FATHER FISH

FATHER FISH

by Tyler Fish

Birth is an expedition.  It starts somewhere and it ends someplace entirely different.My family now includes Sarah and me, our German Shepherd and Ethan Torbjorn Fish, newest addition. He's here to stay.  My life is altered. 

When you're an expecting father, you get a lot of advice, both solicited and unasked for, and one of the most common phrases offered to me was, “it'll change your life.”  For me those words were the beginning and the end of it.  Nothing more was said; “it'll change your life” wasn't expanded upon very much.  I didn't know what that meant, and no one seemed inclined to fill me in.  It was like everyone was saying, “get ready,” but they wouldn't explain how.  Now I think I begin to grasp it.

The appearance of Ethan changed my life from the moment I stared at him.  Traditionally newborn infants haven't been very interesting to me.  Needy, hard to communicate with, kind of clumsy and loud.  Not very predictable--all in all they share the characteristics of bad expedition partners.  So when I just stood there and stared at him for fifteen minutes in the nursery at the hospital, and thought he was incredible, I knew something had changed.  I actually thought, “so this is what they meant.”   Smiling, I laughed inside and knew that this was just the beginning.

The second most common advice was that I should get my sleep while I could.  A veteran father would say, “get ready for sleepless nights.”  This I shrugged off and dreaded at the same time.  I dismissed it because I wanted to.  I feared it because I like my regular sleep.  Digging a little deeper, in a conversation with one of my friends, he said that you just get used to operating on less sleep.  “How,” I asked?  “You just do,” was his reply.  This is a huge change for me, and I'm making it because I have no choice.  My wife and I are a team, helping each other get what we need while attending to the larger goal of a happy, healthy family.

Expeditions change your life, and the North Pole trip will undoubtedly do the same for John and I.  Similar to birth, no one can really tell us what it'll feel like, how that will occur.   There will certainly be times of less sleep!   John and I will tolerate this because we have to in order to achieve our goal.  We take all the advice we can get.  When we're out on the ice we will smile and laugh inside and out when the words find their true meaning for us.  At some point we're guaranteed to say, “this is what they meant.” 

Erling Kagge, from Norway, was the first person to reach the North Pole, the South Pole and Everest.  Here's what he had to say about polar expeditions, birth and the changing life:

“Polar explorations are somewhat similar to childbirth.  During the journey and immediately afterwards I couldn't imagine doing it again.  During the thick of it, I think of the cold, the pain, the filth and the hunger (I'm talking about polar exploration here) - yet, in the fullness of time, a new dream begins to take shape.  Its easy to forget, but let's remember that the universe wasn't created to guarantee human happiness, and the nightingale doesn't sing for our amusement.  From this I conclude that I must organize the conditions of my own happiness.  Living free will never be pain-free.  That was never the idea of it” --Erling Kagge

Life changes.  Sarah and I chose to guide this process by having a son.  For me and John, we choose to throw in a journey to the North Pole.  The journey will change us.  When we finish the expedition, John and I will not be the same people we were when we started.

 

MENTAL TRAINING?

MENTAL TRAINING?

by John Huston

Tyler and I talk about the importance mental training all the time.  So what exactly is it? 

Mental training is getting our minds ready for all aspects of the expedition.

How we respond to the challenges of the expedition will be the difference between success and failure.

Our mental training is a slow process that takes place over years and months.  A lot of the mental training comes from our past expedition experience.  This experience provides a critical foundation to build upon.

During the summer and fall we use several different methods to prepare our brains for the challenge ahead.

Here's a list of a few of the methods of mental training we commonly use.  We'll talk about these and other topics in more detail down in the future.

1.  Positive Visualization:  Imagining, in detail, situations that may happen on the expedition.  We then visualize the necessary steps to success.  In many ways this focused thinking increases our base of experience.  It is not the same as being on the expedition but in many ways it can be close and thus improve performance when similar situations occur.  

