Ex-Ukiah man forced to abandon trek to North Pole

Roaring Arctic winds lashed Wave Vidmar's tent Friday as he huddled in his sleeping bag, waiting for the storm to clear and a helicopter to arrive, ending his 51-day trek from northern Siberia to the North Pole some 297 miles short of his goal.

The former Ukiah man has a bum ankle, swollen, scabby eyelids and blurred vision. But that's not what's preventing him from becoming the first American to make the 600-mile polar journey alone and unassisted.

Time and greed ultimately caused his failure, said Vidmar, 39, who calls the Bay Area home.

He said the beginning of the trip was delayed two weeks because Russians who took over the air transportation business were holding out for more money.

"They were playing us like pawns," Vidmar said Friday from the polar ice cap via a satellite phone.

The helicopter owners promised to make up for the delays by keeping the Borneo ice station - a makeshift landing strip on a flat, drifting piece of ice about 60 miles from the pole - open beyond the May 1 shutdown date, Vidmar said. But the copter company decided to close early, he said.

That meant either getting picked up by this weekend or hiring someone to fly from Canada to get him, at a cost of more than $100,000, Vidmar said.

"It's sad and unfortunate," he said, noting he spent more than a year preparing for the trip and went through a great deal of hardship and pain on the journey that began March 5.

But he refuses to dwell on the negative.

"I accomplished about 90 percent of what I set out to do," Vidmar said. "I'm pretty happy."

In fact, Vidmar is planning his next big adventure, a solo, unassisted trip to the South Pole in November.

"As soon as I get back, my feet are running to the South Pole," Vidmar said.

First, he'll have to find sponsors for the trip, which will cost around $250,000, compared with the $150,000 it cost to go to the North Pole. An educational Web site, www.WorldWideLearn.com, was the primary sponsor of Vidmar's expedition to the North Pole.

His trek was followed by students and armchair explorers from around the world, who kept up with Vidmar by reading his daily logbook on the Internet, sending him e-mails and viewing photos uploaded to the Web over his satellite phone.

A positive attitude like Vidmar's is essential to succeeding as an adventurer, said Tom Sjogren, who has trekked to both poles and Mount Everest with his wife, Tina. The New York couple advised Vidmar and reported on his journey on their Web site, www.explorersweb.com.

"You have to be able to fail and move on," Sjogren said.

The 600-mile trek from Siberia to the pole is tough, tougher even than climbing Everest, Sjogren said.

Only two other people have made it to the North Pole solo and unassisted. Four people attempted the trek from different locations at the same time as Vidmar. One, Dominick Arduin, 43, of Finland, disappeared a few days into the trip and is believed dead.

Vidmar's trip involved pulling two sledges - boat-like sleds - packed with 360 pounds of supplies over ice that was sometimes smooth, sometimes mountainous as well as over watery breaks in the ice, called open leads.

He spent three hours one day swimming through a 300-yard lead, breaking through ice with his back, a record for swimming in the Arctic waters, Vidmar said.

"It sucked the life out of me," he said.

It's breaking through ice while swimming, not being in the water, that's difficult, Vidmar said.

While the water was about 28 degrees, that's a lot warmer than the 30-degree below zero temperature of the air outside the water, he said.

"It was like getting into a Jacuzzi," Vidmar said.

It was less pleasant when ice cracked around his feet or tent, creating a threat of being swallowed up in the ice.

"It makes your heart start racing," Vidmar said.

He said he didn't dwell on danger because that would be lethal. "If you hesitate or give an inch, you're going to die."

He also had to deal with broken equipment, tears in his gloves and even polar bears.

But a close encounter with a mother bear and two cubs ended up being a pleasant experience, which Vidmar caught on videotape.

He said he coaxed them closer and talked to them.

"That was amazing. That made my whole month," said Vidmar, who spent most of his boyhood in Ukiah and left when he was 18.

Less pleasant were some of the more mundane activities, like putting on his frozen jacket and boots after crawling out of his sleeping bag in the mornings, he said.

At night, his breath would accumulate on the ceiling of his tent, forming icicles that would fall on his face when he slept.

"That's the thing I hated the most," he said.

Vidmar said he is not really bothered by the physical toll. Some skin on his face has peeled off and there are scabs around his eyes from frostbite. His ankle, injured more than three weeks ago when his sledge crushed it against the ice, is bound with duct tape.

While externally he may look "horrifying," Vidmar said he feels good inside.

Besides, "I don't have to look at myself," he said.

Sjogren said everybody gets frostbite on their faces and it doesn't leave lasting scars.

Having accepted that his trip has come to an end, Vidmar was looking forward to being airlifted off the ice. He will fly to the North Pole, stopping for a brief visit to fulfill his deep-held dream, then jump on a jet to Norway, where a bed and hot shower await him at a hotel.

"I'm going to wash and shower real well. Sleep on a bed that's not moving, watch television and have some nice Norwegian cuisine," he said.