Blog for Website Valentin& Ansgar- 19th August 2011

The whole night it wasn’t completely dark, so we woke up early. When we opened the tent, the smell of our feet was released into the beautiful scenery of glaciers, mountains and fjords

For breakfast we enjoyed porridge, freshly cooked by Mike Horn himself. He told us to stuff ourselves as we’d need the energy. Then, after a nice cup of tea, we started walking again. Under our feet the crampons crushed the ice and in our back we had the heavy sleds with all the equipment. Again, we were more than lucky with the weather. The sun was shining in our faces and it was not too cold.

The distances didn’t seem far at first sight, as there’s nothing around but snow and ice. Soon we noticed, though, that we had to work hard to reach our goal: first humans ever to cross these glaciers.

Mike led us with all his experience safely over all crevasses and moraines. During one break we all wrote messages, put them in a plastic bag and hid them under an Inukshuk that we built (N 70 40’ 182// W 071 53’ 958)ͦ. An Inukshuk is a stone figurine that the Inuit used to mark caribou traveling routes.

Back on the way we enjoyed the amazing views. Especially the colours of the glacier fascinated us. The light blue of the streams and the pure white of snow.

We set up our second camp in the early afternoon. When choosing a campsite it’s important to have a creek with fresh water close by. We had Instant noodles, some of us rushed them into their mouths as they had eaten their daypacks already one day before.

After this strengthening we climbed up a peak. There we had a breathtaking panorama view. This unspoiled environment and the knowledge, that there are absolutely no people around was very very impressing. Compared to all these massive glaciers and the high mountains we felt quite small.

We finished the day with a rapid sled ride down the hill.

Mike Horn and the Young Explorers leave the comfort of Pangaea and embark on a two day expedition crossing a glacier north of Clyde River, on the east coast of Baffin Island.

Update from Mike from the glacier (3.30pm Swiss time)

"All the YEP's are doing really well!! As soon as Pangaea dropped us off onto the glacier from Sam Fiord we saw a polar bear with two cubs. During the first day we walked 6 kms. The terrain has been rough and there have been some big crevasses to walk around so this has held us up a bit.

With 50kms to walk we have now trekked half the distance. We should arrive at the next fiord tomorrow evening where Pangaea is already waiting for us.

The weather has been mild for this time of year, -10°C in the evening and 1 °C when we wake up in the morning.

It's great out here and we are all having a great time together. This is Nature at its best with not a soul around!!"

Picturesuqe fiords blanketed with white glissening glaciers welcome Pangaea and the Young Explorers as they explore the East Coast of Baffin Island.
 

Blog written by Simon

What we’ve all experienced today will stay in our minds for the rest of our lives! The day started out with a tasty bowl full of porridge some bread and a cup of tea. We got on land and organized a cultural event for the 26th of August in Clyde River, we finally raised the anchor and set sails. Pulling up those huge sails with a surface area of 200 m2 was exhausting but we all enjoyed it a lot. After 10min and one mile of sailing someone shouted: ”There’s a Polar Bear in the water!” We all ran on deck and immediately turned the Pangaea to get closer to the bear. It was totally amazing to see the Polar Bear swimming 5m next to our boat, not in a zoo, but in nature. We could hardly belief it – it seemed so unreal. It’s really unusual to see polar bears that far south in summer when there’s no ice around and so close to a village. Due to global warming there’s not enough ice for them to hunt seals in summer, so they swim hundreds of miles to find food, and finally end up in places like that where they most probably get shot by hunters.

We still enjoyed it like Just a couple of days ago we all sat at home, and now we saw our first polar bear. But the excitement got even bigger as we saw Ice Bergs floating at the horizon. We soon reached them and got to see them in full beauty, shining light blue in the dark ocean. The first ones were small pieces of ice, but the further we got the bigger the Ice Bergs became.