2.  Critical Self-Assessment:  We constantly look at our weaknesses.  We then educate ourselves through research or seeking advice.  Staying humble is essential to many aspects of the expeditionary experience, perhaps most importantly in the ability to strive to improve.

3.  Optimism:  Belief in positive possibilities.  A lot of this training happens the daily existence of working to fund and grow the expedition project.  At times, setbacks occur or goals can seem far away, but we believe strongly that if we keep plugging forward and be true to who we are, then all will work out on in end.  The path is not always known, but in many ways that is the fun part.  Optimism in our minds is not just an idea, but the hard work that makes turns an idea into action.

4.   Not Thinking (Don't Worry too Much):  In many ways thinking about unknowns and daunting challenges is a lot more difficult than experience the challenge itself.  Positive action breeds more positive action.  We don't always know exactly how we are going to get there, but we know that we will get there.  We don't know how we will feel or what we will think in the future.  The ability to let go and forget yourself, in ways can be a key to enjoying expeditions.

5.  Reading and Asking Questions:  We are fascinated by how other individuals, not just polar explorers, undertake challenges.  Although the problem itself be very different from our challenges, successful mental approaches to challenge can be universal.  We love studying this topic and hope to use our expedition as a similar resource for others.

IT'S A BOY!

IT'S A BOY!

by John Huston

Today is a special day!  The North Pole '09 family grew by a few pounds.  A few minutes after 2:15pm CST today, Tyler Fish and his wife Sarah Lakosky welcomed their first child, a baby boy into the world.  Everyone is happy and healthy.  

Tyler and I are extremely close with our families.  Their support and lifelong inspiration have had an immeasurable influence on our lives and the pursuit of our dreams.  In so many ways this expedition project is an extension of those relationships and values.  

As Tyler and I strive to tell the story of this expedition, with a focus on our mental experience, we will discuss more about the origins of each other's character and about our families.  

Long ski expeditions are more than just plodding over ice surfaces hour after hour and day after day, they are what each person imagines and experiences in their own minds.  It is this experience that we hope to share with your in the coming months.  For us it's safe to say, that in the strange, zone-like mental existence of long distance ski expeditions, few topics will cross our minds more than thoughts and feelings for our families.

More information on Tyler and Sarah's new baby coming soon

FISHING

FISHING

By Tyler Fish

Bungee jumping is crazy.  I've never done it and I'm not interested.  It seems risky, with consequences that are not so ideal.  People find that interesting, because I'm willing to ski to the geographic North Pole.   Nor can I be an explorer in the historical sense of the word; the North Pole has been reached.  Not by an American skiing unsupported, but it's been done.  This expedition, and even more difficult trips have been accomplished.  It's not a “first” to be explored.

I was giving a presentation on the North Pole '09 expedition and a guy said to me, “It's clear you're just an adrenaline junky.”  Funny.  His statement couldn't be farther from the truth.  I've never liked roller coasters, although I've always had a soft spot for the Flume, an icy waterfall and gorge in Vermont.  I guess that's why I'm going to the Arctic Ocean?  Cold and wet is okay.  Friends of mine have skydived, and I'm not sure that's for me, either.  No, it's definitely not about adrenaline.

Am I an explorer?  The historical explorers were amazing people.  They didn't just do hard things with old, by-gone equipment.  They strived and accomplished and even failed and sometimes died NEVER knowing where they were or what was next.  If there had been detailed maps or guidebooks, they wouldn't have been truly exploring!  It's a little more complicated than that, the definition of explorer, but no, I don't consider myself one of those in the historic sense.

My reality is more subtle.  I've thought about it a lot.  People have often wonder why I've worked for Outward Bound for 13 years.  I am impassioned by working with and thinking about kids.  As part of my job, I am constantly thinking about my high school and college experience.  My students silently demand that I undertake that kind of introspection.  So I've come to this conclusion, its not about adrenaline or being an explorer, it's about engaging life by following my heart and imagination.  Like so many of my expeditions, my life is a mental experience.  This thread started unknowingly when I was a child and continues today..... 

