South African explorer Mike Horn is no stranger to long distance expeditions. He once traveled on foot to the North Pole completely in darkness, and he has circumnavigated the globe at the equator entirely under human power. He swam the entire length of the Amazon River, and he has even attempted to climb, and paraglide, from the summit of K2. But the expedition he started in the spring of 2016 is on another level, as he’ll attempt to circle the globe traveling north and south, visiting both Poles in the process.
This ambitious project, which is dubbed the Pole2Pole 360 Expedition, began on May 6th of 2016, when Horn set sail from Monaco aboard his ship, the Pangaea. The 110-foot yacht will serve as his mobile base camp in the months that follow, allowing him to traverse the globe on this epic adventure. Once he reaches South Africa, Mike will resupply before crossing the treacherous Southern Ocean for Antarctica, where he’ll traverse the frozen continent on skis, passing by the South Pole along the way. After completing that crossing, he’ll re-board his ship, and begin sailing north across the Pacific and Arctic Oceans, where he’ll once again don his skis in an attempt to reach the North Pole on foot as well. If Mike is successful in reaching 90° North – the very top of the world – he’ll then turn south once again, and ski and kayak to Greenland, which he’ll also cross on foot, en route to rejoining the Pangea for the final sail back to Gibraltar, eventually ending where the epic adventure began.
As if all of that didn’t sound challenging enough, Horn hopes to complete the entire journey in under two years. If he is successful, he’ll be the first person to circumnavigate the globe in this fashion. To follow Mike along his jourey check out his page here.
To get an idea of just what kind of explorer Mike is, check out some footage from his and Børge Ousland’s trip to North Pole in the middle of January, battling sub-zero temperature, little to no sun, and of course, polar bears.
