Borge Ousland

He started out with 408 pounds loaded on a sled, skiing an average of 27 miles a day in his successful second attempt to cross the world's driest, coldest continent. Two parasails harnessed the winds to help him cover ground; one day he managed 140 miles in 16 hours. (Read Outside's interview with him before he embarked.)

The 34-year-old Norwegian explorer failed in his attempt to make the crossing last year because of severe frostbite. But the lessons learned helped ensure his latest success across 1,764 miles of lifeless land.

A phone call from Outside Online reached him at Ross Island's Scott Base, where he was settling into his latest success. Hear the entire interview with RealAudio. (All you need is the RealAudio Player version 2.0 or better. You can download it here).

I think so. I lost about 20 kilos (44 pounds) on the trip, so I'm gradually building up weight. I gained 10 kilos before I left, so I'm about 10 kilos less than normal, and it's not bad. It's what I expected.

What did you miss most during your trek?

What I missed most, apart from the obvious, the family and all that, I think I missed most the woods, to go in the woods where everything is alive. Every little square inch in the woods is alive with grass, and flowers, and insects, and animals, and trees, and everything. Here, it's nothing.

How would you describe Antarctica to someone who's never been there?

This is a, first of all, very untouched continent. It's probably the most untouched continent of all by man. It's very, very wild and very beautiful. Also the conditions are extreme--the cold, the wind, the snow, the crevasses, and all that makes it a very, very extreme continent.

Are you going to be going back anytime soon?

I hope to go back either to the Arctic or Antarctic region, one way or another, because I really love it down here, the sensation of being maybe a little bit on the edge of the world. But I don't think there will be another polar trek similar to this one. I've been two times to the North Pole, skiing there, and two times to the South Pole, so I don't really think I'll do another Pole-to-Pole thing.

Do you have other accomplishments that you'd like to do, things that no one else has done before?

Not at the moment. I don't really have the time or the energy to think too far ahead. Most of my energy has been consumed working on this expedition, which has taken me two years, so there hasn't been the opportunity to think too far ahead.

What did you think about while you were out there all alone for those months? Did your thoughts change over the weeks?

Oh yeah, they do. The main thing is to concentrate on the daily life, the routine.

I keep a very strict routine, and this is very important because when the going is rough, and you're low in spirit and motivation, you need to have this routine to follow. Know that you have to go one-and-a-half hours and do a 15-minute break and finish in 10 hours. If you keep that routine, you keep going, even when you'd rather spend the day in the tent.

So I tried to more or less focus on the daily progress, the daily routine, so it's a lot of thoughts and energies about surviving hour to hour and day to day.

I also set very short goals. I don't think too much about the final stage because it's too far ahead. If you start thinking that I have to ski 3,000 kilometers (1,860 miles), you're in a losing situation. So I set very short goals, intermediate goals, and reaching those goals, I'm getting further and further into the trip. And in the end I will make it. But in the start, it's impossible to think about the finish.

You tried this trek before, a year ago, and it didn't work out. What did you learn and how did you do things differently this year?

I think my main mistake last time was lack of respect. And I think I was a little big-headed and didn't take too much care of myself, and that caused frostbite and infections and problems.

So no, I went into this with a much, much more careful attitude and much greater respect. This made me also go into every little detail of the equipment and logistics and the planning before I went, leaving nothing to coincidence.

I had done my preparation very, very well and that's probably the most important thing about my success. People just see the trip from A to B, but most important is actually what's happening before you go. I did some changes and my attitude changed and also did a little bit changes on the equipment, but not so much.

The major change on the equipment was the sizes of the parasails, that was from the experience last time, that I rather should have two parasails than one. So now I had one very, very big one, 24 square meters, and one 12 square meters. And with those two, and changing between them, I could sail in lots of different wind speeds. I also had one pair of skis especially dedicated to sailing, which I didn't have last year, and that made me go faster.

How many miles did you cover parasailing?

When you go towards the Pole, you won't do much sailing because of the headwind and hard going and the wind is coming in front.

But from the Pole out, you have the wind in the back, more or less, and some days I did very, very good progress. And down on the rough ice shelf here, the conditions were perfect.

It was good glide, there was no sastrugis--sastrugis are waves of snow--but down here it was completely flat and good going, so I had my maximum distance of 226 kilometers (140 miles) in one day--16 hours--with a parasail. That was my record, but normally I could do, of course, much less. But the sail helped me a great deal and you save energy, but I also want to stress that sailing is extremely difficult and dangerous.

It's difficult and dangerous because of what, the terrain ahead, you have to keep an eye out?

Yeah, it's difficult because you can't use your ski sticks while you're sailing, so you have problems with keeping the balance. So you have to concentrate on the balance and you have to concentrate on the direction, and you also have to concentrate on steering the parasail.

And sometimes the winds are changing a lot in speed and gusting and calming down, and it creates more problems to keep on your feet. The dangerous parts are when you're moving fast you can fall and you can easily break something. You can break a ski or worse, you can break a leg. Also, you can get entangled in the lines because there's lots of lines going to the parasail and if you get entangled in them, and the wind picks up the chute again, you can be dragged along the ground, entangled in lines, and that's very, very dangerous.

Could you have done the trek without the parasails?

Well I'm not sure, but I doubt it. The only thing I know is that I had food for 24 days when I reached the Scott base. So I could probably go a far distance without the sails, but I'm not sure if I would make it all the way without the sail.

How did you plot your course? Did you use GPS and knew exactly how far you went each day?

