Børge Ousland

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Børge Ousland (born May 31, 1962 in Oslo ) is a Norwegian adventurer and polar explorer.

Børge Ousland, 2010

Early years

Ousland grew up in Nesodden . From 1984 to 1993 he worked as a deep sea diver off the coast of Norway. From 1989 to 1991 he did his military service with a Norwegian special marine unit.

Expeditions

1986 Ousland crossed Greenland on skis with Agnar Berg and Jan Morten Ertsaas from the east coast to the west coast.

In 1990 he carried out his first North Pole expedition with Geir Randby and Erling Kagge, also on skis. The launch took place on March 8th on Ellesmere Island in Canada and ended on May 4th at the North Pole. The team was not looked after on the way, but carried the necessary equipment and food with them on sledges from the start.

In 1994 he reached the North Pole in a solo expedition. The launch took place on March 2nd at Cape Arktichesky in northern Siberia and after 52 days it reached the pole on April 22nd. This expedition marked the final breakthrough for Ousland. Since then he has been working professionally with the implementation of his own expeditions and also conducts guided expeditions.

In 1995 Ousland started a solo crossing of the Antarctic continent. After reaching the South Pole, however, he had to give up.

On November 15, 1996 he started the second attempt to cross the Antarctic continent in a solo expedition. The start took place on Berkner Island , the goal of the McMurdo station he reached after 64 days on January 17, 1997. He covered a distance of 2845 km. The sledge weighed 178 kilograms at the beginning of the expedition. This expedition was not supported from the air either, Ousland had all the material and food on the sled from the start. In 2018, the American Colin O'Brady claimed to have been the first person to cross the Antarctic continent alone and without aids. Ousland, who covered almost double the distance including the ice shelf, but at times let himself be pulled by a paraglider , contradicted this and claimed this world record for himself.

In 1999 Ousland climbed the 8,000-meter Cho Oyu .

In 2001 Ousland crossed the Arctic in a solo expedition from Siberia to Canada via the North Pole in 82 days.

In 2003 he had to break off the ascent just below the summit of Mount Everest .

In 2004 he went on an expedition through Patagonia with Thomas Ulrich . Kayaks and skis were used.

2006 on January 23, the first winter expedition to the North Pole started from Siberia together with the adventurer Mike Horn . This was achieved on April 23. Such an expedition carried out in the polar night was considered impossible until then.

In 2007 he ran with Thomas Ulrich from the North Pole to Franz-Josef-Land , following the journey of Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen .

In 2009 he leads the reigning Prince of Monaco , Albert II, on an expedition on skis to the South Pole. This trip is divided into several similar trips with changing companions with whom he undertakes ski expeditions to the North or South Pole over the years.

In 2010, together with a trimaran and its captain Thorleif Thorleifsson, he completed the first complete circumnavigation of the Arctic in a single summer. Both the Northeast Passage and, immediately afterwards, the Northwest Passage and the northern North Atlantic were sailed one after the other . Sailing both passages in direct succession and circumnavigating the Arctic as a whole had been considered impossible just a few years earlier.

literature

Works

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Linn Blomkvist: Polfarere uenige etter at American hevdet han krysset Antarctica helt uten hjelp. NRK , December 29, 2018, accessed January 15, 2019 (Norwegian).
  2. ^ David Roberts: The First Solo Antarctic Traverse. The New York Times , January 3, 2019, accessed January 15, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Ousland, Børge
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian adventurer
DATE OF BIRTH May 31, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH Oslo