The sweet taste of victory
Published on 11.05.2009 - Victorinox North Pole 09 Expedition
After achieving a significant first (John Huston and Tyler Fish were the first Americans to succeed in completing an unassisted trek to the North Pole), the two men can now spend a little time reliving their feat and enjoying their conquest at their ease.
Flashback: the final few days of their adventure was thrilling to watch as the two men realised that whatever they did, the negative drift of 11 to 14 kilometres a day was pushing them inexorably southwards. If they had not taken drastic measures to counteract the southerly movement of the ice, they would certainly not have reached the Pole in time.
In their last report, John and Tykler reminded us that during the final 66 hours of their trek, they only had three hours' sleep. Psychologically, they had prepared themselves for the worst ÂÂ and that is the reason why they managed to succeed. The fact that they looked after one another so carefully, constantly watching over each other's movements during those 66 hours, was also one of the main ingredients of their triumph.
And we would like to reiterate here once again that their constant optimism, the humility they showed for the job to the done and for Mother Nature, as well as the sense of responsibility each had for the other, has made a deep impression on everyone. In fact they had programmed in their success long before they left Ward Hunt.
They also organised to perfection the way they took their food on board during the final week (managing to consume 10 000 calories a day), as well as the use they made of the amount of fuel left in their cans. When they arrived at the Pole, they had just two days of fuel left, no more, no less. Congratulations on your calculations, guys!
Finally, John and Tyler tell us that for them the adventure is far from over. They will be looking back from time to time at the results of their trek and the impact that it has had and will continue to have on the way they lead their day-to-day lives. As far as we are concerned, we will monitor their dispatches and keep visitors to our website informed of any future projects this American duo may have in mind.
In the meantime, this is the webpage that msnbc.com produced, with a short report about the two men.