We sailed along the coast of Baffin Island for about an hour when Mike told us to get ready to jump on one of the Ice Bergs. So we got down to the “garage” where all the yeps sleep, put on our hiking boots and ran up to the front of the boat to be ready to jump off. Erwan, one of the mountain guides jumped first and we all followed him one after the other. It was a bit scary to jump on a floating block of ice, but the excitement and the adrenaline rush was overwhelming all the fears. 😀 We stood on that around 30000 year old Ice Berg floating around for about half an hour. After getting back on the boat we kept sailing north, the coastline always to our right side, changing groups for watch every two hours. It was by far the most exciting and most amazing day up to now. We’ll all definitely never forget that first day sailing in the arctic again.

Blog by Henko Roukema

Today was a fantastic day as we saw our first polar bear!!! What an experience!! Never in my life did I think I would be able to see a polar bear in real life, this is truly an experience in a life time! I’m so grateful towards Mike and the team of Pangaea, I can’t express it in words! The day started with us taking a short trip to the town of Clyde river with the rubber duck, were we had the chance to go to the local school and the health centre, it is now organized that when we come back from the big wall climbing and hiking over the glacier that we will have a day to do some culture exchange with the local Inuit of Clyde river witch will surely be a unique! After our short visit to the town we started sailing towards the glacier we are going to be crossing.

The trip was the most exhilarating ever! There was ice bergs all the way… they are drifting all the way from Green Land to the pass of death as they are surely going to melt due to the warm water temperatures, the ice bergs are also getting smaller and smaller due to the fact of climate change as there is less ice formed each year due to the prolonged warmer seasons in the arctic! After the initial excitement of seeing the ice bergs , we gathered at the conference room in the boat were Mike and Riswitha gave us a talk about ice bergs and from where they are drifting (about 300 miles all the way from Green land, they are basically ice that is thousands of years old! We also saw some whales, but the best part of the day was when we got the chance to climb on to a flat small ice berg! What a rush!!

This is truly an honor to be part of this expedition as we are the only boat for hundreds of miles! Tomorrow we will start with a 4 day hike over a glacier that has never been crossed before; we are going to have to navigate and climb over crevasses and carry all our gear in a sled. The plan is to meet up with the boat at Sam Fjord where we will be doing the big wall climbing!

Just one day ago, with all the YEPs, Mike Horn andthe Mike Horn team finally reunited on board, Pangaea lifts up anchor, hoists the sails and heads northwesterly to eplore the spactacular fiords of baffin Island.  Amazing scenery and images await our Young Explorers as thee sail amongst massive icebergs with incredible ice formations. What a feast for the eyes!!

Today we had the opportunity to sleep late before we had breakfast at the hotel we are staying (The Navigator in Iqaluit) , then we met up with the team to discuss the days activities, first on our list was to start with the documentary we want to fill while we are on the expedition in Nunavut.

We had the opportunity to talk to a local lady that has been living in Iqaluit her whole life and she told us about her home town and her experiences about how climate change has affected her life also how the influence from "western people" changed their day to day living.

I was amazed at the cars everyone drives… 99 percent are huge pick up trucks! and they can only use the cars to drive in the town, since there are no roads connecting Iqaluit to other towns. There are 26 communities in Nunavut and the only way to travel between them are by air or in summer by sea if possible.

It was really interesting observing the Inuit culture. After the interview we found a wall of beautiful graffiti. It was more art than graffiti, nothing like I have ever seen before!

Then we got the great news that we are finally flying to Clyde River! There was a chance that we could not land but luckily luck was on our side and the weather cleared just enough so we could land! It was truly an amazing flight seeing all the sea ice and icebergs drifting in the crystal clear blue Arctic Ocean! We even saw a walrus from the plane when we had to land in Hall Beach to fill up the fuel tanks of the plane.

So this afternoon at approximately 5pm we landed in Clyde river, finally! We were greeted with the view of the sailing vessel, Pangaea laying at anchor in the bay and the other YEP's came to fetch us at the airport, since they arrived late yesterday afternoon.It was such a wonderful experience to finally be able to be standing on this great Pangaea!! Looking forward for tomorrow, another day, another new experience awaits!!!

