ML137963
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Subject: (Interview). Subtitle: Will Steger. Timecode In: 00:01:00. Timecode out: 00:31:05. Notes: North Pole expedition. Equipment Notes: Stereo=1; Dual-Channel Mono. NPR/National Geographic Society RADIO EXPEDITIONS WILL STEGER TWO-WAY W/ PETER BRESLOW 8/7/97 ROUGH LOG PB 1:05 (asks if it was a hard decision to end the expedition) WS 1:12 It was a hard decision but it was a real easy one to make. What happened is the long journey, the 2 week journey from Minnesota to the pole was really a stressful one especially the ice breaker. We hit the roughest ice the captain had ever seen in 18 yrs which meant on the ice breaker we were continually crashing forward going backwards, hundreds of times and I thought the ice breaker was going to be a real rest for me but it was a sleepless journey w/ no appetite. And by the time I got to the ice I was really totally run down. And once on the ice, the moisture got into my lungs and I got pneumonia like symptoms which was quite serious out there being alone. But on the 5th day I decided to start hauling, just to get out away from the campsite and test my strength and so forth. But hauling for just a hundred yds I knew that this effected me too much. My health had get(?) down to almost 80 - 20% down. I knew - it wasn¿t a decision I had to talk w/ myself or use logic. It was obvious that I would have to turn back. I knew the ice breaker was coming back in another 2 weeks. And if I went forward I could pos. get myself into a serious rescue situation where land based helicopters 500 miles would have to try to come and pluck me out of the fog and this would be a very dangerous mission for these men that would have to come up. And that was really the decisive point there was a dangerous rescue. So I decided to come back to my camp and made procedures for the rescue thereon. It was extremely disappointing but it was one ¿I knew it was the direction to go. 2:53 PB so it was sort of a now or never situation in terms of rescue more or less. WS 3:00 Yes it was. I was drifting east as I was laying on the ice, trying to recuperate for the 1st days. I was drifting off course slowly and in the fog. It was really a mental game¿ I was anxious at the beginning of the expedition. I couldn¿t loosen up and get the proper rest¿.. mentally the whole game is 85/90% - I used to think it was 80% mental. It¿s 90 I found out. And w/¿ the touch of pneumonia that I had, it was just too risky b/c being close to the pole is the most dangerous part of the expedition for rescuing. So I opt to go back - in the 30 yrs I¿ve been doing expeditions I¿d never had a situation where I turned around. This decision was made¿ it¿s pretty obvious. It was disappointing. 3:58 PB (do you think it might have been different if you had adhered to your original plan of goin south to north.) WS 4:07 Yeah, if I - my original plan was going from Ellesmere to the pole. The only flaw w/ being dropped off at the pole was that 2 week rough travel period of jet-lag and ships and so forth from Minneanapolis to the pole. B/c I was in good shape when I left on the 30th and I was in the most stressful situation I think I¿ve ever been in, in my life 2 weeks later. Whereas if I would have went from Ellesmere, I would have trained for 3 weeks. We had a regular short expedition beforehand. And the plan there was to gradually to get in shape and then leave from there. Ellesmere would have been a different situation. The difficulty of that original plan of leaving from Ellesmere was being picked up at the pole. The charter pilots would not pick me up from Canada b/c they wouldn¿t fly a plane out there. It was a Russian helicopter. I was concerned about not being located there in Sept. when I reached the pole w/ winter coming on and darkness. It would have been a difficult situation. So it ... (Notes truncated)
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- 17 Oct 2008 - Ben Brotman
- Digitized
- 17 Oct 2008 - Ben Brotman
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- 17 Oct 2008 - Ben Brotman