Conquering the Impossible by Mike Horn

Author:Mike Horn
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466880153
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

5

The End of the Earth

ON A SNOWY SUNDAY MORNING, I entered the empty streets of “Cam” as if I were walking into a ghost town. One building served as a hotel, but it was closed, so I pitched my tent outside the front door. A policeman finally showed up and asked me what I was doing there.

“I’m waiting for the hotel to open.”

“That won’t be for three weeks.” The policeman called the owner, a certain Angela, who—when I offered to pay—gave me a suite free of charge as long as I wanted to stay.

If I had listened to my own gut, which was urging me on to cover as much distance as possible before the thaw, I would have taken possession of the DHL package being held for me by Roger—and I would have high-tailed it out of town without wasting another moment. But I couldn’t come to Cambridge Bay without spending an evening with Peter.

Peter was a fifty-five-year-old American engineer who specialized in radar and weather stations and worked for the DEW Line. A few months ago he had contacted me by e-mail and offered to help me out with my expedition in whatever capacity he could. After that we had been in regular contact, and he had proved invaluable in reporting on the condition of the ice, the strength and direction of the winds, suggesting routes, and so on.

I had called him the day before I arrived in town to invite him out to dinner. Actually—since there was no restaurant in town—I prepared a meal for him myself. As soon as I was settled in town, I ransacked the local superette and prepared a small banquet for him, a fitting recognition of his help and his friendship.

The next morning, while Peter saw to a few small repairs to my electronic equipment, I went to see Roger, the doctor. He was surprised to see me so soon, and he told me that my package had not been delivered yet—even though it had been shipped about fifteen days ago and DHL had promised to have it there on time. They told me it would certainly come in any day now, and I just needed to be patient.

Days passed, and the food rations and the detailed maps that were supposed to take me all the way to Paulatuk still hadn’t arrived. And yet, Cambridge Bay wasn’t exactly cut off from the rest of the world. Supplies and freight came into the village on two weekly flights!

At the end of my rope and running low on time, I needed to get off Victoria Island and back to the Canadian mainland before the thaw. I decided to do without the services of my courier. Combining the provisions I still had in my sled with what I was able to obtain there, I figured I should be able to stock up for the eight hundred miles between Cambridge Bay and Paulatuk. At Peter’s request, the directors of the DEW Line gave me a substantial supply of chocolate cookies.

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