Épuisé, l'explorateur Mike Horn reste déterminé à finir son périple

La situation semblait critique il y a encore quelques jours pour le Sud-Africain et son binôme Norvégien. Les deux hommes luttent contre des températures instables entre -2 et -45°C et progressent sur une couche de glace extrêmement fine pour la saison. La dérive des blocs a rallongé leur trajet initial et Mike Horn a chuté plusieurs fois dans l'eau glacé. Leurs rations de nourriture se réduisent également rapidement.

Mike Horn souffrent de gelures et d'une perte de sensibilité aux extrémités.

Malgré ces conditions, et alors qu'une opération de sauvetage semblait sur le point de s'organiser, Mike Horn a publié lundi un post sur Instagram où il se dit épuisé mais prêt à se battre pour arriver au bout de son périple. Les deux aventuriers pourraient achever leur traversée d'ici une dizaine de jours. Le vent semble avoir également tourné, ce qui devrait permettre aux deux hommes de progresser plus rapidement.

Pour l'heure, aucune opération de sauvetage n'est prévue, mais les plans restent à l'étude.

Voir cette publication sur Instagram

Expedition Update 34: Safe to say that I’ve had easier weekends in my life as an explorer. After last week’s endless obstacles and difficulties, @borgeousland and I are grateful to start the new week with a fresh mindset. Today, despite our sores (as seen on this photo), we are feeling tired but unstoppable…we know the end is near, so now, we must gather up the strength we have left, and fight to get there. What better way to start the week than with a massive storm?! We therefore had no choice but to set camp and wait for the chaos to pass before we can confidently venture outside again. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise in some weird way…our bodies were really in need of some rest after the physical and emotion exhaustion we went through over the weekend. Although we have rarely been in such a bad storm, the bright and uplifting side is this! Finally the wind is in our favour pushing us towards the south, rather than back to the north. This good news certainly gave us an energy boost, and the confidence that maybe we will be able to end this expedition the way we have initially planned. This unexpected turn of events must be due to all the positive vibes you have been sending our way. @AnnikaHorn and @JessicaaHorn have been updating me with your messages of support and I can only admit that this has been giving us the kick of energy we needed. It is a hostile world up here…and the constant unstable conditions have made it quite clear that we are not welcome here. In some twisted way, I ask myself if nature has been taking it out on us because of the manner in which we humans have been treating and respecting our planet…one thing is certain, something is obviously not quite right. With just over one week of food rations left, we are carefully planning each and every next step. We are longing to get home, but there is no giving up…we are here to fight until the very end. Thank you all for your heart-warming support, we will be keeping you closely updated! #NorthPoleCrossing #Pole2Pole #MikeHorn

Une publication partagée par Mike Horn (@mikehornexplorer) le 25 Nov. 2019 à 6 :30 PST