I monitor the ice pack and it is beginning to melt as summer approaches. In the southern Bering Sea above the Aleutians the ice is in retreat. A large whole has developed on the Russian coast near Kamchatka, Norton Sound has a few wholes and even the Kotzebue Sound area is getting a very few areas of open water. It is still hardpacked and landfast above this area. I suspect that enough open leads will be available by early to mid july in the Beaufort Sea for me to have enough movement to progress towards the west. Pack ice and pan ice will dictate where the polar bears will be and hence where I will be.
Just another part of the planning and understanding a serious but beautiful environment.
Posts will be a little more often until I leave. I am working on getting my people inplace to continue the blogs as I progress along my track. I will be introducing these individuals soon. They will add blog entries so people can follow and hopefully support this expedition. Hope you enjoy my endeavors..

Getting closer to launching. Working in Calif this week wiring a large house that I am building. My other love, a large completely solar design. It also pays for the first 2000 miles of fuel on the trip. Other wise planning is completed. A few changes here and there but mostly finished.

We are about 3 months from getting this expedition into gear. I am looking forward to this and am getting a bit excited. Just a little. We have our third Attu children’s book published and available from our publisher and Amazon. We are also designing and will have for sale a line of expediton and Bears Unlimited tee shirts in the coming weeks. All of the money from the sales of the expedition shirts goes to fund the arctic expedition. From this point on I will be doing weekly updates at least and probably more as we get closer.
I do have a request for a team member for this expedition. I am looking for a person that would like to do 2 to 3 posts a week on this website when I am in Alaska. These posts would be explaining what I am doing, where I am at and would provide me with a safety factor as I would check in each day with a GPS position. Anyone interested into getting into the nuts and bolts of a complex expedition email me at sierrabrownbear@hotmail.com. Qualifications, know how to write interesting stories based on my accounts each week.
Next post I will detail some of the last minute technical details that need to be worked out. I can tell you that technology can be a help but in many instances it is a hinderance.
See you at the next post. Thanks Mingo

Winter in Cleveland, Ohio is the location of this learning point in my life. Snake Hill is snow covered and closed for the winter. All my friends in the neighborhood would gather and take our chances on this one mile long section of steep sledding and tobogganing. We would careen downward, missing storm downed trees, kids and other obstructions and finally perform a controlled crash to slow our out off control plunge to the base of the hill. This was great fun and actually we did control our speedy little sleds running at thrilling speed on their tiny runners.

This was stopped, forever, as one of the kids crashed badly into a downed tree and died in this collision. That was the story at least. At ten we were no news hawks but that was the local folklore and I actually believe that it was true. Even at ten years old we kind of figured that careening down a hill at close to 30 miles an hour was not the safest or even the smartest thing to do. Looking back none of my friends, or even me for that matter, ended up winning a Rhoades scholarship. I do agree it was a great way to spend a Saturday and it was great fun. Nascar on a sled, cool!!

Fast forwarding 15 years or so, ice climbing in the Sierra’s of California learning the ropes; so to speak The learning curve for ice climbing is rather steep. So is the terrain! Some never make it past ropes 101 but if you do your career is about to begin. One of the first things that you learn is self arresting on slopes above 15 degrees.

Back to being ten for a little longer! One thing I learned was that sliding down a steep hill was a bit on the dangerous side. Possibly verging on stupid, but at ten we live forever, right. Another tangent here but it is cool. Have to admit to this, talking about stuck on stupid as a kid. I held the world speed record, at least in Seven Hills, for shopping cart racing finally releasing from my friends car fin at a speed of 37 miles an hour. This record held up until one of my friends, another Rhoades scholar, made it to 43 miles an hour, literally smashing my record to pieces. My Nascart racing days ended with my record being eclipsed. Never again did I suit up and check the bearings of another high speed shopping cart in the rear parking lot of the Pick and Pay Market. Never checked the Nascar standings to see if Denny C ever made it to the track nor was I interested enough to check the obits. Those were my stunt days and they were a riot and I did live with only a few broken bones and assorted patches of skin being removed by high speed pavement. The one overriding lesson I did learn was to allow stunts to movie guys with a budget. Now back to ‘Bear’ boy.

One of the first things you learn when ice climbing is to stop when falling. What’s cool about rock climbing is its self limiting fall capability. It is mostly vertical and the ground stops your fall, hopefully way before, you gain a lot of speed. Sometimes this can produce other issues though. Falling sucks as does gravity. Anyway, on ice you really do not want to gain much speed before you try to self arrest. A side note here. I teach rock climbing ice climbing techniques so I am pretty good at it. My stunt days are way over so I teach quick arrests from multiple positions and using both axe pick and adze. I also teach proper slope travel and crevice identification. This is called safety on the mountain. On a 30 degree hill I usually arrest myself in the first 20 feet depending on snow conditions. That is from a rolling or flipping position. I occasionally want to see what a long fall feels like, yeah right, so in the Sierra one late spring, when the snow was really honeycombed and rotten, I did the unthinkable and took a seventy-five footer. I was fortunate in that a tree stopped my downward progress. Thank God for trees in the mountains. By the way, the tree was not serious damaged, fortunately. Barb was calling to me for a few minutes as I collected body parts and brain cells. Clamoring out of the spring melthole around the tree I climbed back to where she was and the first thing she said was, “ Mingo, you accelerated like super fast, that was really amazing”. Well maybe for her but not for me. I think she was quite amazed, I know I was. In the late season snow the self arrest would not work even with digging in the adze by a 200 pound climber. Lesson here, arrest quickly and in good snow if possible and do not try to ride a slope without a sled.

