hospital, and thought he was incredible, I knew something had changed.  I actually thought, “so this is what they meant.”   Smiling, I laughed inside and knew that this was just the beginning.

The second most common advice was that I should get my sleep while I could.  A veteran father would say, “get ready for sleepless nights.”  This I shrugged off and dreaded at the same time.  I dismissed it because I wanted to.  I feared it because I like my regular sleep.  Digging a little deeper, in a conversation with one of my friends, he said that you just get used to operating on less sleep.  “How,” I asked?  “You just do,” was his reply.  This is a huge change for me, and I'm making it because I have no choice.  My wife and I are a team, helping each other get what we need while attending to the larger goal of a happy, healthy family.

Expeditions change your life, and the North Pole trip will undoubtedly do the same for John and I.  Similar to birth, no one can really tell us what it'll feel like, how that will occur.   There will certainly be times of less sleep!   John and I will tolerate this because we have to in order to achieve our goal.  We take all the advice we can get.  When we're out on the ice we will smile and laugh inside and out when the words find their true meaning for us.  At some point we're guaranteed to say, “this is what they meant.”

Erling Kagge, from Norway, was the first person to reach the North Pole, the South Pole and Everest.  Here's what he had to say about polar expeditions, birth and the changing life:

“Polar explorations are somewhat similar to childbirth.  During the journey and immediately afterwards I couldn't imagine doing it again.  During the thick of it, I think of the cold, the pain, the filth and the hunger (I'm talking about polar exploration here) - yet, in the fullness of time, a new dream begins to take shape.  Its easy to forget, but let's remember that the universe wasn't created to guarantee human happiness, and the nightingale doesn't sing for our amusement.  From this I conclude that I must organize the conditions of my own happiness.  Living free will never be pain-free.  That was never the idea of it”        --Erling Kagge

Life changes.  Sarah and I chose to guide this process by having a son.  For me and John, we choose to throw in a journey to the North Pole.  The journey will change us.  When we finish the expedition, John and I will not be the same people we were when we started.

by John Huston

Tyler and I talk about the importance mental training all the time.  So what exactly is it?

Mental training is getting our minds ready for all aspects of the expedition.

How we respond to the challenges of the expedition will be the difference between success and failure.

Our mental training is a slow process that takes place over years and months.  A lot of the mental training comes from our past expedition experience.  This experience provides a critical foundation to build upon.

During the summer and fall we use several different methods to prepare our brains for the challenge ahead.

Here's a list of a few of the methods of mental training we commonly use.  We'll talk about these and other topics in more detail down in the future.

1.  Positive Visualization:  Imagining, in detail, situations that may happen on the expedition.  We then visualize the necessary steps to success.  In many ways this focused thinking increases our base of experience.  It is not the same as being on the expedition but in many ways it can be close and thus improve performance when similar situations occur.  

2.  Critical Self-Assessment:  We constantly look at our weaknesses.  We then educate ourselves through research or seeking advice.  Staying humble is essential to many aspects of the expeditionary experience, perhaps most importantly in the ability to strive to improve.

3.  Optimism:  Belief in positive possibilities.  A lot of this training happens the daily existence of working to fund and grow the expedition project.  At times, setbacks occur or goals can seem far away, but we believe strongly that if we keep plugging forward and be true to who we are, then all will work out on in end.  The path is not always known, but in many ways that is the fun part.  Optimism in our minds is not just an idea, but the hard work that makes turns an idea into action.

4.   Not Thinking (Don't Worry too Much):  In many ways thinking about unknowns and daunting challenges is a lot more difficult than experience the challenge itself.  Positive action breeds more positive action.  We don't always know exactly how we are going to get there, but we know that we will get there.  We don't know how we will feel or what we will think in the future.  The ability to let go and forget yourself, in ways can be a key to enjoying expeditions.

5.  Reading and Asking Questions:  We are fascinated by how other individuals, not just polar explorers, undertake challenges.  Although the problem itself be very different from our challenges, successful mental approaches to challenge can be universal.  We love studying this topic and hope to use our expedition as a similar resource for others.

by John Huston

Today is a special day!  The North Pole '09 family grew by a few pounds.  A few minutes after 2:15pm CST today, Tyler Fish and his wife Sarah Lakosky welcomed their first child, a baby boy into the world.  Everyone is happy and healthy. 

Tyler and I are extremely close with our families.  Their support and lifelong inspiration have had an immeasurable influence on our lives and the pursuit of our dreams.  In so many ways this expedition project is an extension of those relationships and values. 

As Tyler and I strive to tell the story of this expedition, with a focus on our mental experience, we will discuss more about the origins of each other's character and about our families.  

Long ski expeditions are more than just plodding over ice surfaces hour after hour and day after day, they are what each person imagines and experiences in their own minds.  It is this experience that we hope to share with your in the coming months.  For us it's safe to say, that in the strange, zone-like mental existence of long distance ski expeditions, few topics will cross our minds more than thoughts and feelings for our families.

