After 51 days of battling freezing cold temperatures, open water and 6 foot high ice walls, Eric Larsen, Antony Jinman and Darcy St-Laurent reached the North Pole on Thursday, Earth Day of all days. A huge congratulations to Eric and the rest of the team for completing the second leg of the Save The Poles Expedition.
Eric Larsen’s Save The Poles expedition is trying to become the first ever to reach the South Pole, North Pole and summit of Mt Everest within a continuous 365-day period. In January 2010, Eric and his team successfully completed a 750 mile, 48 day jaunt to the South Pole on skis. After their arrival at the North Pole this week, Eric has only the summit of Everest left, hopefully to be completed this Fall.
The purpose of all three legs of the expedition is to travel to the frontline of global warming to document the changes occurring in these last great frozen places. Eric plans to use the expedition as a platform to advocate strategies for reducing carbon emissions and collect relevant scientific data. Eric hopes that these stories of remote places will help us better understand how our actions affect the poles and ultimately the planet.
As Eric posted on the Save The Poles blog this week: “Achieving the North Pole on Earth Day is not only the realization of a dream but also a reinforcement of a basic philosophy. The quality of our lives is directly linked to the air we breathe and the water we drink. At the North Pole, lines of longitude begin, grow and extend until they reach everyone on the entire planet. In spite of its remoteness, this is the one place that connects us all.”
The main objectives of the Save The Poles Expedition are:
- Complete the first-ever expedition to the summit of Mount Everest, the North Pole and the South Pole in a continuous 365-day period.
- Create awareness of global warming, advocate strategies for reducing carbon emissions and collect relevant scientific data.
- Produce a documentary film, book and educational curriculum that focuses on the science of climate change, teamwork and the spirit of adventure.
- Develop a post expedition multi-media lecture series for education in schools and organizations.
You can follow the daily updates from both of Eric’s South Pole and North Pole adventures as well as his future Everest expedition on the Save The Poles website. Achieving some great press coverage from his latest accomplishment, Eric even got a shout out over on TechCrunch this week for his Tweet from the North Pole.