Latest News from the Huston / Tyler North Pole Expedition Team

The first unsupported, unassisted American expedition to the North Pole

Letter from the Expedition Team

We are proud to announce that we have published the official 2010 Expedition Calendar. This 12“ x 12” high quality wall calendar is professionally designed and features stunning expedition photography and creative storytelling. Click here to purchase the calendar. Cost: $15 plus shipping and handling. Supplies are limited. Calendars are 12“ x 12”, are made from high gloss 100lb paper and include 28 full color pages.

It’s hard for us to imagine that we became the first Americans to reach the North Pole unsupported and unassisted more than 6 months ago. The time has truly flown by. Our bodies have recovered fully; incredibly it took less than 3 weeks to regain the 30 pounds we had each lost. However, vivid life-like dreams of drifting ice and exhausting days on the ice are a common occurrence. Our transition from the ice to normal existence has been full of unique challenges and the varied emotions that come with the completion of a period of intense focus and all-out physical and mental exertion.

The transition has also been full of plenty of celebratory fun, including homecoming parties, wonderful compliments from the polar explorer community and a Victorinox North Pole ’09 4th of July parade float. Both John and Tyler threw out ceremonial first pitches for the Minnesota Twins and John threw out a first pitch for his beloved Chicago White Sox. Taken collectively the pitches amounted to a 3 and 0 count, but all had more speed than Obama’s ceremonial toss at the All-Star game.

We are now writing the expedition book. Interest from publishers has been good, but we have not signed a contract yet. If you know of a publisher who may be interested in our story, please let us know. We expect the book to be published in the fall of 2010.

We have also been busy giving a lot of presentations. If you would like to invite John and/or Tyler for a speaking engagement for your company, community group, school or other organization, more information can be found below to the right or by clicking here. We’ve found that our expeditionary themes, such as taking on challenge, dealing with change, cultivating optimism and effective teamwork, resonate strongly with companies and organizations facing a down economy.

Northpole09.com now features a new slide show with large format images from the expedition.

A hearty thank you to all who followed and supported the expedition. Although we were a small two-person team on an unsupported expedition, we definitely felt immeasurable support from the countless folks who were following our progress.

Until next time, thanks for reading and we’ll inform you of the book publication date and of upcoming events,

John Huston and Tyler Fish
Victorinox North Pole ’09 Expedition Team

In the News

Calendar Immediately following the expedition we experienced a media whirlwind that culminated with a 4-minute interview on the NBC Today Show and an article in Outside Magazine. Since then media attention has been steady and resulted in several insightful articles and pieces about the expedition. All of our news can be found on the News page of our website. Here are links to a few of the more interesting pieces.

Gear Junkie Article, with excellent slide show and gear photos, Northwestern University Video Interview, KARE 11 News, Minneapolis, Video

CaringBridge Update

A sincere thank you to all of you who have contributed to the most successful independent fundraising campaign ever for CaringBridge. So far our expedition project has raised over $10,000 for CaringBridge. Through our lectures, appearances in the media and online we continue to raise awareness of CaringBridge to as many people as possible. Caringbridge.org offers free personalized websites that support and connect loved ones during critical illness, treatment and recovery. The goal of this service is to ease the burden of keeping friends and family updated, while also providing a way for them to send their love, support and encouragement. Help us continue to raise funds and awareness for CaringBridge.

Please consider donating today! Thank you to those who have already donated to CaringBridge.

Visit our CaringBridge donation page online.

Our Partners

Victorinox/Swiss Army In early November we visited Swiss Army’s North American headquarters to speak at the bi-annual all employee meeting. We proudly presented the president and marketing director with the Victorinox flag from the expedition. Victorinox Swiss Army are makers of the Original Swiss Army Knife, high quality affordable timepieces, peerless cutlery and travel gear of superior engineering. 2009 marks Victorinox’s 125th anniversary. In 2009, Victorinox Swiss Army will begin selling a redesign of the classic original Soldiers Knife.

Bergans of Norway In late October John spoke at Neptune Mountaineering, in Boulder, CO, an event sponsored by Bergans. Many consider Neptune to the be the best mountaineering, expedition store in the U.S. Neptune is home to an incredible collection of historic mountaineering and polar equipment. This museum now includes John Huston’s Bergans Helium backpack from the North Pole ‘09 expedition. Our official high performance outerwear sponsor, Bergans clothing is at home in polar environments and on area ski slopes. Performance, tradition, quality and Norwegian standards of engineering make Bergans stand out in the market and stand the test of time after years of hard use.

DeLorme ran a huge stunning two-page congratulatory ad, featuring Tyler skiing, on the inside cover of the July edition of Backpacker Magazine. DeLorme is our official GPS sponsor. Recently DeLorme introduced the Earthmate PN-40. It features rock-solid design for unbeatable reliability. The PN-40 brings blazing-fast speed, a high-sensitivity 32-channel Cartesio chipset, three-axis electronic compass, and a barometric altimeter. The PN-40 has been called the fasted and most flexible hand-held GPS on the market.