Skiing to the Poles
richard weber The critical role of skis in 130 years of Arctic exploration and adventure.
by Jeff Blumenfeld gordon wiltsie In Part I of this two-part article, which n 1986, a 41-year-old Min- appeared in the November-December issue nesotan named Will Steger of Skiing History, author Jeff Blumen- launched his 56-day Steger feld explained how skis played a critical North Pole Expedition, fi- role in the Arctic and polar expeditions of nanced by cash and gear from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Part II looks Iover 60 companies. The expedition at the role of skis in modern-day expedi- would become the first confirmed, tions by explorers like Paul Schurke, Will non-mechanized and externally Steger and Richard Weber. unsupported dogsled and ski jour- Blumenfeld, an ISHA director, runs ney to the North Pole—suggesting Blumenfeld and Associates PR and Expe- that Robert E. Peary and Frederick Above: Lunch break during Will Steger’s ditionNews.com in Boulder, Colorado. Cook could indeed have reached Trans-Antarctica Expedition. Top of He is the recipient of the 2017 Bob Gillen the pole in 1909 using the same ba- page: Tessum Weber, Richard Weber’s Memorial Award from the North Ameri- sic equipment. son, crosses an ice bridge en route to the can Snowsports Journalists Association, Fast forward to spring 1989, North Pole in 2010. was nominated a Fellow of the Royal Geo- when Steger’s former co-leader graphic Society, and is chair of the Rocky to the North Pole, Paul Schurke, Mountain chapter of The Explorers Club. led his own expedition across the www.skiinghistory.org January-February 2018 | 13 while freshwater ice only half as thick will support a human being. According to Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1986), scarcely a substance on earth is so tractable, so unexpectedly complicat- ed, so deceptively passive, as though “walking over the back of some enor- mous and methodical beast.” Schurke continues, “If I happen to slip into the drink while ski- ing over a hidden snow bridge, I could kick my skis off instantly to pull myself out. Berwins may have been a tad clunky to ski in, but we weren’t trying to set any ground speed records. Plus, they allowed us to wear the biggest, badass, warm-
courtesy paul schurke paul courtesy est boots we wanted and were Paul Schurke (left) and Will Steger (right) were co-leaders on the 1986 North Pole never prone to icing up and locking expedition. It was the first confirmed, non-mechanized and externally unsupported to our footwear.” dogsled and ski journey to the North Pole—suggesting that Robert E. Peary and Fred- erick Cook could have reached the Pole in 1909 using the same basic equipment. STEGER: ACROSS ANTARCTICA THE LONG WAY In 1990, Will Steger continued pio- neering polar exploration with skis Bering Strait, from Anaydr in the “extra wide” compared to track skis, not to and dogsleds, this time 3,741 miles former Soviet Far East to Kotze- other touring skis of the era.] When asked and seven months across Antarctica bue in northwest Alaska. It was a about the use of polar skis for ex- the long way, traveling from the project that President George H.W. ploration, Schurke was effusive: Antarctica Peninsula past the South Bush and former Soviet leader “Mechanical bindings are too Pole to the Soviet scientific research Mikhail Gorbachev credited with prone to ice-up and breakage. The base at Mirnyy. It would become easing Cold War tensions. Berwin strap-on bindings, made of history’s longest-ever non-mecha- Using dogs, skis and traditional Zytel nylon and invented in my nized traverse of Antarctica. 30-foot vessels called umiaks, 12 hometown of Ely, Minnesota, ac- It is a commonly held misun- Soviet and American adventurers, commodated any size snowboot.” derstanding that dogsledders simply including three Eskimos and three The Bering Bridge boots were made hitch rides on their dogsleds as they Chukchis, visited a string of re- by Red Wing Shoe Company, con- glide across the ice. In fact, pull- mote Siberian villages, crossed the taining waterproof leather from S.B. ing a man’s weight on an already International Date Line, and con- Foot Tanning Company, both in loaded sled is an almost inexcusable tinued the journey to native towns Red Wing, Minnesota, according waste of valuable dog energy, ac- in Alaska. (I promoted the Bering to Schurke’s book, Bering Bridge: The cording to an educational guide to Bridge Expedition on behalf of its Soviet-American Expedition From Siberia Steger’s Trans-Antarctica Expedition major sponsor, Du Pont, and have to Alaska (Pfeifer-Hamilton, 1989). published in 1989 (Meredith Pub- remained in touch with Schurke “Simplicity is the name of the lishing Services). since those days.) game for foolproof gear used for The men skied alongside their Schurke recently told Skiing His- polar travel,” writes Schurke. “With sleds, averaging three miles per tory, “Our expedition used extra my Berwins, I dispensed with the hour to cover at least 25 miles per wide backcountry skis—16 pairs of heel strap and set the front strap day. Traveling in pairs, one man re- Fischer Europa 99s with metal edges for a step-in/step-out fit. That way mained tethered to the back handle and 16 pairs of Exel Arctic fiberglass I could be in and out of my skis of the sled, while the other led. For ski poles, which