As the children at Sayfol International School here in Kota Kinabalu had a seat and didn’t quite know what to expect from the following 60 minutes, I was more than ready to inspire these freshly-minded boys and girls to act for the good of our planet.

After giving a short introduction on who Mike Horn was and what the Young Explorers Program was all about, I grasped the opportunity to share what we had found out during the past month here in Sabah.

The hour flew by as I fueled the audience with information on coral reef destruction, ocean debris and the endangered state of sharks and turtles.

I thank Sayfol International School Sabah for giving me the opportuniity to talk to their student body and hope to have inspired in one way or another.
 

It's been 12 days of rough weather and we have covered just over 2000nm. Unfortunately it will not be fast enough to get us to Vancouver in time. As we are heading up North we hope for the wind to turn in our favor and speed up towards Canada. The world's weather has become very difficult to predict and the changes have become radical. Something is cooking that is the feeling I get.

We have blown through Guam like the wind. What a great place, lovely helpful people, blue blue Cristal clear water and beautiful beaches with massive breaking waves.

Thanks to Ross and Sara for helping us on our short stay in Guam. This is a place I would like to come back to. But first let's face the next big waves all the way to Canada.

45-50 kn of headwinds and 5-8m of breaking waves. Pangaea is more underwater than on top. We are down to the last reef and our autopilot cannot hold the course. But we have seen worse! Slowly but surely we chipping away at the block and we should be in Guam in 15 hours time. We have another 110 nm to do but it is going slowly, very slowly. It feels like we have been put into a shaker that never stops. I would like to see what cocktail come out of this.

We have had some damage to our main sail, lazy jacks, our 12 V alternator came to a screaming stop and we have one or two other minor repairs to be done when we reach Guam.

Otherwise life is great! The power of Nature never stops to amaze me! It makes you humble and you understand how fragile we really are. We will never underfstand the real power of the elements.

Mike

Reflecting back upon my first impressions of this peaceful, charming but still action-packed town of Château d’Oex, I realize how fast time flew by. As soon as I look at the surrounding landscapes, up to the snow-capped mountains and white-dusted forests, the feeling of excitement occcurs, the exact same way it did at the first sight I caught upon my arrival. Still that much amazed by such dramatic land formations, still involving an adrenaline kick and strangely enough, still creating a strong expectancy of adventure.

The 8th selection camp has come to an end, and all the Young Explorers are waving goodbye to the Mike Horn Team that has educated us, taken care of us, and pushed us to our limits; to all the fellow YEPs that truly have become close friends; and to ten amazing days in the Swiss Alps that none of us will ever, ever forget. It was especially difficult for the Team, but at the end, the selection of the Expedition team has been made. Selected or not, we are all strongly inspired by the project spirit and highly motivated to return to our communities to spread the Pangaea message, and to act for the good.

Once again, we’d like to thank Mike Horn for giving all of us this amazing opportunity and experience of a lifetime, and Martin and the entire Mike Horn Team for delivering such an adrenaline-fuelled, well-organized and safe time in the Château d’Oex Mike Horn Expedition Center.

Good job, guys!

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I think it has been the first Raid ever where we discovered ourselves with a pet. A big, black, lumbering, idiotic pet. And it wasn’t even cute. It pulled us down when we were going uphill, and dragged us too fast when we were sliding downhill. It wasn’t nice to pat, wasn’t affectionate, wasn’t even remotely exciting. And do you know the best thing about this pet of ours ? It was a tire.

The Pangaea Raid, the ultimate overnight test of strength, endurance and teamwork. All the previous YEPs we’d talked to had given a mysterious chuckle and encouraging words of « It’ll definitely be an experience you won ‘t forget… Good luck ! » when we asked about it. So as you can imagine, as we all gathered in the dining room of Hotel de Ville, bags packed, sufficiently threatened not to lose the equipment, and cheerfully warned about how messed up we would become, we were more than a little apprehensive. Each team was given maps, a compass, a sheet of waypoints and instructed to be on our way ! And so began almost 30 hours of cross country hiking, team building activities and just general cruelty.

Ahead of us was ice climbing, « crossing a crocodile filled river » (the creative way of telling us to get across three walls using just a plank), and a stabilizing ropes course. We also zip-lined, tight rope walked across a gorge, and hiked. And hiked. And hiked. We pushed up two mountains over the two days amid cries of «allé, allé ! Up Up Up !!» from our mountain guide Fred.

The other group faced the nightmare of an extra checkpoint sweetly added because they arrived at our night camp « too early ». During this our team was living our own nightmare as we realised, that with great foresight, we had left behind our most valued piece of equipment : our map. Good job, guys ! Luckily we rallied, and Lulu and Sasi bravely got us a replacement so we could soldier on.

But let’s go back to that tire shall we? Martin, our kind, benevolent and gracious benefactor, gifted us with this 25kg lump of rubber to haul up and down a mountain just when the end was in sight. Tired, exhausted, and slightly delirious, we fashioned our various techniques to transport the best pet we’d ever had to the finish line.