Xue Xi's

I am counting the days left for the expedition. I am also counting the numbers for my training. Until now, 60 kilometers running, 250 floors walking, 700 pull ups, 1400 push ups, all for this coming unusual adventure.
Having no place to go for a hike, I go upstairs with backpack filled with sand bags.

They used to be my improvised barbells,15 kg each .They are killing my shoulders now but I really enjoy it. Finally a good reason to train hard for.

Every day my T-shirt is washed by my body. They are never really dry in the past weeks. I think I am ready after all this. Train for a reason, go for a dream!

Mikayla:

With one week until we leave for the expedition and 6 weeks into our training, my excitement is almost uncontainable! The training program Luke sent us 6 weeks ago has filled the hours of my afternoons and weekends and I couldn't be happier. I battled to find places to do good hikes as the area I live in is particularly flat however I did manage to get a few hours of climbing practice under my belt that I know will be valuable.

Ansgar:

They’re staring at me. But instead of eyes, there are laces challenging me. Often enough I’ve eased my feet into those smelly and dirty running shoes and jogged as usual: Up the hill, down the hill. Most of the times I’ve really enjoyed the exercise and being outside in nature. But of course there have been also some days when it would’ve been much more convenient to stay at home. Then I made myself think about the physical activities we’ll endure during the expedition. I don’t want to be the one, that holds back the team… thus this has meant so far many kilometers of running and a couple of hours of swimming. Not to forget those tricky push-ups.

Another important part of every day the last weeks was the checking of E-mails. Before my Pangaea-involvement there wasn’t much in my Inbox. As for now: many interesting Project-news and messages of other Young Explorers float in. Additionally the more information we get about our Nunavut Expedition, the more excited I get! After I got the overall timetable with some of the activities like Big Wall Climbing and Visiting an old Mine Site for example, I was so thrilled that I spent hours on the Internet to check out the details about places like Clyde River and Igloolik.

At times it was difficult to deal with the disappointment, when another newspaper, magazine or company replied negatively or not at all. But the more you try and contact, the more positive results come out. I’m sure Mike Horn himself has had problems finding sponsors in the beginning of his Explorer career…

Not only electronically the mail has been more than interesting. Also the actual mail-man has brought nice surprises. Normally there is not much in the mail: bills and advertisements; Maybe some postcards (which I really enjoy). Now it’s the first thing in the morning to check the mailbox. We’ve received great packages of gear (thanks to the sponsors), also the press and friends write suddenly to you. An extraordinary surprise was a book with amazing Polar regions photographs of National Geographic. Thanks!

Well, I think I’ve given my best so far preparing for the biggest adventure of my life. But I’m actually not sure if you can ever be done preparing for the vast wonders of nature…

Zuzanna:

Eternally dirty shoes, Mike Horn's T-shirt, Selection Camp playlist, my dog – and I can start running. Morning exercices advised by Luke consist of jogging or cycling and strenght training, more and more intense every week. I also go swimming, as in my opinion there's no other sport engaging all the muscles and so pleasant at once. As far as I know, the others go climbing, hiking, cycling. Well, I found another sport, more exhaustive and painful than anything else: shopping.

Althought most of the Expedition gear was sponsored (getting an enormous package with all the pretty clothes and high quality equipment was simply awesome: I was running around the house, trying on every jacket, pair of trousers, even socks for about an hour :); thank you!), there were some last things we needed to buy on our own. I tried to prepare for this challege: I made a list of things that I wanted to buy and shops where it seemed possible to get them, but when I was already facing the task everything turned out to be useless… After 5 hours spent in various sport centres and other stores I felt completely drained from strength and a few more items reminded on the list.

