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•
At 24 Ousland and two other divers duplicated the feat of Norway’s
great polar
explorer Fritjof Nansen by skiing across Greenland’s ice
sheet –
about 500 miles coast to coast.
•
Four years later Ousland and Erling Kagge (see above) completed the
first
unassisted ski trip across the polar ice to the North Pole: 500
miles in
under two months.
• After another
four years, Ousland skied without support to the North
Pole again,
this time solo in just 52 days.
• In 1995 his focus turned antipodal as Ousland
attempted the first solo
unsupported
crossing of Antarctica, but was thwarted by frostbite after
having
reached the South Pole midpoint.
•
The next year Ousland returned to the Antarctic, and completed the
solo
crossing: 1700 miles in two months.
•
Returning north in 2001, Ousland crossed the Arctic ice solo from
Russia to
Canada by way of the North Pole in 82 days.
•
He has also conquered the challenge of extreme altitude, twice climbing
above the
8,000 meter (about 26,250’) mark, summiting Cho Oyo
(Nepal) in
1999 and falling just short of the summit of Everest in 2003.
•
With Swiss mountaineer Thomas Ulrich, also in 2003, Ousland became
the first
to cross the Patagonian ice field (Argentina) — third largest
after
Antarctica and Greenland — by kayak and ski.
•
At the old age (for polar explorers) of 43 Ousland and companion Mike
Horn became
the first to ski to the North Pole during the dead of the
arctic
winter despite extremely low temperatures and nearly constant
darkness.
•
The next year Ousland (again with Thomas Ulrich) were dropped at the
North Pole
and worked their way across the drifting sea ice to Norway,
where Børge
continued on alone, eventually arriving home in Oslo by
bicycle at
summer’s end and at the age of 45.
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Ousland, born May 31, 1962, grew up near
OSLO.
He remains an active adventurer, and makes a living from books (including:
1997’s “Alone across Antarctica”, 2001’s “Alone across the North Pole”, and
2006’s “Winter without Mercy”), films, articles, and speaking engagements about
his adventures, partially supported by the National Geographic Society.
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