Day 10 – written by Henko & Zuzanna

The raid continues. Some of us got to the camping site at the middle of the night after an exhausting day. Because of the dark, we couldn't see where exactly were we, but we could feel the cold and sound of water. The Team was already waiting, with tents, sleeping bags and sleeping mates prepared, but most importantly, FOOD! We could finally have a cup of warm tea and a 2-minutes noodle soup, which 'tasted like heaven' after all these kilometers… Probably no-one remembers the moment she/he has fallen asleep, as we were all so tired…

We didn't have too much time to recover, just a couple of hours of sleep before a breakfast ('cut that bread and spread that Nutella on it, if you want to, put a banana in it' Luke's words were). We were awoken by a magnificent view of a lake next to our camping site. We had to paddle to the dam wall on the other side of the lake. We used inflatable canoes and plastic paddles. Than the second day of the raid actually began, with a steep walk to the top of a hill over looking lake Rossiniere, what a amazing view! The two teams were chasing each other to the lake to reach the team building activity first! We had to build our own home made rafts out of wooden planks and petrol drums.Team Inukshuk reached the other bank, loosing one of their paddlers on the way! They were closely followed by team Aurora! It was then time for some much needed lunch to regain our energy and strenght. Thanks to Debbie for prepairing the sandwiches and some drinks! 🙂
This was when the biggest challenge began… we had too climbed to the peak of Conte De Cray which is about 2070 meters high!! Some of the YEP`s even crawling on all four to reach the peak! Team Inukshuk was the first team to ever reach the top of the mountain, then followed by team Aurora.

In the end after a grueling decent to Chateau D'Oex the teams finally reached the hotel just before the cut off time..! First was team Inukshuk, followed by team Aurora, unfortunately not everyone could finish the raid due to injuries 🙁 but everyone is making a speedy recovery!

(personal thinkings of Zuzanna) Tonight is our last night here in Switzerland, which will be spent relaxing and enjoying each others company!!! We have just eaten a typically Swiss solemn dinner: a dish called 'raclette' and cleaned the kitchen up for the last time in the evening. Most of people enjoy their last hours in the Expedition Center, talking and laughing, but I can only recall the memories from the last 10 days: my first meeting with Young Explorers and the Team, first morning exercises, moments of total concentration and complete chill out, various activities and those little features of everyday life here, in Chateau D'Oex. I feel grateful for every minute spent here and would give up all the treasures of the world to experience it again. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of the adventure in the YEP family.

Blog by Ricarda

"How far is it?" That was the big question – THE RAID ! We were split in two teams of eight. Each team, "Inukshuk" and "Aurora" got maps, coordinates, a compass, important gear like a harness, carabiners and mountain bikes. The "race" started and our first discipline was to cycle to a certain point – the foot of the steep mountain called the "Videmanette", it was our first goal on the given route. Our aim was to walk and summit the mountain +- 2000m in altitude.

Team "Inukshuk" arrived at first. The whole team is tied on one rope and had to climb in one line, secured on a cable. It seems to be easy, but the difficulty is that you are depending on the rope, which every member of the team is attached to. The view up there was incredible. On the hike down Anna, a member of the "Inukshuk" team twisted her ankle, but she didn't give up till the end. Thanks to the great teamwork they were not overtaken by the second group.

Meanwhile in Team Aurora, Terresa was struggling after a fall from her bike. She showed immense bravery and was well supported by her team. The team tried to keep spirits high and make up for some lost ground.

After pushing the bikes up a small path in the forest, a team exercise followed, known as the "Wall" – climbing over a wooden wall with supportive walking wooden planks to help the team cross this exercise wall. Towards the evening we could watch the amazing sunset while walking on top of a mountain. But we hadn't arrived at our camping site yet !

Late this evening we walked through a forest to pick up our bikes again and cycle the last section till we reached our sleeping spot.  Inukshuk were still well ahead. We were pushing all the time and "Inukshuk" arrived there at one o'clock early morning, the other team "Aurora" one and a half hours later. We had to build up our tents, before cooking our supper. Everybody was grateful for the quick "short nap" before heading out again early the next morning.

As our alarm clocks struck 6 40 we prepared for a wet cycle through the misty mountains of chateau-d’oex.  Definitely a new experience for most of us. We set off, against our muscles wishes up the slope but the pain disappeared as soon as the fog lifted and the landscape came into view.  The stunning green of the grass, the picturesque wooden farm houses and the rocky tips of the mountains disappearing under the grey blanket of clouds surrounded us as we speeded down the track. The track was muddy but we fought our way to the top of the hill for the descent.  Droplets rushing through a stream of cold mountain air greeted us as adrenaline pumped through our bodies, a much more exciting morning exercise than yesterday’s church run.