Henko:

Time really flew past the last couple of weeks since returning from the YEP 9th Selection Camp in Chateaux d’Oex! The SA media was very eager to hear about my time at the camp & also about the planned Mike Horn YEP expedition to Nunavut. Newspapers, magazines & radio stations all wanted to hear about it . I soon learned that one needs to be very specific and clear when dealing with the press because they love to dramatize everything! But I am happy that the Mike Horn Young Explorer Program got a lot of media exposure and I have several interviews & presentations lined up for after the expedition as well. I would suggest future YEPs to get some guidance at the selection camps about dealing with the press  (and modelling as well 😉 . This added skill will help us to spread the Mike Horn Pangaea message more easily.

As a South African I had to apply for Canada and USA visas. This was quite stressfull as the Canada embassy is in Pretoria ( 1300km away from Cape Town) and I had to be 100% sure that my documentation was correctly completed & couriered by plane in time. Fortunately all went well and I received my passport/visa in time for my USA visa interview in Cape Town. Even though I’ll only be in transit via Washington , USA granted me a “crew” visa valid for 10years as I will be sailing the seas as from next year ☺ . I am slowly beginning to feel like an international explorer ☺.

Physical Training has been GREAT fun for me – although we are in middle of our winter, we had sunny days for most of the time. So I needed no excuse to go mountainbiking, running or hiking on the hilly wine farms surrounding my village! My swim training continued in the evenings at the gym. I always find that swimming really relaxes my muscles and is a great way of low impact exercise. As I am a complete novice when it comes to big wall climbing, I asked one of SA’s best climbers (Matt Bush) to guide me on a couple of Table Mountain rockfaces & “practice makes perfect” – I am now much more confident with the gear & have come to trust my rope !

After receiving our required kit /gear list , I was on a mission to find real hiking shoes . The Selection Camp raid definitely convinced me about the importance of wearing good supportive hiking boots ! Finding hiking boots in SA that is suitable to wear with cramp-ons for the glacier trekking we are planning to do, was not easy ! But I am very happy with the La Sportiva Vajolet boots I bought & have put many kilometres of hiking on them already ☺ . Hiking with 18kg in our new Quechua backpacks definitely puts extra strain on your body, but I can already see myself exploring many different hiking routes in my beautiful country in the near future!

Getting the sponsored expedition gear felt like the best present ever! At first the Cape Town customs confiscated everything and wanted me to pay a lot of import duty & taxes as well, but after I gave them all my letters & documents & visas ( thanks Martin for fast response & help) , it was cleared & I could unpack & fit. I immediately tested the clothes’ warming capabilities by wearing it after my Speedo Africa Ice Swim event – it’s amazing how well the technical design works in extreme cold – thanks Quechua! This weekend my friends & I am going to one of the coldest places in the Western Cape – Ceres. Snow is predicted & I hope to do some acclimmatisation hiking in the surrounding mountains.

Off course there are more to do than just physical exercise – Prof Roswitha Stolz gave us a very technical workbook about Baffin Island & we have to study all about the climate, geography & people of this area. Our group has also been researching various Arctic issues as preparation for our expedition project and managed to get many first aid kits & soccer balls sponsoredI 

As we count down the days till leaving for Nunavut, I am doing more visualization excersizes. I find that this helps with how I deal with new & unexpected situations. The trick is to “see” yourself triumphantly finishing the obstacles you are faced with! Big wall climbing, glacier trekking, sailing icy North West Passage waters ,  minus 0ËšC temperatures , unpredictable weather forcing a changed plan of action  and different personalities crammed into confined spaces are just some of the many challenges that this extreme YEP Nunavut Expedition are going to throw at us.

I have enjoyed my training programme in the most beautiful natural surroundings here in the most southern tip of Africa and  cannot wait to get on the plane to Nunavut to explore the most northern tip of Arctic Americas !

Henk☺

The Pangaea Family celebrated a special occasion on Friday: Andrew's 21st Birthday! Being from the USA, it is very special that he decided to celebrate this landmark with us. After a day full of discussion for our future projects, the Young Explorers, Mike Horn Team and friends in Chateau d'Oex all met for a BBQ Party and danced the night away. And what climate could be more perfect than Switzerland for a midnight swim?
The Young Explorers fought the break of dawn and watched the sun rise on the mountainside. What a beautiful way to spend our last hours together!
Reunion camp has been great, and we are all thankful for the bonds we have strengthened with each other! Even the YEPs we only met on Friday feel like good old friends.