Yea, I had one of those Garmin 38 GPSes and I took the position every night in the tent. But usually during the day, if there was sun, I used my watch and the sun as compass and just looked at the sun and my watch to have the local time, and then I knew the direction. And apart from that, I used a compass to check the course, especially if the weather was bad.

What were you thinking when you first spotted the McMurdo base? Did you feel relief, joy, just exhaustion?

I was very, very tired and very exhausted, but still there was great sense of happiness and relief, and not least because all the time on the journey I was never sure I would make it.

Because of all the dangers and difficulties I had to experience, only the last day when I crossed a large crevasse field, not far from the Scott base, that I was sure that I would make it. Because at that stage I knew there were no more crevasses before the base.

So there was always this insecurity, all the time on the trek. I never wanted to give up, but I was never sure that I would make it.

One of the greatest reliefs was to be secure, to be safe, and not in danger anymore. That was a very, very great relief by reaching Scott Base.

Was it strange seeing people again, talking with them?

Yeah, it was strange. There's this ice runway about 10 kilometers away from Scott Base and

Keeping warm

One thing was that instead of coping with the wind and the cold, I suddenly had to be careful not to be run over by an airplane. So I crossed the runway two times and then I saw some people up there and I skied towards one guy who was repairing a truck. And coming towards him, he was looking at me and then he just kept on repairing the truck.

It was only when I went and knocked on his shoulder and said, "Hey, do you know the way to Scott Base?" That time he understood I was not just an ordinary skier. And when I said he was the first person I'd seen since I left the South Pole, I think he got a little bit embarrassed.

Coming into Scott Base, people were coming out to greet me. Strange to see people again, and strange also to speak again. But my general feeling is, of course, extreme happiness and joy.

What does this trek mean to you personally, to Norway, and maybe to people everywhere?

For me personally, this is the most important achievement I've done in my life. I think it's the last part of a long chapter I first started 10 years ago when I first started with expeditions.

I've been two times to the North Pole, and this is my second time to the South Pole. So this is my greatest achievement and an enormous personal victory.

I also think it means something to Norway because it shows that Norway is still the best when it comes to Arctic expeditions, not just 100 years ago, but still. So I hope that it will benefit in one way or another, and also again confirms that Norway is a great ski nation.

I hope that it means something to other people. My expeditions have nothing to do with science or anything like that. It's adventure and a sports achievement.

But I think we need adventure, especially in our times. I think it's important. It's possible for man to go out and do things in harmony with nature; I want to stress that I do things in harmony with nature, I don't conquer nature.

The physical and psychological challenges, it's important that these things are present also in our modern times, and that we can be better and better doing what I'm doing, and not being only better and better making computers. It's also important to tell a story about using our body, because we are created with muscles and strong bodies, and we are not created to sit behind an office desk.

This has a lot to do with harmony and balance. If you are used to nature, you will get an anchor in a reality other than the normal daily life in the city, and then you will get better harmony and better balance, and you will also have a better awareness in taking care of nature.

Did you take notes along the way for your book?

Lots of notes. Actually I'm still writing. I was writing when you called me, trying to write down my impressions and feelings. And the diary's like a father confessor to me--very, very important to get the feelings down and to work on the feelings on such a hard trip when you're alone for such a long time. So I use the diary to work on myself--and to write it off me, if you like.

I imagine in all that vastness and solitude you look inside yourself more. Did you find out more about yourself during this trip?

You always grow on a trip like this. That's one of the most important things for me personally, that you get closer to yourself. You do a lot of thinking. You also get closer to nature because you have nobody other than yourself and nature to relate to.

But any big, big answer is not the question. I'm not looking for the meaning of life, if you know what I mean. I'm not really trying to find myself. I just want to know myself a bit better, to be able to have a better balance and to be a more happy person. But I'm not looking for any specific answer.

Do you think that in a few years that you'll start to get antsy again and want to go exploring elsewhere?

Sure, I think I will do that. Yup, I'm an adventurer and there is lots of things to do. So there will probably be other trips.

I feel in good shape, feeling strong and healthy. Another thing is that right now Sir Edmund Hillary--the first to climb Mount Everest--he's down here at Scott Base for the anniversary of Scott Base. Yesterday we went to the South Pole together and that was a historical moment, at least for me, to be at the South Pole station with one of my greatest heros. A very, very good moment. So we flew in yesterday just for the day and back again.

Was he one of the people who spurred you to become an explorer?

Definitely.

Are there other role models you looked toward as you thought of reaching the Pole?

Roald Amundsen, he was the first--of course, another Norwegian--to reach the South Pole ever, in 1911. And I actually followed his route down from the South Pole and down to the Ross Ice Shelf. That was just fantastic and my respect for him grew even more after going through those glaciers he went up without anybody being there before. And all those mountains, they have Norwegian names and it was almost like being home.

Have you written any books yet or is this going to be your first?

No, I've written two books before and I've done two documentaries and lots of articles. I did an article for National Geographic in 1991.

Anything you want to add?

You asked about if I got to know myself better and I said I don't necessarily want to find the big answer. But just to add something to that, I think it's important to look for the answer. In the end, I think it's important to ask the questions, but not necessarily to find the answer.

When you put up the questions, that's when you always find things and that's what I do. I put up the questions. I don't expect to find any universal truth, but by putting up questions, you find the open doors which are hidden to you. And maybe you get unexpected feedback from doing that.

So you keep seeking.

Yeah, that's the thing. Keep seeking. To seek, to strive, to find, and not to yield, that's what it says on the cross up here. It's a cross which was put up in memory of Captain Scott and his men who died here on the Ross Shelf in 1911. So on that cross it says, "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." And I think that's very important.

Editor's note: The quote comes from Ulysses, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. It's the last line in this excerpt: