So you've had enough of the winter cold in Glen Ellyn?
Your winter would just be starting if you tagged along with with 32-year old Glen Ellyn native John Huston for the next 45 days. These past few months would seem like a tropic paradise.
Starting March 2, John puts his physical and mental training to the test. Huston intends to be one of two first Americans to successfully ski 475 miles unsupported from Canada to the North Pole. If successful, John and fellow adventurer Tyler Fish, from Ely, Minnesota will be the first Americans to ski to the North Pole, an accomplishment only 22 humans have done.
The team plans to pull all of their supplies to the North Pole without any additional intervention. That's pulling 250 pounds across icy terrain (think 4 kids in a sled across Lake Ellyn continuing north to the tip of the upper peninsula of Michigan). Add temperatures that may drop to 60 degrees below zero. If that's not enough pressure, the two have to reach the Pole by April 26 to rendez-vous with a Russian scientific team who will provide their ride back to civilization (think, ooops honey, I forgot the kids...!).
The pair has spent the past few weeks buying food and other supplies. On February 11, they flew to the Iqaluit, Baffin Island, where they spent two weeks training, acclimatizing to the extreme cold and relaxing before the official start of the expedition.
John, a seasoned polar expeditioner, has documented the mix of emotions leading up to the final weeks and days before departing for the North Pole. View details at www.northpole09.com.
Leading up to this historic expedition, John trained by pulling tires through Grant Park in Chicago. During the winter of 2007/2008 John led a 55-day, 720-mile ski expedition to the South Pole, working as a guide for Northwinds Adventures. John is one of 220 individuals having successfully skied from the coastline to the South Pole.
The expedition has captivated the attention of people across the world. It also has NASA researchers interested in studying human psychology and stresses from living in adverse conditions. The pair will be studied by Gloria Leon, a University of Minnesota psychology professor emeritus, who has written about Antarctic travel as a model for understanding the group dynamics that might be encountered on long-term NASA missions. "This is very important because a mission to Mars will be a 21/2-year time period in which a small group of people are required to interact together. And the farther they are away from Earth, the more they will have to rely on each other rather than mission control," Leon reports in a Chicago Tribune article. See more photos.
After returning to Chicago in May, GlenEllynLife.com has invited John to speak to students and residents in Glen Ellyn about his journey. Stay tuned to John and Tyler's trek at www.northpole09.com.
