I’ve been following the amazing journey of two amazing explorers for the last month. Borge Ousland and Mike Horn set off across the semi-frozen Arctic Ocean on January 22, 2006 in the dark of winter. They didn’t see light again until a couple of weeks ago, and then only for a few hours at a time.

Their goal was to reach the North Pole before the first sunrise. They missed that goal by a few days, but it’s amazing they made it at all. They encountered polar bears, swam through freezing water, fought an infection caused by toxic food caused by a possible fuel leak in their packs, dealt with breaking skis that needed constant repair, not to mention the 1,000 km walked through sub-zero temperatures in the dark!!

I’m truly amazed at the will-power of these two individuals. I certainly don’t see what would be fun about this expedition, but their journey certainly would make a decent movie. Set design shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Like me, my Mom followed their journey by reading their blogs. That’s one of the great things about this particular adventure; we were all able to go on it with them through the power of technology. My mom said in an email entitled “North Pole!”:

I’m so excited for Borge and Mike to make it to the North Pole tomorrow! I’m delighted that Mike is finally feeling better! It has been so fun following their progress every day. Thanks so much Tyler for your blogs that alerted me to this adventure…it was so fun to follow!

You can catch up by reading [1] Mike’s blog or [2] Borge’s blog. I’m sure we’ll get more information in the coming weeks after they get back. They’re hanging out at the North Pole for the next few days until a Russian helicopter can pick them up and take them to a base 100 miles away. They’ll be there for a week until a plane can fly in. On the plane will be their relieved family to celebrate this record breaking accomplishment.