What ELSE is The Youngest to Pole Project?

Trail cleanups, Montanan mountains and Norwegian glaciers, an ancient rainforest in Australia, a kid from Appalachia walking to the South Pole, and a team of world class expeditioners and climate activists — What exactly is the Youngest to Pole Project?

Smolders and Sunrise

Barely a week after the 2020 Bridger Fire had been extinguished in Bozeman, Montana, I was sitting atop Sacagawea Peak.  This spire of rock is the highest point in the range, but even with my head in the clouds I could smell the faint smoldering remains of the blaze.  I was reading the latest in a series of polar expedition memoirs, which I was now practically obsessed with.  This one was the story of Louis Rudd and his long journey alone across the Antarctic Continent.  I remember sitting atop the summit ducked behind a large boulder, shielding myself from the biting wind as the sun crept slowly over the horizon.  Feeling inspired by the tenacity of 20th and 21st century polar explorers, I began wondering if I would one day be able to take on an Antarctic expedition of my own.  I felt drawn to a solo trek to the South Pole, but it wasn’t until I was making my way back down the mountain that the other pieces of the puzzle came into view.

Here in front of me was a community of farmers and outdoor enthusiasts whos homes, stock, and public lands had been terrorized by a fire exacerbated by a hundred years of mismanagement and the rapidly increasing effects of climate change.  Some of the hillsides weren’t even done smoldering, and here I was daydreaming about adventure and a self-serving expedition.  That didn’t sit right with me.  I felt in that moment that if I was ever able to tackle something like this, a life-changing expedition of my own, it should serve some real purpose and make a positive impact on the lives of others as well.

The idea floated around in my head for a while.  I knew if I could pull off that long walk that I’d be the youngest in history to ever do so, and I felt certain that the combination of arduous adventure and setting a new world record would attract a great deal of attention.  If I managed to pull off such a feat, I wanted it to inspire more stewardship.  I wanted to show the next generation of adventurers and mountain athletes that they can both play in and protect these incredible places.

A Clear Mission

Fast forward to April, 2022, where I was attending a weeklong polar training course on the glaciers of Norway.  I joined a small team that operated under the Shackleton Challenges guiding program.  It may be one of the greatest coincidences of my life that Lou Rudd, the same gentleman whose book I’d read in the mountains, was the trip lead.  Training under Lou placed me directly in the mentorship lineage of Henry Worsley, my polar hero.  Greater still was operating in the field under the guidance of Wendy Searle, Shackleton’s logistics coordinator and who is now The Youngest to Pole Project’s expedition manager.  We talked a lot in the field.  We shared stories of our own adventures.  She gave a speech about her solo walk to the South Pole, and I recounted the long, hot days of walking along the desert of the Arizona Trail.  She encouraged me to shoot for my own walk to the Pole as soon as I could manage it, and this is where the scope of the project really came into view.

I attended a lecture from the head of the 2041 Foundation who was also one of the most decorated polar expeditioners of the modern era.  His name is Robert Swan.  Before the lecture I only associated him with a conversation he had in Henry Worsley’s book.  He told Henry “if you don’t move you don’t eat.” This concept reiterated how serious it is to operate in the polar environment.  Digging into food stores and other resources without making progress can leave you alone in the Antarctic without the means to survive, and Rob’s immense experience meant he understood this with absolute clarity.  I reached out to Rob about partnering with the 2041 Foundation and connecting the Youngest to Pole Project with their long fight for climate change advocacy.  While we shared similar values, it seemed best to work more closely with his son, Barney’s, climate advocacy group instead.

Climate Force was a perfect match for me.  Adventurers and stewards put their money where their mouths were to protect the planet.  They committed to a multi-year reforestation project in Australia where the newly-replenished forest, stocked with over 350,000 newly-planted trees, would sequester massive amounts of carbon.  My idea was to track the amount of carbon released during my expedition in 2024.  This would include the carbon footprint of my flights, fuel for cooking in the field, and even the production of my field rations.  I would take this number and plant trees with Climate Force (as well as other steward projects along the way) to offset that amount.  This is one of two major pillars upon which the Youngest to Pole Project stands.