Years ago my parents would drop me off at my grandparents farm in eastern Minnesota, and I would peek in the kitchen to say hello and grab a handful of grandma's homemade cookies.  As nourishing for my soul as they were, the real sustenance came from the long wanderings around the farm. Through fields, in barns, over machinery and under old trees, I would follow the old beagle that traced mysterious scents with her nose. 

At the other grandparents' house on the lake, I would check the garage for any kind of tool or plaything, put it in a bag and off I went. My destination was nowhere; my path was in my imagination, my mental perspective defined my experience. There was always somewhere to go, someplace to see, perhaps something to find and of course always something to imagine. 

And on it went...I walked around Europe with my parents when I was seven.  I walked miles home from school for reasons I don't remember now, but I think I just felt like seeing my world.  I just wanted to be engaged in my world.  That's the core of this.  The best life is one that is fully engaged.  I don't need adrenaline to do that, but it does make it fun and vibrant sometimes. Nor do I need to be the first person to go someplace in order to be amazed.  However, I do allow myself to imagine that no one has been here, or that it's been a long time, and that this is MY place for the brief moment.   I like to be active in my world, not just an observer of it.

So when the months fly by and I find myself on the Arctic Ocean, I will fully engage my senses and myself in my world. There will be enough adrenaline now and then to keep it interesting, and there's no doubt I'll feel as though I'm somewhere entirely unique. But unlike my wanderings around my grandparent's farm, on the Arctic Ocean and as with past expeditions, I won't have to imagine that I'm someplace strange and powerful.  I'll know.

SUMMERTIME

SUMMERTIME

Office time.

by John Huston

In conversation, once a person finds out that Tyler and I are headed to the North Pole the next question often is, “So, what do you do now, during the summer?”  This entry gives a window into my daily life and in part answers that question.  Tyler will give his version in the coming weeks.  

Basically, when not on the ice, Tyler and I are entrepreneurs running a small business focused on growing the expedition project, physical training, networking, marketing, PR and fundraising.  Like a lot of people we sit behind the computer, email, use the phone and pretty much have a normal work schedule.  On the expedition we are very careful to adhere to strict routines, in order to break the day down into easily consumable pieces.  The same is true for our away-from-expedition routines, although at home we consume a bit less (food that is). 

5:30AM The alarm wakes me up.  Unlike my habit on expedition, where I wake up like a rocket, I then lay there for a few minutes enjoying the comfort.  Then into the kitchen where I down at least a pint of water, on expedition it is almost twice that amount.  Water helps get the circulation going in the cold.

6:00AM Out the door for two hours of training in the beautiful Chicago morning.  All mornings are beautiful when I'm working out!  Biking, lifting weights at the gym, pulling tires or once in a while running.   Without my morning workout I feel I a bit restless and fidgety all day. 

8:00 - 9:00AM  Breakfast time.  BIG TIME. My standard: 2 potatoes sliced and fried in butter with onions (I dearly miss my morning potatoes on the ice), 2 eggs scrambled with cheese, 4 pieces of bacon, 2 english muffin halves with a generous application of butter, coffee once in a while and I top the big plate with whatever hot sauce or avocado fixing is around.  More on our diet (and butter) in the future, but I will say that I'm happily up 15 pounds from this time last summer.  I peruse the online sports sections while eating.  

Around Noon:  Lunch, another high calorie plate.  I mostly eat whole foods.

12:30PM - 6:00PM I continue work from the morning.  More work on the website (this will wrap up soon), phone conversations with our sponsors, working on pitch documents, preparing for an upcoming public presentation, talking with the wonderful people at our charity partner CaringBridge and receiving marketing and fundraising advice from various expedition consultants.  Working from home allows me to be flexible and efficient, but I miss the social interaction of working with other people in an office.  However, I feel our expedition project team is growing all the time and I really enjoy my interaction with those who have joined the project via partnership and supporting roles.  