often doubled as in a flash all day long to clamber the grueling Trans-Antarctica Expe- tent poles, antenna masts and trail over pressure ridges, scout routes dition, which achieved worldwide markers.” Norwegian explorer Fridt- through a shear zone, or pull sleds fame thanks to four primetime jof Nansen used a similar tactic, over fissures.” hours of coverage on ABC-TV and employing special ski poles that also Stability of sea ice is a constant a spread in National Geographic (No- served as ice axes, tent poles and concern for polar explorers. Because vember 1990), the team took wax- kayak frames. [Editor’s note: With a of its elasticity, even sea ice four less Fischer cross-country skis with 55mm waist, the Fischer Europa 99s were inches thick is unsafe to walk on, two bindings—on cold days, when
14 | January-February 2018 Skiing History the men wore broad mukluks, they and cross thin ice, and used wide, plastic Berwin bindings. they can be used as tent On days warm enough to accom- frames. However, effi- modate lighter, specially designed ciency diminishes greatly ski boots, the men relied upon Sa- if the user doesn’t know lomon SNS touring bindings. Exel how to ski. It requires an provided the Nordic poles. expert cross-country skier Steger, now a prominent spokes- to cross a field of broken person for the preservation of the ice on skis pulling a sled. Arctic, says that “Skis and dogs are Most people are better off the magic ingredient for long-distance on snowshoes.” polar travel. The dogs pull the gear on sleds, while the team member North Pole: Ski uses skis to efficiently glide across Days Are Numbered snow conditions that would other- The use of skis for polar wise be exhausting to plod through, exploration is still being if not impossible to navigate.” celebrated, as is evidenced by the Google Doodle
WEBER: Roundtrip To the celebrating Nansen’s 156th kevin vallely NORTH Pole birthday and posted on From 1978 to 2006, Canadian explorer In the history of polar exploration, October 10, 2017. It was seen by Richard Weber organized and led more no one, to date, has duplicated the millions of computer users in the than 45 Arctic expeditions. He’s shown 1995 feat of Canadian Arctic ex- northern hemisphere. However, at here at the South Pole marker in 2008. plorer Richard Weber—a veteran of least in regards to the North Pole, more than 60 Arctic expeditions, human- and dog-powered surface including Will Steger’s 1986 North exploration is nearing an end. Pole Expedition—and Russian Dr. Polar adventurer, expedition Mikhail Malakhov. Together, in 122 guide and educator Eric Larsen, of days, the two adventurers were the Boulder, Colorado, is one of only first since 1909 to reach the North a few Americans to have skied to Pole and return to land, at Ward both the North and South Poles. In Hunt Island in Canada, without 2014, he and a teammate skied, support or resupply. snowshoed and swam from Cana- No food caches were hidden dian soil to the North Pole, possibly midway, there was no resupply the last expedition of its kind due from the air, and no “reverse resup- to disappearing sea ice. The Arctic ply”—the process whereby dogs or is heating up, making traditional teammates are extracted by aircraft, polar travel nearly impossible. as was the case with Steger’s 1986 “The story of what is happening holloway christopher North Pole Expedition. In fact, the in the Arctic is really the story of Weber uses skis to safely cross a narrow Weber Malakhov Expedition had no what is happening to our planet,” crack during his 1988 Soviet-Canadian sled dogs, resorting instead to man- he writes in his book co-written Polar Bridge Expedition, a ski trek from hauling the entire journey on skis. with Hudson Lindenberger, On Siberia to Canada via the North Pole. “Going on an expedition to the Thin Ice: An Epic Final Quest Into the North Pole, then taking a plane out Melting Arctic (Falcon Guides, 2016). is like climbing Mount Everest and “The difference in the quality of getting helicoptered off the top,” ice compared to my last expedition strong sun. I used much lighter skis Weber told me when I covered his here (in 2010) was shocking.” Later and I waxed in Antarctica. The skis feat in Expedition News. he adds, “It’s like someone pulled glide better and with less energy.” It could not have been accom- the plug, and all of the ice that was The intangible desire to explore plished without skis. In this case, previously held together was now and challenge the boundaries of Fischer Europa 99 skis, tailor-made spreading apart.” what we know and where we have Sorel mukluks, and prototype ski That’s not the case, of course, been has provided benefits to our bindings made for the Canadian on the frozen continent of Antarc- society for centuries. If not at the military that were never sold com- tica. Explorer Richard Weber said North Pole, you can be sure skis mercially. Weber says, “Skis require in an email recently, “The surface will still be found in Antarctica, less energy, they slide or at least in Antarctica is good for skiing. No and wherever else there’s a patch of can be shuffled across the snow. open water, no thin ice, no bears, snow or ice to cross, and someplace They can be used to bridge gaps lots of light, warmer temperatures, to explore on the other side. www.skiinghistory.org January-February 2018 | 15