MY PLANE LANDED on an archipelago called Svalbard. March 2011.
Stepping off the plane I did a slow turn, taking it all in. White, white, and more white. As far as the eye could see, nothing but ivory, snowy whiteness. White mountains, white snowdrifts, white hills, and threaded through it were narrow white roads, and not many of those. Most of the two thousand local residents had a snowmobile, not a car. The landscape was so minimalist, so spare, I thought: Maybe I’ll move here.
Maybe this is my purpose.
Then I found out about the local law forbidding anyone to leave town without a gun, because the hills beyond were patrolled by desperately hungry polar bears, and I thought: Maybe not.
We drove into a town called Longyearbyen, the northernmost town on earth, a mere eight hundred miles from the apex of the planet. I met my fellow trekkers. Captain Guy Disney, a cavalryman who’d lost the lower part of his right leg to an RPG. Captain Martin Hewitt, a paratrooper whose arm became paralyzed after he’d been shot. Private Jaco Van Gass, another paratrooper, who’d lost much of his left leg and half his left arm to an RPG. (He gave the remaining nib of his arm a jaunty nickname, Nemo, which always cracked us up.) Sergeant Steve Young, a Welshman, whose back had been broken by an IED. Doctors said he’d never walk again, and now he was about to tug a 200-pound sledge to the North Pole.
Inspiring lot. I told them I was honored to join them, honored just to be in their company, and it didn’t matter that the temperature was thirty below. In fact, the weather was so bad we were delayed in setting off.
Ugh, Willy’s wedding, I thought, my face in my hands.
We spent several days waiting, training, eating pizza and chips at the local pub. We did some exercises to acclimatize to the harsh temperatures. We pulled on orange immersion suits, jumped into the Arctic Ocean. Shocking how much warmer the water was than the brutally cold air.
But mostly we got to know each other, bonded.
When the weather finally cleared we hopped onto an Antonov and flew up to a makeshift ice camp, then switched to helicopters and flew to within two hundred miles of the Pole. It was about one A.M. when we landed, but bright as midday in a desert. There was no darkness up there: darkness had been banished. We waved goodbye to the helicopters and began.
Experts on Arctic conditions had urged the team to avoid sweating, because any moisture freezes instantly at the North Pole, which causes all kinds of problems. But no one told me. I’d missed those training sessions with the experts. So there I was, after the first day’s walk, after the pulling of heavy sledges, absolutely gushing perspiration, and sure enough my clothes were turning to solid ice. More alarming, I was beginning to notice the first spots of trouble on my fingers and ears.
Frostnip.
I didn’t complain. How could I, among that bunch? But I also didn’t feel like complaining. Despite the discomfort, I felt only gratitude at being with such heroes, at serving such a worthy cause, at seeing a place so few people ever get to see. In fact, on Day Four, when it came time to leave, I didn’t want to. Also, we hadn’t yet reached the Pole.
Alas, I had no choice. It was leave now or miss my brother’s wedding.
I got onto a helicopter, bound for Barneo Airfield, from which my plane was to take off.
The pilot hesitated. He insisted that I needed to see the Pole before leaving. You can’t come all this way and not see it, he said. So he flew me there and we hopped out into total whiteout. Together, we located the exact spot with GPS.
Standing on top of the world. Alone.
Holding the Union Jack.
Back on the helicopter, off to Barneo. But just then, a powerful storm came sweeping across the top of the earth, canceling my flight, canceling all flights. Hurricane winds battered the area, growing so intense that they cracked the runway.
Repairs would be required.
While waiting, I hung out with an assortment of engineers. We drank vodka, sat in their makeshift sauna, then jumped into the ice-cold ocean. Many times I tipped back my head, downed another shot of delicious vodka, told myself not to stress about the runway, the wedding, anything.
The storm passed, the runway got rebuilt, or moved, I forget which. My plane went roaring down the ice and lifted me into the blue sky. I waved out the window. Goodbye, my brothers.