Evening:  Big dinner, often fish on the grill with rice and veggies, I often I eat with my roommate or a friend.  I feel my body craving protein when the work out schedule is heavy.  Dinner is followed by some social gathering, softball (part of Chicago culture), meeting friends or sometimes I just do more work (light-on-the-brain work the that is normally accompanied by the White Sox game on tv or the radio).  I am going to find a way to listen to baseball games on the ice, I love the easy-going cadence of basebal on the radio.  Then a bit of reading and I'm in bed by 10:30PM or so.

All in all it's a fairly normal existence, but with a singleness of purpose.  For the most part I enjoy the administrative side of expeditions, it challenges many parts of my brain and builds skills that will be applied to future non-expedition endeavors.   

TIRE CITY

TIRE CITY

John on North Ave. beach in the early AM, the Chicago Skyline to the south. Photo: Matt Taplinger.

By John Huston

The start of the North Pole '09 expedition is still over 7 months away, but Tyler and I have been training since the end of last winter's expedition season in April.  Our workouts are custom-designed by our expedition physical trainer, Piotr Bednarski, Director of Athlete Development for the U.S. Biathlon Association.  Piotr has worked with us to design a workout regime specifically geared toward readying our bodies for the twisting, torquing and stamina necessary to pull 260 pound loads through the ice rubble of the Arctic Ocean.  Workouts consist of weight training, biking, running and most importantly pulling 45 pound truck tires to simulate pulling a sled while skiing.

Pulling tires is an unique experience that elicits all sorts of fun (mostly) reactions from on lookers.
Traffic slows down, heads turn, mouths drop, eyes widen and silly comments bubble up in the back of people's throats.  I plod by at 3 miles an hour pulling my heavy rubber tire doughnuts behind me.  On hot sunny afternoons in Chicago thousands of people team up and down the lakefront, biking, running, walking, roller-blading and swimming.  Sometimes it seems like half of these people are magnetically drawn to the lone guy pulling tires while walking with funny looking ski poles.  Some people just stop and ask me about the reason for this sort of training.  Others stop and spout out a random comedic remark.  

At this point I've heard a lot of these remarks.  Some are funnier than others.  Themes often repeat.  I wish I could say that I receive all the remarks happily, but I'm human just like everyone else.  My reaction varies greatly depending on my mood, energy level and how hungry I am.  Here is a list of the top ten comments (with my reaction).......what would you say to me, or if your were me, what would your reaction be?

 10.  “Hey, can I sit on there?”  (Reaction:  unfunny to me, the first time and the 50th time.  Normally I counter by asking if they want to pull the tires, so far no one has taken me up on the offer :) ).
9.  “Wouldn't it be easier to roll the tires instead of dragging them?”  (Reaction:  I respond to this common quip by saying that I don't want it to be easy).
8.  “Hey, dude, where's you car?”  (Reaction:  funny the first time, but not as nearly as much the 50th time;  car references are perhaps the most popular theme).
7.  “Did you get those off my car?” (Reaction: 'Yes' :) ).
6.  “Do you know that you have two tires behind you?”  (Reaction: 'No' :) ).
5.  “Did you lose a bet?” (Reaction: I find this one to be quite funny, I like a good practical joke).
4.  “Are you being punished for something?” (Reaction: Also quite clever, I like creative consequences).
3.  “Respect!” accompanied by a fist pump or head nod (Reaction: fist pump or head nod back; this positive support is always a bit of a pickup.           Funny how a few positive words can go a long way).
2.  “What did you do to your wife?” from an elderly man with as big smile(Reaction: A creative exclamation from another generation).
1.  “What DID you DO?!?” from a little, very astonished looking, middle-aged man (Reaction: I thought this one was hilarious).