Polar Attack: From Canada to the North Pole, and Back

What an exciting and amazing story this is! Against all odds these very strong and tenacious adventurers have skied across a nearly impassable collection of mobile ocean ice to the North Pole and back under conditions of extreme cold - as cold as -72 degrees! All supplies for 4 months for this completely self-sufficient expedition were carried in backpacks and dragged along in sleds. Their pre-trip planning was so complete they knew in advance when every morsel of food would be consumed! That totaled enough for a daily calorie allotment was 7000 calories. To eat less would incur a dangerous loss of strength. The book is well written and very exciting. It kept me riveted to my seat until I finished reading it. When I was done, I felt as if I had been part of the adventure - except I was still warm and comfortable, with no aching muscles!

I confess an interest - I have skied to the North Pole with Weber and Malakhov. By contrast with the experience outlined in this book, however, my trip was a walk in the park - plenty of food, fuel and sunlight, temperatures above -25C and only 8 days on the ice. No number of words, or for that matter photographs, can even begin to describe the achievement of these two, or the hardships they endured. Weber described to me his experience on their (failed) 1992 attempt to get to the Pole and back as "being a frozen packhorse". There are no more experienced polar explorers in history than these two; they are surely amongst the most modest. For anyone who has romanticised over Peary, or even merely enjoyed an armchair read of the experiences of expeditioners, this book is mandatory. The prose is not perfect (and in large part translated from Russian), hence I have marked it down to a "9"; but this imperfection gives the tale an added air of authenticit

The North Pole is called "the place that wants you dead" for good reasons. Yet these two men are like the "Energizer Bunny" of Polar trekkers. They continued to walk for weeks, from drifting ice flow to ice flow, during the spring breakup while authorities wanted to declare them insane and force their air rescued. They resisted this by satellite radio, partially because they didn't want to pay the $100,000 cost! I am still stunned at the skill, determination and humor these guys displayed. They did what has always been considered impossible - but went about it like ordinary people who get up everyday and commute to work. They even referred to the ice as their "office" where they went to work every morning from their tent. The writing is very good, the achievmentranks as a worlds record, and the travelers are at peace with themselves and with life itself. They won my heart and sincere admiration