Warm showers and a delicious breakfast awaited us back at the hotel so as soon as we  were finished we joined Dr. Roswitha Stolz and Franziska Koch from the Department of Geography of the University of Munich for a  workshop on climatic, geologic and geographic conditions of the Arctic region.  We started with the basics such as the composition of sea ice, the characteristics of the north-west passage, definitions and a glimpse on its history.  Next, we reached what most of us yearned to know such as the actual consequences of the global warming on this particular vulnerable region, the devastating effects of the current and planned economic activities and analyzed the evolution of very influential data such as temperature, extension of sea ice and concentration of carbon dioxide.  Finally we ended the theoretical part of the workshop with a discussion on permafrost, which will be a great component of our research work in the expedition.

After lunch, we rejoined Roswitha and Franziska for the practical section of the workshop.  Here, we investigated the depth of the active layer by taking humidity measurements at different depths and locations.  We also calculated the soil insulation at specific places by dividing area into quadrants and evaluating the percentage of vegetation coverage and depth to later be applied in the expedition analyse the extent at which the permafrost is thawing. Questions poured through the whole workshop but Dr Roswitha and Franziska were happy to hear them and replied them with enthusiasm.  We acquired a lot of very useful and interesting knowledge, probably impossible to obtain from anywhere else.

After dinner, we gave our videos the finishing touches to present them to each other.  We really encourage you to see them and they will be available at the Mike Horn website.

Finally, the day ended on a high note with great expectations for the start of the Pangaea Raid, which you will also be able to follow with a live tracker from the community website.
 

Blog written by Theresa

“Tomorrow is secretive Saturday in Chateau-d’Oex!” – that’s what we were told about Day Seven yesterday in reference to the morning exercise. After running up the hill, swimming, mountain biking and the Mayo Fitness Test we thought the level of exhausting could barely be topped. But we soon learned another lesson. The secret was disclosed at 7am: the church run! It was raining heavily when we did our first lap up the stairs to the church. Following we should finish three laps in the best time we could. But as Mike Horn says “When you feel that you can’t go on, actually you just used 20% of your energy, you’re still having a 80%”, we did the same procedure again and ended up with a group competition in two teams. It’s unbelievable to experience how you still can push your limits further.

After a hot shower we spend the day on editing our video clips about sustainability and working with GPS. As the rain continued we got all wet the second time finding the GPS-points around Chateau-d’Oex.

It was followed by an impressive Shark presentation by Michael Scholl. As most of us didn’t know much about sharks before it opened our eyes for a fascinating species and its huge problems caused by us humans.

We finished the day with the presentations we had prepared for an ACT-project for the coming expedition and the older YEPs told us about their projects.

It’s incredible how fast the time passed until now. Everyday seems as short as a second – a live changing and unforgettable second that will last for the rest of our life!

Blog written by Xue Xi

Well,today began with tough exercises,but I really enjoy it. It has been such a long time since I had such a competitive running. It felt more difficult than the copper test. I think it is because I didn't get enough sleep since I got on the plane but you really have to make the best of the camp days.Less rests,more gains.

Michael gave his shark lecture finally this afternoon and it ended until evening. I think it was the best one since the camp began.You can see his passion in it. He is not taking about plain knowledge. It is his life. You can feel it. You will have the strong feeling to respect a man when he shows his dreams so naturally and passionately. I know what it is like. I can talk to people with my dreams for hours and I really want to listen to Michael to tell us all the things he wants to share. I felt hungry when it was dinner time but I am more hungry for what Michael still trying to express. Dreams drive you and that is why I am here.

It is really sad when Michael told us that Chinese people consume a lot of shark fins. It is crucial to look at the videos that show how sharks are being killed. I really feel helpless when you have to face the reality that in your own country people regard eating shark fins as a honor and news medias seldom cover the shark problems. I feel fortunate that I am never rich enough to eat the shark fins. I will contact the students clubs in my university to organize lectures about stopping eating shark fins. I think it will take a long time to spread the message out but it will worth the efforts. It will be really effective if Michael can deliver a speech in China. I am sure that experts like him will be convincing enough to make people aware of the facts that what sharks are really. Thank you, Michael!

Have you ever tried Standup Paddle Boarding before???

Yeah, today all Young Explorers had opportunity to experience rowing a surfing board across Genfer Lake. At the beginning it was hard for us to keep balance and to stay on the right directions. But after some minutes everyone felt more comfortable with the surfboards and started to stand up, which was quiet funny because some people fell down in the water. Martin arranged a competition, pushing us to give our best and to row as fast as possible. After taking the surfboards, we almost turned red like tomatoes and enjoyed our picnic.

In the afternoon, Luke brought us to a climbing gym and we spent awesome time with “rock and rope”.  We learned how to use the equipment and to stay safe. This knowledge will help the selected Young Explorers to survive if five meters in the climbing hall changes to 200 meters in Canada.

We ended our great day with Presentation on GPS/GIS by John Ebert of St Mary’s University. Imagine that you just stay at home with a laptop, but can grasp all Geography data in the world. Believe it or not, GIS (Geography information system) is totally an ideal tools to support you.  
 

Just a few more days and Mike Horn will rejoin Pangaea. Next step is an ECOtrip for Nespresso and employees around the magnifcent Islands of Haida Gwaii. (Queen Charotte Islands). Nature promises to astound the 27 people aboard during this 5 day trip.

written by Felix He-Mao HSU (Pangaea Magnetic North Pole Expedition Ambassador)

This past week I visited the German French School Shanghai, my former school, for two presentations in pre-school kindergarten (age 6-7) and 10th grade (age 16). It was a great opportunity to share my Arctic experience with students and to speak to them about the effects of climate change.

It’s equally amazing seeing fanatic little kids as is the feeling of spicing up another day in the office. Marquardt Shanghai generously invited me over to give a speech on the Magnetic North Pole Expedition and my motivation to carry on. I was by far the youngest one in the conference room full of office men and ladies, and I had an inspiring story to tell. It’s not often that you’d wake up to the grueling, cold Arctic morning with SD-card-sized blisters and realize that you’re about to walk for another ten hours, I told them, and at the end I believe I have affected them well with a bit of my ambition and motivation.

The message of action has been spread well in all three presentations. Not only the adult audience has received a little slap on their consciences, the 10th graders been asked to lead the change, also the little kids have grown aware that some polar bear out there is hungry but finds no food.

I truly hope that all of them took away something which will eventually make a difference in the future. Only when people of all ages from all walks of life see, understand and act, we stand a chance of not losing more but of preserving the remaining beauty of nature. Let’s make the change!

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By Anna & Tomas

Day five started with an early-morning mountain bike adventure. There were a few cuts and scrapes, but we all managed to find our way back to the hotel. The bike trail followed the Sarine river, which reminded us of the fascinating eco-system surrounding us.  After the bike ride, we went mountain climbing and abseiling on a rock-face nearby. The view from the top was breath-taking and we were all looking forward to spending the night on the hill top.

During the first-aid course that we had after lunch we learned the essential steps to keep in mind in case of emergency. It will be helpful in every-day situations and wilderness first-aid, which will be very applicable in the Nunavut Expedition. It was amazing how quickly a safety blanket and a candle can warm you up and that backpacks are enough to transport a person to medical help.

Afterwards, we attended a presentation from one of our loyal sponsors, Geberit . The company’s representative explained to us that Geberit does not simply manufacture toilets. It’s focus is sanitation, and it is currently sponsoring various international projects that emphasize the importance of sanitation for human development. It was very interesting to see how successful companies are taking social responsibility in a hands-on way.

The evening entertainment was the Mike Horn Talk Show. Our task was to introduce ourselves in thirty seconds or less and answer one of the questions from the participants of previous Young Explorers expeditions. It was quite stressful as we all were exhausted, but it was a valuable learning experience.  Overall, the day was thought-provoking, and both technically and physically challenging.

Blog by Xue

Mike Horn is here finally.This is the second time I met him. Well,totally different impressions. He is very serious this time. Hopefully it is not first impression to me, but I really love what he shared with us yesterday night.

It makes me think again why I am here. I skip the exams to come here, at the risk of losing an opportunity to study further in my university. My father asked me once why I want to do this. Well, this is the first time that in my whole life that I have the opportunity to see the world. I want to be inspired by this and I want to gain the credibilities to talk people into good actions.

I am a quite person in the group. Maybe I don't speak very good English, but that is the what I am made to be back in China. I have a few friends but I am an easy-going person actually. How can you make friends with someone who spend all their free time in front of the computer rather than going out to take a jog ? How can you make friends with someone step on the plants to take shortcuts and almost beat me when I told them not to ? How can you make friends with someone that think you are in strange behavior just because you keep all the bottles? That is what China is like. I have few companies to share our love towards the nature together. While in the camp, I am not a strange person again. I love it! I will get the experience and tell people back in China, you are doing harm to the world and you are getting lonely.
 

Today was Day 4 of the Canada Expedition Selection Camp, which was definitely one of the most exciting and busiest days so far. In the morning, we started with a swim at the local Olympic-sized pool, which was challenging but gave us the feeling of accomplishment that only comes with pushing ourselves to our limits. It was definitely a refreshing change from the morning runs we've had.

After breakfast we had Mayo Clinic fitness testing for agility, flexibility, respiratory capacity, strength, balance, endurance, and power. For the endurance portion, we did the famous Cooper test today! It was an exhausting experience, but it was great to push ourselves to our limits. While eight of us did the fitness testing, eight of us learned about orienteering. We were given points on a map and went out and found them using what we learned. It was so much fun to go out in the Swiss Alps and see the picturesque scenery while we explored.

We also had two presentations from sponsors of the Pangaea Expedition today. The first was Wenger, the company that makes Swiss Army knives. It was interesting to learn about the history of the company and what their goals are. Mike Horn designed two knives for Wenger and we were all so exhilarated to receive Mike Horn Souvenir knives. The second presentation was Nespresso. We really learned a lot about what Nespresso does to maintain sustainability through their "ecolaboration" project.

During the presentation, we finally met the man: Mike Horn. We were all so excited that he had come all the way from Vancouver to be at the selection camp. He shared his insight with us and we were all honored to hear his opinions and absorb his wisdom and knowledge. We presented ourselves to him and individually answered questions about why we wanted to be a part of the Pangaea Expedition.

Tomorrow morning we'll be going mountain biking, and some of us are quite nervous for the experience while others are simply ecstatic. We will all make it through as a team as we all work together, and we hope you will cheer us on! 🙂

Blog written by Mikalya and Valentin

Our second morning started early with morning exercises in a beautiful nature park just outside the village. We all partook in chin ups, push-ups, agility and strength exercises where the motivation and positivity among the Young Explorers was so clear and inspiring.

After breakfast, we were joined by two representatives from the Mercedes Benz Event Driving, the main sponsor of the Mike Horn Pangaea Program. Here we learnt about the exciting new Mercedes Benz Eco-friendly models and how to be an eco-friendly driver. This was very interesting and we got the opportunity to build small car models that use hydrogen to power their engines therefore having no emission, this is an exciting prospect for the future of car technology.

Three of our licensed drivers got the chance to drive the Mercedes-Benz cars around the village. They did two laps, one normally and one adhering to the eco-friendly rules of driving. We then observed the difference in their emissions and speeds and it was interesting to see that they did increase their speed while decreasing their emissions and fuel consumption. It is an exhilarating idea to have learnt how we can make a big difference simply by making small changes while driving.

We started the first of the Mayo Fitness testing which was very challenging. We each had to run on the treadmill and push ourselves to our absolute limit. Later, a few carried on with more tests while the others sat enthralled by a movie of Mike Horn’s expeditions.

All of us are ready for a good night’s sleep and to see what adventures, excitements, laughs, lessons and memories tomorrow hold for us! 🙂

Blog written by Xue

It is the third day of the selection camp. I am still so excited about that I can be chosen to come here. Beautiful environment,passionate people and delicious food. Fantastic!

The scenery is really amazing. We have mountains back in China,but not such green. We have sky ,but not so blue. We have air of course,but not so fresh the first time in my whole life ! The country-style buildings,the friendly locals and their cozy life,are really reminding me of what the world is really about. People here respect the nature. No trashes along the road and no bottles in the forest.I can see people cycling from 6 to 60 years old. Cannot imagine that in my own country. Sports is their life and outdoors is their playground.

I gain a lot from the activities organized. I have a SLR camera but this is the first time that I got some professional training on how to take pictures. The Mercedes-Benz part is really cool because my major is automobile and I love the Mercedes-Benz's strategy to invest so much to get our world greener even though the automobile industry contributes a lot to the environmental problems. My favorite is the Mayo Clinic Test because I am really interested in how the scientific staff invovles with the training. I hope I can get a really effective plan for myself to train back in China to get my limits. They are really exsperts in the sports field.

I can't wait to see what is next in the next few days! Must be fun!