Børge Ousland – Explorer and Adventurer

“Børge Ousland is arguably the most accomplished polar explorer alive!”
– National Geographic Adventure, February 2006
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Børge Ousland was born on 31 May 1962 and grew up on Nesodden outside Oslo. After high school he trained as a diver and worked from 1984 to 1993 as a saturation diver in the North Sea. In the period 1989–91 Børge served in the Norwegian Special Naval Forces.

In 1986 Børge and two of his diving colleagues, Agnar Berg and Jan Morten Ertsaas, skied across Greenland. In 37 days they walked from Angmassalik on the east coast to Umanak on the west coast, which as a straight line on the map is a distance of 800 kilometres. Very few had travelled across Greenland’s inland ice since 1888, when Fridtjof Nansen and five companions made the first crossing.

The North Pole
Børge’s next expedition was in 1990 when he, Geir Randby and Erling Kagge set out from Ellesmere Island in Canada for the North Pole, without resupply en route. Randby had to be evacuated after an injury, but Ousland and Kagge completed the journey in 58 days, reaching their goal on 4 May 1990). This was the first unsupported ski trek to the North Pole.

In 1993 Børge Ousland and Agnar Berg attempted to ski from Franz Josef Land to Svalbard, across the drift ice of the Arctic Sea. This expedition had to be aborted when they encountered large stretches of open water.

Although the North Pole expedition of 1990 generated a lot of interest in Norway and abroad, it was nothing compared to the international attention given Børge’s solo trek to the North Pole in 1994. This expedition was also completed without support or resupply. Børge started from Cape Arktichesky in Northern Siberia on 2 March, 1994 and arrived at the North Pole 52 days later – on 22 April.

After successfully completing this expedition, Børge Ousland has worked full time on expeditions and the tasks associated with these.

Antarctica
His next chosen challenge was to be the first man to cross the Antarctic continent, via the South Pole, alone and without support. In 1995 Børge suffered frostbite after having passed the South Pole itself, which forced him to abandon his journey. Even he did not complete the crossing, he now became the first person to have skied alone to both poles.

The very next year, 1996–97, he successfully completed the crossing of Antarctica, without support or resupply. On 15 November Børge started out from ice-covered Berkner Island in the Weddell Sea; on 17 January he reached McMurdo Station on Ross Sea. In just 64 days he covered a distance of 2845 km, challenged at times by fierce winds and temperatures that dropped to minus 56˚C. At start of this expedition the sledge he pulled weighed 178 kilos. Børge’s journey across the Antarctic reached altitudes of 3400 metres above sea level.

In 2001 Børge reached another milestone, completing the first solo crossing of the Arctic. On this expedition he travelled alone for 82 days, from Siberia to Canada, via the North Pole.

The Himalayas and Patagonia
Børge Ousland has twice climbed mountain peaks of the Himalayas that rise higher than 8000 meters. In 1999 he ascended Cho Oyo in 1999; in 2003 he had to turn back just below the peak of Mount Everest.

In 2002 Børge Ousland and Thomas Ulrich made a reconnaissance trip to Patagonia in Chile to survey the area for a new expedition. If at all possible, they wanted to cross the southern Patagonian Ice Field unsupported. This is the third largest glacier in the world – only Antarctica and the inland ice cap of Greenland is larger.

The following year the two explorers succeeded on this quest. They started from Tortel, skiing with their kayaks filled with equipment and supplies in tow across the inland ice field of Patagonia, finally paddling their kayaks into Puerto Natales and 54 days later. The combination of Thomas the mountain climber and Børge the Polar veteran proved to be a successful combination on this extremely difficult expedition; at one point, for instance, they had to rappel down a sheer 600-metre ice-covered cliff.

This expedition was featured in an article in the August 2004 issue of National Geographic Magazine.

New expeditions to the North Pole
In 2006, Børge set out on one of his hardest expeditions yet: the endeavour to reach the North Pole during the winter. On the 22nd of January Børge and expedition partner Mike Horn left Cape Arktichesky and started their long struggle against the cold and darkness on dangerous, ever-shifting drift ice. After more than two months, fighting open icy waters and overly curious polar bears, weather conditions with temperatures often below –40˚C, and an infection that nearly killed Mike, they finally reached the Earth’s geographic North Pole. The date was 23 March, and the sun still had not fully risen above the Arctic horizon.

This expedition had long been regarded as impossible due to the constant darkness and extreme cold of the winter months. Being the first to complete the journey, they have added a new chapter to the history of Polar exploration.

In 2007, Børge and Thomas Ulrich started out to realize an old dream: to follow in the footsteps of Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen through Franz Josef Land. On 1 May they set out from the North Pole. It took them a month and a half to reach Eva-Liv Island, the northernmost island of this vast archipelago, after having crossed treacherous summer drift ice. From here they followed Nansen’s route from one island to the next, until finally reaching Cape Flora on 24 July. Here, on the southernmost point of Franz Josef Land, they had to wait almost three weeks, being forced to live off the land. On 13 August the 44-foot sailboat Athene managed to reach them. Joining the crew, the two explorers sailed across the Barents Sea, first to Murmansk to stamp their passports (Franz Josef Land is Russian territory), and then to the North Cape in Norway. From the nearby town of Honningsvåg Thomas left for home-sweet-home in Switzerland, while Børge sailed south to Bodø – where he climbed onto his bicycle and cycled the stretch of Norway back to his home in Oslo. Børge reached the Norwegian capital on 18 September.

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Børge Ousland makes his living as lecturer, author and expedition guide. He is one of the few speakers represented by National Geographic Speakers Bureau, an integral part of the National Geographic Society in Washington DC. He has also held several lectures for the Royal Geographic Society in London.

Børge has managed to successfully complete his many expeditions as a result of his emphasis on hard training and thorough preparation, which includes the development of new equipment and a carefully balanced diet suited to extreme conditions.