More information on Tyler and Sarah's new baby coming soon

by John Huston

This expedition project is not just about skiing unsupported to the North Pole.  It is a 3-year journey with the multi-faceted challenges that include fundraising, training, networking, promoting, educating and speaking.  Although much of this work is not as exciting as skiing on the ice, the people we meet and work with along the way make experience truly special.  Whether lending us their support and expertise or working together in partnership, education or public outreach, these people make our small two-person expedition team feel a whole lot bigger.  

Tyler and I are constantly being asked 'How can I help?' or 'How can I be a part of your project?'.  We're genuinely flattered by these offers.  Below is a small list of ways in which you can join our team.  If you have any ideas contact us.
    •    Make a contribution to the expedition fundraising drive.  Click here.
    •    Assist us in making connections:  
    ⁃    Do you know people: ....
    ⁃    Who may identify with our values and mission.  If you do please let them know about our project and encourage them to join the team.  
    ⁃    Who work for companies, that may identify with our mission and values or that make products that could be used on the expedition.  If so please connect them to us, as these folks may link to potential expedition partners
    •    Host “An evening to the North Pole” small scale fundraising event
    ⁃    Invite your friends to your home or another location with a presentation and discussion by John or Tyler as the entertainment.  You provide the venue, a bit of food and drink and round up the guests, John or Tyler provides everything needed for the entertainment as well as invitations if you need them.  For more information on how to set this up contact us.  It's easy.

by Tyler Fish

Bungee jumping is crazy.  I've never done it and I'm not interested.  It seems risky, with consequences that are not so ideal.  People find that interesting, because I'm willing to ski to the geographic North Pole.   Nor can I be an explorer in the historical sense of the word; the North Pole has been reached.  Not by an American skiing unsupported, but it's been done.  This expedition, and even more difficult trips have been accomplished.  It's not a “first” to be explored.

I was giving a presentation on the North Pole '09 expedition and a guy said to me, “It's clear you're just an adrenaline junky.”  Funny.  His statement couldn't be farther from the truth.  I've never liked roller coasters, although I've always had a soft spot for the Flume, an icy waterfall and gorge in Vermont.  I guess that's why I'm going to the Arctic Ocean?  Cold and wet is okay.  Friends of mine have skydived, and I'm not sure that's for me, either.  No, it's definitely not about adrenaline.

Am I an explorer?  The historical explorers were amazing people.  They didn't just do hard things with old, by-gone equipment.  They strived and accomplished and even failed and sometimes died NEVER knowing where they were or what was next.  If there had been detailed maps or guidebooks, they wouldn't have been truly exploring!  It's a little more complicated than that, the definition of explorer, but no, I don't consider myself one of those in the historic sense.

My reality is more subtle.  I've thought about it a lot.  People have often wonder why I've worked for Outward Bound for 13 years.  I am impassioned by working with and thinking about kids.  As part of my job, I am constantly thinking about my high school and college experience.  My students silently demand that I undertake that kind of introspection.  So I've come to this conclusion, its not about adrenaline or being an explorer, it's about engaging life by following my heart and imagination.  Like so many of my expeditions, my life is a mental experience.  This thread started unknowingly when I was a child and continues today.....

Years ago my parents would drop me off at my grandparents farm in eastern Minnesota, and I would peek in the kitchen to say hello and grab a handful of grandma's homemade cookies.  As nourishing for my soul as they were, the real sustenance came from the long wanderings around the farm. Through fields, in barns, over machinery and under old trees, I would follow the old beagle that traced mysterious scents with her nose.

At the other grandparents' house on the lake, I would check the garage for any kind of tool or plaything, put it in a bag and off I went. My destination was nowhere; my path was in my imagination, my mental perspective defined my experience. There was always somewhere to go, someplace to see, perhaps something to find and of course always something to imagine.

And on it went...I walked around Europe with my parents when I was seven.  I walked miles home from school for reasons I don't remember now, but I think I just felt like seeing my world.  I just wanted to be engaged in my world.  That's the core of this.  The best life is one that is fully engaged.  I don't need adrenaline to do that, but it does make it fun and vibrant sometimes. Nor do I need to be the first person to go someplace in order to be amazed.  However, I do allow myself to imagine that no one has been here, or that it's been a long time, and that this is MY place for the brief moment.   I like to be active in my world, not just an observer of it.

So when the months fly by and I find myself on the Arctic Ocean, I will fully engage my senses and myself in my world. There will be enough adrenaline now and then to keep it interesting, and there's no doubt I'll feel as though I'm somewhere entirely unique. But unlike my wanderings around my grandparent's farm, on the Arctic Ocean and as with past expeditions, I won't have to imagine that I'm someplace strange and powerful.  I'll know.