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DAY 1

Chateau d'Oex is the place to be for a Young Explorer today. Loaded with heavy backpacks twenty young minds from all around the world arrived at the charming village in Switzerland. For the whole day the air was filled with laughter and excited welcomes – new members were introduced and old friends were hugged.

A beautiful campsite next to a river is going to be our home for the upcoming week. We enjoyed our first dinner together in the group tent and afterwards gathered around an open fire. Here we started discussing about Pangaea, future projects and our visions.

We are full of enthusiasm and eager to exchange our ideas and thoughts. Our goal is to work out new strategies for ACT projects, also we hope to find as much time as possible to talk about new, original ideas that will help the Pangaea program to develop even further. We will keep you updated on this blog. Please follow us here and don't forget to tell your friends! We send a warm hug to all our fellow Young Explorers and supporters!

– The Reunion YEPs

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DAY 2

Following the tradition of Selection Camps, the second day of the reunion camp also started with a morning exercise. At 6.30 we reluctantly crept out of our warm sleeping bags and were greeted by a cold gust of fresh alpine air… Setting off at 7 from the camp site, we made our way up the steep slopes, into the forest and over bridges for a refreshing jog. For those of us from countries with level terrain or at lower sea levels, the run was extremely tiring…

After a simple breakfast of bread, muesli and tea as well as a warm shower, the 20 YEPs walked up to Hotel de Ville for some Act project presentations. It was great to hear from other YEPs about other successful environmental projects in other parts of the world: Inspiring each of us to go back to our own communities to do our part for the environment.

A major aim of the Reunion Camp is to plan and implement new Pangaea Act projects around the world. Thus we shared our ideas about a new Green Wave project, that YEPs from every continent can take part in. This lead on perfectly to a presentation made by Nespresso about ecolaboration and their experiences with Mike on the Pangaea. It is fantastic to have a company supporting the Young Explorers Program that is so passionate about creating a sustainable future. The Young Explorers are thoroughly looking forward to collaborate with Nespresso…

This rewarding and fun day was completed with a 45min walk to a farmhouse. The trek up the steep slope was thoroughly rewarding: the view from the top of the mountain, looking into a breath-taking valley and rocky peaks in the distance, was worth all the effort. At the farmhouse we were pleasantly surprised by a tour of the dairy farm, the production of cheese and of course the cheese tasting. Eating home-made cheese on a mountain is not comparable to eating Swiss cheese bought from a supermarket… Spoiled by a sumptuous meal of raclette and potatoes, we were all thoroughly grateful to the farmer, Pipo, for his generosity.

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DAY 3

Today there was big excitement in the air: we were going to go canyoning in freezing cold water! After a long car journey we finally arrived in "les marecottes", where Claude-Alain and Gilles waited for us. While packing the equipment, everyone was wondering what was ahead of us.

The activity started with a fifteen minute walk uphill. At the top, the guides made sure we all understood the safety precautions and the techinque to use during the canyoning. The first jump into the water was a shock: the water coming from the glacier was so cold!  Our first two slides were called the "shower" and the "jacuzzi". While sliding down the rocks, it was essential to have a straight body and to lay on one's back. In the middle of the canyon we had the chance to use a flying fox to get down a 20m waterfall. It was impressive to see the power of the water creating these narrow canyons… To finish this amazing adventure, those who were brave enough had the opportunity to jump from an 8m high cliff. We'd like to thank Wenger for sponsoring this amazing experience…

In the afternoon we had a discussion for our future Green Wave project as well as other long term projects. Since the Young Explorers were very enthusiastic, we ended up having a lot of ideas and are looking forward to commence our up and coming local projects.

