Page 77 - 2022-08-01 Paddling Magazine

CANOEING

CANVAS
On Thin Ice

Polar explorer Will Steger is still pushing his limits

“EXPEDITIONS HAVE KEPT ME YOUNG,” says polar explorer
Will Steger. This spring, at the age of 77, he set off on another two-
month solo canoe-sled trip above the Arctic Circle.
Traveling by canoe-sled during the risky spring breakup has
become something of an annual meditation retreat for Steger in
his seventies. “It’s a really beautiful way of travel. On the thin ice,
you have to be in the moment at all times. You have to be at your
extreme best,” he says.
Steger perfected his canoe-sled system over the last three decades
with the help of Ted Bell of Minnesota’s Northstar Canoes. The
canoe is an essential piece of kit to get over bad ice and open water,
and made possible Steger’s 1995 Arctic Ocean crossing, from Russia
to Canada via the North Pole. Modifications are made to square
off the entry lines in the bow and stern to lessen resistance over
snowdrifts, and removable plastic dog sled runners are bolted on.
“My biggest fear is cold water—especially being swept under the
ice. I’m working the fear out of my system,” Steger says.
As one of the most renowned polar explorers of the modern age,
Steger has a humbling list of accomplishments, including leading the
first dogsled expedition without resupply to the North Pole. His 1990
non-motorized crossing of Antarctica—also a first— has brought him
back into the spotlight with the release of After Antarctica.
The new documentary film features the dangers and tension of
the Trans-Antarctic Expedition—a 4,000-mile, seven-month tra-
verse of the frozen continent by dogsled. The expedition brought
together six explorers from six nations and captured the world’s
attention. Steger was its leader.
“What is so inspiring about the expedition is it was bigger than
themselves. It was an opportunity to draw together in international
cooperation to ratify the Antarctic Treaty,” says director Tasha
Van Zandt. The expedition achieved its goal in 1991, protecting
Antarctica from oil and mineral exploration for another 50 years.
“On Antarctica, we set an example that a small team of people
can change the world,” says Steger.
The documentary features archival footage from the 1990 ex-
pedition, interspersed with modern reflections from Steger on his
1,000-mile, two-month canoe-sled journey in 2019. Van Zandt
captured this photo on the final day of the expedition as Steger
pulled his canoe-sled on the Arctic Ocean.
The solo trips ground and recharge Steger for his work as a cli-
mate advocate at the Steger Wilderness Center in Ely, Minnesota.
“I was fortunate to do some geographical firsts, but I will go down
in history for lasts,” says Steger in After Antarctica. “You can’t do
the expeditions I did—the routes don’t exist anymore. Every ice
shelf I traveled has disintegrated.”
Yet, he remains hopeful as increasingly the public is seeing climate
change firsthand, he says.
“We’re all eyewitnesses now. Whenever I get overwhelmed by climate,
I reflect on the Trans-Antarctic Expedition and what we did on that
small team. Through international cooperation, we helped preserve
Antarctica. Now, we have to look at preserving the world we live in.”
By Kaydi Pyette

Find a screening of After Antarctica at afterantartica.com.

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