Ely resident Tyler Fish is part of the two-man team trying in March to become the first Americans to ski unsupported to the North Pole.

By Stephen Regenold

(Nationally Syndicated Column)

Last update: December 8, 2008 - 8:31 AM

One morning this winter, after waking up in a tent pitched near the top of the world, Tyler Fish will check a compass and ski north toward mist undulating over open water. He will pull two sleds, each more than 100 pounds, to the water's edge and gaze at a swath of Arctic Ocean deep and black between ice floes en route to the North Pole.

Fish, 34, of Ely, Minn., will then put on a waterproof suit. He'll zip it up and ease into the ocean, the crush of cold closing in as he swims through salt water, air pockets buoying a body backstroking across a void.

The Arctic Ocean swim is one challenge that Fish and partner John Huston are trained to face this winter on the Victorinox North Pole '09 Expedition.

Read the full article here.