archaeology

Adventures in polar explorationA conversation with Børge Ousland FRSGSTheGeographer 14- 25SPRING 2015Ahead of Børge Ousland’s run of Inspiring Peopletalks in December 2014 (one of which markedthe RSGS’s 5,000th talk and 130th birthday) weinterviewed him in the Explorers’ Room at RSGSHQ and asked him all about his expeditions andexperiences. This conversation is edited from thefull interview which can be seen on our YouTubechannel.Please tell us a bit about your last expedition.The last trip I was on was this year when I took a trip acrossSpitzbergen. It was a relatively short trip, only a few days, butit is part of a bigger project where we will cross all the 20biggest glaciers in the world. I am doing this with a Frenchguy called Vincent Colliard, but I think it is going to take usten years to finish.What’s the next glacier that you are aiming for?We are aiming for the Grant Ice Cap on Ellesmere Island.Actually we have an application in for crossing the NovayaZemlya in Russia, but Russia is a bit tricky at this stage so wewill have to wait and see. This trip will be in May; it’s a goodtime to do it, not too cold and there’s midnight sun but stillgood skiing conditions. We will bring a kite [ski] as well to seeif the wind is in the right direction, and then we can maybeuse it if there are no crevasses and the visibility is good.That’s the danger with glaciers. Nowadays you can actuallyplan a lot of these trips ahead of time just using GoogleEarth, and we are also working with the space division ofAirbus as they have a super satellite team so we can actuallysee the crevasses and plan accordingly. We can take ourGPS position from the satellites which means we are not asvulnerable as before. It’s still an adventure, just a bit safer.What are thehighlights of yourmany trips?“When I startedthat trip I hadnever been alone ina tent before.”I don’t think anyof my trips are thebest, but if I couldselect one momentit would be reaching the North Pole after my first solo trek. Idon’t usually cry but that time I cried because I went throughso much on that trip. I started on 3rd March in Siberia, andwhen I started that trip I had never been alone in a tentbefore and I was starting on something that had never beendone. The first week on the trip, I was just thinking aboutgiving up, so from then on and standing at the North Pole 52days later was a big victory for me personally.Is there an explorer from history that you find particularlyinspiring?There are so many, and also modern explorers, but theguy who meant the most to me as an inspiration is FridtjofNansen, especially the trip where he left the Fram to tryand reach the North Pole in 1895 – that was an amazingexpedition, just him and Hjalmar Johansen. They didn’tactually reach the Pole, but it was a truly spectacular journey.They had a strong will to survive and they did. I think I wouldhave loved to be with Nansen on that trip.What does geography mean to you?For me it means to go out and see what the map actuallylooks like, the combination of the landscape and going out tosee and explore it for yourself. Many people say to me, nowthere is nothing new to be done – well that is the wrong wayto look at it because you haven’t seen it until you have seenit for yourself, so my advice is get out there, explore andsee it for yourself.Speaking of the danger of expeditions, isthere a moment that stands out for you asparticularly tough or scary?Well, I love polar bears, they are just socute, you are always excited when youmeet them. I have met maybe 50 or 60polar bears; they can be super dangerousbut we have always been able to handlethe situation so I wouldn’t say that was abad experience. I think that it’s probablycrevasses. I have had a couple of incidents;one in Antarctica where I went through acrevasse, and one in Patagonia, and thatis not nice when the floor you are standingon just goes from underneath you. I washanging on a rope one time, and the othertime I was still attached to my sled whichbroke my fall. Going through the ice at theNorth Pole in minus 40 was probablymore dangerous.