And just like we crossed that final line, the finish line for this Selection Camp is also looming. Ten amazing days are coming to an end, and tomorrow not only will the selected YEPs be announced for the Magnetic North Pole Expedition, but with heavy hearts, we will all say goodbye. We’ve shared some phenomenal experiences, none of which we can justifiably convey to you (partly because of our limited intellect in our tired state, and partly because this is something inexplicable that words can’t express).

So finally, we’d like to thank the entire Mike Horn Team for everything they’ve done for us : educated us, taken care of us, and pushed us to our limits. We hope that one day you will be able to experience even a little of what we’ve gone through. Today is the first day of the rest of your life: EXPLORE, LEARN, ACT !

And to all our favourite people :

Chris «Elloelloello»
Sasi «Yay !!» –jumps around in excitement-
Kim «Fred, Fred, Fred the bread/Minh, Minh, Minh-a-ling»
Brandon «Howziiit»
Lulu «Good job guys ! (and general words of encouragement)»
Minh «I love you Caroline. But I love the food more.»
Ariane «America is NOT a country.»
Natalie «When I was in Nepal/Alaska…»
Rick «Sweet as, bro»
Maria «The Arctic should belong to the Russians»

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We are slowly but surely making our way to Guam. Another 570 nm to go before we start heading up north to take the great circle route to Vancouver. We have done 1100nm in rough weather and hope to speed up for the second part of our journey.

We awoke to a fresh covering of wet snow on the ground. Another morning run up the winding and now slippery hill, where several sneakers lost their traction during the icy descent.  We began the day, showered and clean, with a lecture about the Arctic environment, the difference between the North Magnetic, Geomagnetic and True North Pole, the political controversy around countries’ territories, global climate change and more. A particularly impassioned debate started around the topic of oil drilling, mining rights and how to change people’s consumer habits.

A delicious rice and chicken lunch was prepared by our wonderful kitchen staff, and full and content, we were introduced to the process and the instruments used to take snow measurements (something that the selected North Pole applicants will be resonsible for during the expedition). These measurements are key to gathering data in order to better understand climate change, predict avalanches and to efficiently manage watersheds.

Then on to the practical portion of the lecture, during which we drove our Mercedes-Benz vans up to adequate snowcover, split into groups, dug our 2 meter by 1 meter snow pits, and then used the techniques we learned to accurately measure the snow layers, height, grain size, and snow water equivalence.  As the scientific practice wound down, someone threw a snowball at Martin and Luke, which resulted in a ten minute flurry of flying, packed snow, laughter and gaiety.

After everyone had literally no power left to throw snowballs and was completely soaked, we drove back to the hotel and spend the remaining time till dinner with editing the vidoes we have taken during the last days.
As soon as we had finished dinner, we went to the seminar-room and enjoined listening to Michael Scholl, a marine scientist who introduced us to his work with Great White Sharks off the coast of South Africa. We are full of excitement for the famous two-day Selection Camp Raid, which will start tomorrow at noon, and should go to bed pretty soon now, in order to gather strength for the toughest part of our 10 days in Château d’Oex.

We have done 500NM the last 2.5 days since we left Sandakan. Pangaea and all those on board have been hampered by squall after squall. Constantly changing wind directions and strong currents in between islands are slowing us down. This is the land of pirates so I have been told in Borneo, and that could explain the lack of bigger ships around us. We have seen very little life except some squid fishing boats close to land and 2 small land birds sitting in our cockpit hitching a ride. We have to keep a 10 knot average to make it on time to Vancouver. Our average up to date is about 8 knots so I hope we can catch up soon. Tristan has been cooking so far and we are enjoying our fresh vegetables as long as it lasts, and then we are back on instant noodles!!

Sliding on ice, the funfest thing to do. We think we’re going to have a relaxing evening editing videos and chilling out, but then Luke happens to come up with a brilliant idea. We guess the morning exercise wasn’t enough for him. Out the door we run with our harnesses hanging over our necks and running shoes beating the beautiful brick pavement of Chateau d’Oex.

Greeted by the last remnants of a light winter snow, we split into two groups. Hopes of a gentle abseil or paraglide are dashed by the presence of four gigantic gorgeous truck tyres. Martin, jumping out of his comfy ute, shouts “this is your preparation for the 150kg North Pole sledges!” we reply quietly with looks of nervous anticipation.

We line up in two teams, pumped with adrenaline constrained by our tight harnesses. Martin’s hand drops, the ropes snaps taunt, whiplash around our hips, we heave the tyres behind our sprinting legs. Off we go. Soft snow slows our sliding down the slop. Cheers of our teammates ring in our ears motivate us towards the distant cone. Even with the freezing temperatures our thighs still burn with the exhausting effort. Trying to run with tyres behind you on slushy snow may not seem like the most enjoyable thing to do. But, this only brought us closer together as teams and friends.

These moments of intense activity allow us to reflect on the 7 amazing days we’ve spent together. Watching the presentations from previous Young Explorers in the evening encourages us to open our minds to the possibilities that await us.