Back to the Earth, Back to the People

Stewardship doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It is a responsibility inherited by everyone during their brief but impactful time on Earth.  By partnering with Climate Force I hope to show the next generation of adventurers they can take on massive expeditions while also paying respect to the lands that allow us to have such amazing adventures.  But who is the next generation?

The woods have always been my place of peace.  I spent most of my childhood climbing trees and staring in awe at Western North Carolina’s beautiful and abundant waterfalls.  These wild places make people resilient, and it comes as no surprise to me that the worst mental health crises Appalachia has ever seen came at the same time in history that folks started spending so much time indoors.  

Trigger Warning: Self Harm and Drug Abuse

I was thirteen the first time I lost a family friend to drugs.  On a family camping trip at fourteen I saw a childhood friend from another campsite use a needle for the first time.  It was also the last time.  Through high school and college alone I’d seen my home community lose more than ten people, both young and old, to substance abuse and suicide.  The 2021-2022 school year boasted the highest number of youth suicides our county had ever seen.  I couldn’t stand it.

This is the second pillar of the Youngest to Pole Project:  Advocating for mental health in the next generation of stewards.  By reconnecting young Appalachians with their public lands, we believe we can help them develop sustainable and healthy habits that better both their own wellbeing and the wellbeing of the land.  As someone who went through an incredibly powerful mental health journey in the mountains, I find it more important now than ever to share these wild and healing places with rural youth; Appalachian or otherwise.  The clarity and peace I’ve felt while running up the mountains, skipping rocks in the streams, and looking up at a sky full of stars has been universally expressed by outdoor folk of many colors and creeds.  If we can help connect people to this resource, we believe they too can have these powerful experiences.

Next Steps

Now that Winter is approaching, I am leaving behind a Summer stoked to the brim with ultra-endurance events, personal sustainability projects, and a lot of time in the mountains.  This Winter I will be obtaining mountaineering certifications and undergoing a month-long expedition to prove myself to the powers that govern whether or not I may attempt the record next year.  I intend on competing in the Yukon Arctic Ultra in February.  This 300-mile ski race is the same event Henry Worsley completed to gain his permissions when he first transitioned into the world of expeditions.  This race, however, is no longer enough for me to qualify for my expedition.  Upon completing the race, I intend on going directly into the field near Yellowknife, Canada, to spend three weeks living alone out of my sled.  I’ll subject myself completely to the blistering arctic Winter, relying solely on my own two legs to propel me through the environment and only the gear packed into my sled to survive.  When the whole endeavor is through, I’ll have nearly been in the elements as long as I would when I go to Antarctica next year, and I’ll have proven myself to this amazing polar community and worked out any kinks in my skillset.

In Summary

So this is the Youngest to Pole Project.  We are a collective of eco-minded polar expeditioners who care for the Earth and want to share its wonderful places with the next generation of stewards.  We plant trees and we build trails.  We test ourselves in all the coldest corners of the Earth.  When home, we share our campfires with others, and by sharing these experiences we find common ground.  Join us at the campfire.

If you share these values, follow along!

Instagrams:

Expedition Team Members

Val - @YoungestToPoleProject

Wendy Searle - @BetweenSnowAndSky

Lou Rudd - @LouisRudd

Barney Swan - @BarneySwan

Robert Swan - @RobertCSwan

Expedition Partners

Asnes Skis - @Asnes1922

Climate Force - @ClimateForce.360

2041 Foundation - @2041Foundation

Shackleton Outfitter & Guides - @ShackletonOfficial

Climate Change & Outdoor Diversity Groups

Protect Our Winters (POW) - @ProtectOurWinters

Unity Blaze and Black Folks Camp Too - @BlackFolksCampToo

Appalachian Adventure Company - @Appalachian_Adventure_Company