Reaching the North Pole, by no means the challenge it was when Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen claimed to be first in 1926, is still a rare and exotic experience. It is estimated that only 500 humans visit 90-degrees North each year.
This past summer, Mark Armstrong, son of first man on the moon Neil Armstrong, became one of the lucky few. He rode aboard the French ice breaker Le Commandant Charcot on a 16-day Ponant Explorations luxury cruise which originated in Svalbard.
Who else happened to be on the ship? None other than Peter Hillary, son of the great Sir Edmund Hillary, first to summit Mt. Everest with Tenzing Norgay, in 1953.
The fact that the two famous explorers’ sons were aboard the same vessel makes that particular voyage special. What makes it even more special is that both of their fathers had also reached the North Pole together, but by plane in 1985. Like father like son, if you will.
Both were invited on the trip as part of a new documentary film spearheaded by The Exploration Museum of Husavik in Iceland. The project, tentatively titled North Pole 85, will tell the story of the little-known 1985 airplane expedition and this summer’s return journey by ship, and will frame the story within a broader conversation of how our planet is changing, particularly in the northern Arctic.
Given this, we thought it would be interesting to chat with Armstrong, 62, about his trip. In an almost two-hour-long phone call, we discussed the unusual experience – and a lot more, including his interest in music and passion for environmental issues, and how he is combining the two. Following are edited excerpts from the conversation. (This is Part 1 of a multi-part series.)
Jim Clash: Did you think much about your father when you were on the North Pole 40 years after he had been there?
Mark Armstrong: Traveling to a stunningly remote location encourages you to look inward. I found myself thinking about my mother and father – my entire family really – wishing that we all could have shared these feelings and experiences together. As you might expect, I’ve not always had the opportunity to visit the remote places where my father has been. This made my trip to the North Pole, which is certainly the most extreme place I’ve ever visited, very special indeed!
Clash: Describe the trip up to the Pole. Did your ship break through a lot of ice?
Armstrong: For the most part, we navigated through open water as much as we could. At times, it was like being on a slalom course [laughs]. The captain told me their philosophy is to do the least amount of damage possible [to the sea ice] to get to the Pole, and that’s my philosophy, too. Reminds me of the old adage, “leave a place the same as, or better than, you found it.”
However, there were definitely times when there were no open leads and we had to break some ice. If you’re on the lower decks near the bow of the ship, you can hear and feel the reinforced steel of the ship crunching though the ice. It’s an impressive vessel.
Clash: Would you say you were doing exploration in the traditional sense?
Armstrong: I wouldn’t call it exploration. We took a journey together – a very safe, first-class, five-star experience, to be honest. But we did go to an extreme location that few people have visited, and it was a privilege to do so, but that’s not exploration in the traditional sense of the word.
I will say, however, that the more people that go to these remote places, the better, as long as they do so carefully and respectfully. When you experience new things, you often get new perspectives which enhance your appreciation and understanding of the world, and that’s all to the good. Even in 1985, when my dad and Ed took airplanes to the Pole, it was riskier certainly, with quite a lot more logistics involved, but it wasn’t remotely like Amundsen’s or Shackleton’s expeditions.
Clash: How did you and Sir Ed’s son, Peter, get along?
Armstrong: Peter and I had several long talks. It was a 16-day cruise so there was plenty of free time. We hiked on the ice together, shared dinners on the ship and cruised in kayaks and zodiacs around Svalbard on our way back from the Pole. The more time we spent together, the more similarities we found in our upbringings, common philosophies about how one should behave and what’s important in life.
We had a really interesting conversation about both of our fathers’ paths trying to accomplish something that had never been done before. One of the aspects they had to deal with, more so with Ed than my father, was just determining what the human body can tolerate. In my dad’s case, it was the G-forces and the potential disorientation associated with an out-of-control spacecraft as happened on Gemini 8.
With Ed, there was the question of what elevation could a human body tolerate. And not just the elevation, but the temperature, the fatigue, the unpredictable winds, the potential for hypoxia, all of the biological things when a body is pushed to its limits and deprived of what it needs.
Another substantial difference was that my dad had 400,000-plus [NASA] people supporting him, while Ed had Tenzing [Norgay] and a small supporting cast of expedition Sherpas and climbers. Oh, and one other important similarity: In the end, two guys went together on the final leg of their journey to reach their respective destinations.
Clash: It’s been 13 years since your father passed. If you could say something to him now, what might it be?
Armstrong: I would say, “I should have listened to you more, should have asked more questions.” Whenever we lose somebody, most of us wish we had talked more about things we didn’t realize were important until it was too late.
I can remember one time I was just out of college when dad said to me out of the blue, “You’re going to be 200 lbs.” I was 165 at the time and I think I had just polished off my second BLT sandwich. Mom made great BLT’s!
Gosh darn if he wasn’t right, Jim. I spent most of my adult years over 200 lbs. It didn’t occur to me all those years ago to question why he said that. I was young and thought I knew every damn thing.
The bottom line is that kids often dismiss the advice of their parents because they think they know better, and that their parents are out of touch. But, the truth is that wisdom comes from experience – and experience takes time. By the way, I’m down to 175 now [laughs], but it took me almost 40 years to figure out what my dad saw in just an instant. I think he’d appreciate hearing me say: “You were right, dad.”