SURVIVING THE ICE

Mike Horn

(Éditions Michel Lafon, 336 pages, 2022)

Always undertaking new survival adventures that will test his mental and physical strength, renowned professional explorer Mike Horn recounts his latest feat of cutting through the Arctic, making his journey from the North to the South Pole equipped solely with skis and sledges. 

Before diving into the details of the treacherous “Pole2Pole” journey, he reveals how his success is the product of layers of perseverance gained through previous expeditions. This ranges from negotiating with Chinese officials to get his beloved exploration yacht Pangaea back after accidentally hitting one of their phantom islands, to attempting multiple times to climb K2 in Pakistan’s Karakoram. While he arrived just short of four hundred meters from K2’s summit and was forced to turn back due to the harshness of the conditions, he doesn’t see this as a defeat, but rather a necessary step of preparation. 

The first people to accomplish the “Pole2Pole” expedition, Mike and his companion, Børg Ousland, face countless unexpected challenges from the ever-evolving conditions caused by climate change, such as the thinning glaciers and drifts that push them backward, even as they trek on fearlessly. The added time diminishes their food supplies, creating suspense as they are unsure until the end whether they will make it. Just moments before finally reaching the two men who have come to meet them near their destination, Mike falls through ice into the water, where his ski becomes trapped beneath him. For a few minutes that seem a lifetime, he wrestles to free himself with the last bit of strength he has.

Beyond being a memoir about an incredible journey of survival, Surviving the Ice is a story about how confronting the possibility of death on a daily basis can propel an adventurer to live life deeply by experiencing the fullness of freedom at the edge of their limits. In a time of COVID-19, Mike invites reflections on what it means to be alive, one day at a time.

Mike Horn is a Swiss explorer born in South Africa who has gone on numerous record-breaking journeys across the world, from the Amazon to Antarctica. With a million copies of his books sold in France, and translations published in multiple countries, he has empowered many readers to seek adventure in their own lives. His book Conquering the Impossible was published by St. Martin’s Press in 2008.