The Road to Nowhere

March 3, 2009 6:54 PM

We're on the road to nowhere and when we get to the end of this road, nowhere is exactly where this expedition begins. Only 22 people have ever skiied unsupported to the North Pole, none of them American. Starting today, John Huston and Tyler Fish hope to become the first. If all goes according to plan, they will reach the North Pole in 55 days. They will be blogging from the ice.

Photos and video of their training regimen. Yes, those are truck tires.

An unfortunately sparse look at some of their equipment can be found here.

For a few more expedition particulars, check out the FAQ.

posted by Commander Rachek (14 comments total)

Also the map of their route.
posted by ornate insect at 7:06 PM on March 3, 2009

I wonder if in the age of GPS, blogs, and satellite phones there is the possibility of things going terribly wrong? Or would they just radio a helicopter to pick them up? Because that's what adventure is about surely, getting yourself into a hopeless fix, and then summoning up all the Shackletonesque heroism you can to make it back to civilisation again.
posted by dydecker at 7:14 PM on March 3, 2009

"We each eat over 7000 calories per day." Nice.

I wonder how they plan to power this stuff. Special GPS units you can hand crank? Hand crank satellite phones? I suppose solar would work, too.
posted by adipocere at 7:36 PM on March 3, 2009

They will be blogging from the ice.

Day 54: The unknown mountain range in the distance is clearly super-Himalayan in altitude. The shape of the peaks is monstrously Cyclopean, and they seem possessed of an impossibly non-Euclidean geometry. Danforth can't stop staring at them, and keeps muttering about the Plateau of Leng. I fear for his sanity...and my own.

Day 55: Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!
posted by The Tensor at 8:00 PM on March 3, 2009

I know some dumb fucks down here in Georgia.....can I get a camera crew to hang with me?
posted by gigbutt at 8:46 PM on March 3, 2009

All these expeditions to the north pole, but why doesn't anyone WALK from the equator to the north pole, or better yet, tackle it pole to pole? If you can't get across the Northwest Passage or past the Darien Gap, kayak it with human power. This is one of the last great frontiers of human exploration and won't be doable soon with the ongoing icecap melt. Someone just has to take the initiative.

</sitting on ass>
posted by crapmatic at 9:00 PM on March 3, 2009

This voluntary stuff is fine, but... they ought to drop vile people at the pole and see who gets home. "We sentence you to 20 years in a federal penitentiary... or you can walk home from the North Pole and serve out your term as a street sweeper." Give them rudimentary equipment and a one-way radio (and another hidden transmitter, in case they throw one away) so we can hear them but they can't hear us. It would make compelling late-night radio, listening to people who said fuck you to civilization trying desperately to get back to it so they can pick up trash for 20 years.
posted by pracowity at 10:32 PM on March 3, 2009

What, no twitter feed?
posted by filthy light thief at 10:37 PM on March 3, 2009

And pole to pole has been done, and discussed previously.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:43 PM on March 3, 2009

Yeah, yeah, blogging to the Pole, twittering to the top of Everest... redundant.

If I can get email or even just an SMS from beyond death itself, then I'll be impressed.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 12:31 AM on March 4, 2009

These days I think I'd be more impressed by someone who didn't blog / tweet / etc. endlessly about whatever the f--k it is they chose to do. Just go to the bloody pole and write a nice 2000 word essay when you get back.
posted by rhymer at 2:44 AM on March 4, 2009

Seriously does anybody just do something anymore without immediately uploading it?
posted by autodidact at 5:01 AM on March 4, 2009

You know, I really don't understand this drive to get to these inaccessible places using sub-standard transportation options.

No, I guess what I don't understand is why the people who choose to perform these arcane and tedious stunts expect me to pay attention to them as they subject themselves to immense hardship and put themselves in ridiculous danger to achieve something over a span of weeks that modern technology could have done before lunchtime.

Yes, yes, it's because it is there and all that. The inspiring power of human will and determination or some such rot.

I don't buy it. Skiing "unsupported" to the north pole? You know, lots of people have already gone there, under conditions that were far more difficult and ACTUALLY dangerous (unlike this trip, some who went before had no GPS or radio, and no hope of timely rescue). And, really, what's the damned point? What does your feat actually achieve, besides putting your self-absorbed names in the papers if you succeed, or forcing some fine dedicated folks to risk their lives in a dangerous effort to retrieve your dumb ass if you fail?

In short, the answer to that question is, skiiing to the North Pole achieves nothing of any significance that cannot be achieved at less risk using better methods. If you really want to go camping, go camping on your own time. Don't expect us to applaud you for your bizzare choice of destination.
posted by BigLankyBastard at 10:24 AM on March 4, 2009

I suppose solar would work, too.

on the north pole? in febuary? might still be a little dark, no?
posted by sexyrobot at 12:12 PM on March 4, 2009