Famous Explorer, Mike Horn, has a history of World Record Expeditions

Reading through the famous explorer Mike Horn’s book conquering the impossible about his world record solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle I was struck by two important lessons that we can apply to life in general or our own expedition preparations.

In 2004 he finished a staggering feat of human endurance when his expedition a two-year, 3 month solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle – by boat, kayak, ski kite and on foot ended.

Starting and finishing at North Cape in Norway, he became the first man to travel the Arctic Circle without motorized transport, completing a 20,000km journey through Greenland, Canada, Alaska, the Bering Strait and Russia’s Siberia, pulling a kevlar sledge piled with 180kg of equipment and food.

Prior to this Mike had an outstanding pedigree in extreme expeditions. Including Amazon Expedition, a solo, un-motorized traverse of the South American continent taking 6 months and Latitude Zero, the circumvolution of the world around the equator. Taking 18 months Mike Horn sailed, paddled, canoed and cycled around the world.

Valuable lessons from one of worlds greatest explorers

Before attempting the solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle expedition in 2004, Mike Horn did 2 things which I think we can learn alot from. Both in the sense that he was humble enough to do them and also how we can apply them to our own expedition projects.

The arctic was a completely foreign landscape to him and he recognized that he didn’t have a hope of being successful there without serving some kind of apprenticeship and learning from the best.

The first thing he did was to get himself invited on an expedition to Greenland with two Swiss explorer JeanTroillet and Erhard Loretan (3rd man to climb all the 8000m peaks without oxygen). This gave Mike the opportunity to be mentored by two of the world’s greatest Himalayan mountaineering experts.

On this Greenland expedition he basically worked as a packhorse but it gave him the opportunity to watch, listen, learn and soak up as much knowledge and information as possible. The most valuable and life saving lesson was the art of PATIENCE.

In conditions of extreme cold knowing when to stay in the tent and not to push on can be the difference between life and death. A naturally impatient and impulsive man it was a difficult lesson to learn. But vital as in arctic whiteout conditions many explorers have become lost and frozen to death just 2m from their tents

Mike Horn posses two of the most important characteristics of an extreme expedition explorer. These being a rock solid, steady temperament and an enormous capacity for physical endurance. But on returning from the Greenland Expedition he wondered if these were enough to fulfil his dreams of a solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle.

With this in mind he sought the advice and guidance of Borge Ousland, the first man to reach the North Pole solo as well as the first to cross Antarctica solo. Mike visited Norway to apprentice with him. To learn everything he could about this famous explorer, his way of life, his personality, the way he worked, his attitudes, and daily routines.

Mike didn’t know and had never met Borge however he was welcomed into his home and and over a number of days shared his polar knowledge and experience.

These examples of serving apprenticeships with expedition experts and learning everything we can from them are valuable and give us an insight into the character of Mike Horn and demonstrate why he went on to become one of the world’s most famous expedition explorers.

Mike has written an account of his solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle expedition called conquering the impossible

He is currently leading a fantastic ocean expedition for young explorers. For more information please visit Pangaea

Credits for the images in this article about extreme adventure expeditions and the lessons that famous explorers can teach us belong to Mike Horn

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