Today we had a contrast between swimming in ten degree cold water and sitting around a two hundred degree campfire at night… It was truly an unforgettable day of the YEP reunion camp..

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DAY 4

It can be really tricky to find an act project in Switzerland. It is a pretty clean and green country so you can't really pick up trash you know… But our kind organizers found us something interesting and actually useful to do. It wasn't as easy as running uphill because we had to use skills that most of us don't normally use. We had to use both our hands and minds to build something. What can it be?

Well, nothing can stop a young explorer, not even professional and noisy tools. We all put our hands to work to build some bird nests. Those will be used by owls. Normally, owls nest in holes left by woodpeckers but since there are not enough woodpeckers here, a lot of owls don't have anywhere to nest.
Most of the people who came to the reunion are girls and I'm sure you can picture 8 unexperienced women trying to build something out of random pieces of woods. Fortunately, we had Nicolas, a local dad whose boy is part of the Pangaea community, to help us manipulate the power tools and saws. After few hours of hard working and after a couple of mistakes, we finally managed to put together 8 bird nests for the local owls!

It felt great to concretely see the result of your work and to know that you have done something useful. We also discussed about possible projects we can do individually or communally. Brainstorming as a big group is really creative but sometimes hard for we all have different opinions about what we would like projects to look like. But, most importantly, we get to meet amazing people from all over the world and you feel that you finally belong somewhere. It might sound very cliché, but I feel that together we can achieve great things and that is one wonderful opportunity to share and build a unique network with people that have the same strong will to make a change.

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DAY 5

Chilly evening in the Alps, all the YEPs are at the campsite. By the campfire, we sat reflecting on our great adventure of the day. We had woken at 6am ready to start one of our many YEP Adventures: the re-raid, hiking from Chateau d’Oex to Montreux on Lake Geneva through the Swiss Alps. It took us 9 hours of walking through rain and mud trying to find our way through the mountains. Arriving in Montreux, and witnessing the relative enormity of Lake Geneva made all of our effort feel worthwhile.

To boot, Becci and Florence waited for us in the train station with 24 boxes of well-deserved pizza! We ate lunch seated smelly and dirty on the steps of the train station. To us it felt normal, but passersby were curious… our final 30K was a train-ride back to Chateau d’Oex in our privately reserved train car—we felt so privileged!

These are the kinds of experiences that helps us YEPs to bond more closely together and remind us why we are all a part of the Pangaea Family. ☺

DAY 6

The Pangaea Family celebrated a special occasion on Friday: Andrew's 21st Birthday! Being from the USA, it is very special that he decided to celebrate this landmark with us. After a day full of discussion for our future projects, the Young Explorers, Mike Horn Team and friends in Chateau-d'Oex all met for a BBQ Party and danced the night away. And what climate could be more perfect than Switzerland for a midnight swim?

The Young Explorers fought the break of dawn and watched the sun rise on the mountainside. What a beautiful way to spend our last hours together!
Reunion camp has been great, and we are all thankful for the bonds we have strengthened with each other! Even the YEPs we only met on Friday feel like good old friends.

Chilly evening in the Alps, all the YEPs are at the campsite. By the campfire, we sat reflecting on our great adventure of the day. We had woken at 6am ready to start one of our many YEP Adventures: the re-raid, hiking from Chateau d’Oex to Montreux on Lake Geneva through the Swiss Alps. It took us 9 hours of walking through rain and mud trying to find our way through the mountains. Arriving in Montreux, and witnessing the relative enormity of Lake Geneva made all of our effort feel worthwhile. To boot, Becci and Florence waited for us in the train station with 24 boxes of well-deserved pizza! We ate lunch seated smelly and dirty on the steps of the train station. To us it felt normal, but passersby were curious… our final 30K was a train-ride back to Chateau d’Oex in our privately reserved train car—we felt so privileged!
These are the kinds of experiences that helps us YEPs to bond more closely together and remind us why we are all a part of the Pangaea Family. ☺