Explorer Tells Tales of Adventure, Climate Change

“I feel like everybody has a story to tell, and I’m lucky enough to share mine,” explorer Eric Larsen told to a crowd of over 50 on Monday night at Riveredge Nature Center, 4458 County Highway Y, Saukville.

The Cedarburg native spent nearly two hours speaking to individuals about the various mountains he’s climbed, his time spent as a guide in the Pacific Northwest and his interest in dogsledding. 

And if Larsen felt lucky for getting to share his story Monday night, his luck is about to double as he heads to in Port Washington on Tuesday night to speak to a whole new crowd. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. and will be held in the community room.

His most harrowing expeditions, Larsen said, took place in 2010 when he decided to visit the South Pole, the North Pole and climb Mount Everest all within a year — a feat that had not been accomplished until Larsen and his team took up the challenge.  He dubbed the mission the  Save the Poles Expedition.

His goal with this three-part trip was not only to be part of the first group to accomplish this task, but also, he said, to raise awareness of climate change’s effect on the planet and to push for reduced carbon emissions by producing educational videos and talking to others.  

While planning this mission, Larsen said that it seemed like a difficult challenge to raise the money and withstand training, however he abided by his personal philosophy: “Throw your heart over the fence and the rest will follow.”

Three very different trips
The landscapes of the three locations are rapidly changing already because of the effects brought on by our evolving climate, Larsen said. 

In the Antarctic, he explained, ice shelves were collapsing due to rising temperatures. Although places like this may seem like the most extreme, they are ones that are most affected by increased temperatures.  

Then, while trekking 51 days to reach the North Pole in the second leg of his trip, evidence of climate change was more apparent, he said.

The constantly shifting and melting ice made the expedition “ten times more difficult than the Antarctic,” he said.  Often times, he and his crew would wake up further south than they had been the previous night because of the moving ice.  

With several photographs, he explained the plight of the polar bear, telling the audience that the animal may be extinct in the wild in a few decades.  

“They may be the first victims of climate change,” he said.  

And what of Mount Everest?

With more stunning pictures from the self-described “amateur photographer,” the audience saw some of the changes that occurred along the path to the world’s tallest peak. Larsen pointed out that the glaciers topping some of the Himalayas had receded and that very little ice could be found where just decades ago it was abundant. 

And none an easy trip
Although Larsen’s focus was to raise awareness of global warming, he also provided the audience with some insight on what life is like as a modern day explorer.  

Even though his Save the Poles Expedition was one of his most rewarding, he said — with a smile —  that "doing three of these in one year was probably one of the worst ideas I’ve ever had." 

He told the audience of the sort of strain this puts on the body and the danger he put himself in.  

Climbing Everest in the fall, he said, was a near impossible feat. Upon arriving, his guide told him that he and his crew only had a 20 percent chance of even reaching the top with less than ideal conditions and increased chances of landslides.  

And while in the Arctic, Larsen said, "It seemed like everything about this journey was pitted against us."

With drifting ice, changing coordinates and wind chills as low as negative 45 degrees, Larsen said that he and his crew had to learn how to problem solve quickly. 

He said that his strategy for all three of his trips was to "divide problems into small, manageable pieces."

In some cases this even meant counting ski strides or just making it across a small patch of ice, he said.

With these adventures under his belt, Larsen plans to guide trips to the base of Mount Everest and to the Arctic to share his experiences with others, fulfilling part of his educational philosophy to connect people with new ideas and places.