Look, on the slope, speeding by at the speed of stupidity, is it a plane, is it a rocket, is it a dumbshit in a gore-tex jacket careening out of control down an icy slope. No, its Bears Grylls performing another in a long line of stupid stunts! Have to love it when the drama starts as he crashes into his cameraman and the whole crew of 500 descends on this mottled mass of humanity. He has a broken leg, no he does not! His head is gone, oh just stuffed up his butt! These wizards, ‘I am not a doc but I play one on TV’, are convinced the Bear has a broken leg, huh, no articulation, no commutation, no blood just a bunch of pain. Duh, he crashed into a camera at 40 MPH. What do you expect! Point of interest here, generally when a blunt force trauma occurs on a femur there will be noticeable displacement of the bone. Rarely do femurs not commutate in massage speed injuries. This learned from many technical rescues on rock and ice over a period of about 25 years. Now back to the daring rescue! ‘6 tango foxtrot we need immediate med evac on a bear. Copy foxtrot, we will dispatch a local vet to the scene. Negative, negative rescue one, this is the ‘Bear’ not a bear. 6 tango foxtrot we will be flying Air Force 1 with a full compliment of US Marines, and Corpsman. Advise landing and drop smoke! US Marines are better than our Brit counterparts. Sorry Bear, get real!

Ok, he did not have AF 1 at his disposal. After much hoopla and lots more filming he was medevaced to a local hospital with a bruised leg. All that for bruise! Come on folks. I was under the impression this guy was tough, a super mountaineer and real man.

In the Sierra climbing up to Forrester Pass,13,000 plus feet, I broke through some snow and ice and did a complete dislocation of my right thumb. Slapped it right back to my wrist! I was no longer opposable in the thumb department. Looked at it, yanked on it to get it back in the destroyed joint and continued the climb. At the top my partner, Jeff, a Marine officer, looked at it and said that was the end of this trip. “What I said, I have some vicodin and ace bandages and some great fishing was ahead of us”. Took about 4 vicodin in the next couple of days, and then did the grin and bear it method of pain control. Stayed there for a week and did some great fishing in Lake South America and a few others in the area. Came home and Desert Orthopedics casted me for 14 weeks! Joint was substantially broken up but healed fairly well. I ended up losing about 20% of my power and grip but gained a great story and some delicious trout. No cameras, no helicopters, no hospital and no drama. Get real dude. US Marines Rule!

I love these Hollywood hardmen! When the chips get rolling they are out of here. A bruise! A bruise is all we got for all that drama. They should have operated just because of all the drama, hell I would have. Taken his foot off and attached it to his mouth where it generally is. Still cannot believe the video and all the drama for a silly bruise. Oh well we have to sell the ‘Bear’ as a really tough guy. Yeah right.

This is of course tongue in cheek humor and is supposed to be fun and humorous. It does have a bit of truth in that none of what you see on Man vs.Wild is true or wise and these stunts should never be attempted at home or on an icy slope for that matter. As a seasoned mountaineer and guide you try to stay away from these sporty situations. Fortunately, I have only watched a few of the Bear Grylls drama hour and have not been impressed with anything that is remotely looking like anything that I have seen in the real wilderness of North America. I do have to say that some of his activities are fairly entertaining only in the improbability of reality. Will I even watch more, naaaaw, only if there is not anything else on the other 1200 channels on my tv.

Wow, time is passing by in a blur this summer. I have been to Yellowstone for a backpack into the Thorofare region. This backpack was just gorgeous with nice weather and exceptional hiking. A bit tough with a 70 pound pack but the wilderness was worth the pain.

My Grand Canyon meltdown hike was just that. Hot! Like 130 degree hot! Probably, one of the most physically brutal 10 mile hikes in my life. Now I know what the end of a lobster’s life must be like. Getting boiled or roasted really sucks. With the challenge came a wonderful time camping at Bright Angel Campground near Phantom Ranch and soaking in the cool and clear waters of Bright Angel Creek. All is all it was a great hike. The Colorado River canyon is a spectacular wonder. It is even more wondrous seen from the bottom.

Now I get to write and prepare for another foray into Yellowstone. I will be there to photograph the rut and to hangout with some of my bear friends before the winter snows send them to a long slumber in dens and under trees. I should be leaving Arizona around the 17th of Sept to begin this 14 day trip. Lots of hiking in the backcountry and hopefully the first snows will fall. It will be my pleasure to see the bears again before they den for the winter. Filming will be a little more difficult as they are more hungry than normal as the pine nut crop has substantially failed. I will have to show more discretion and be more alert. Should be a we bit more interesting. I am also hoping to film some otters, bald eagles, wolves and of course elk and bison. Lots of work coming up! Stay tuned as I will upload images on FB and my photo site. I am looking forward to this!

Planning for the 2011 Arctic Expedition is moving along at a very fast pace with most of the major dilemma’s solved or mostly solved. I am sure there will always be those areas that defy identification. War gaming these expeditions is difficult but must be quite thorough and as accurate as possible. Lapses within the intelligence activities are rare but they do happen. These intell lapses cause serious issues when you find them in the field. No contingency plan to fall back on is not a good feeling out there alone. Adlibbing while on expedition can be a dirty business. In these situations things go south in a hurry and that is when I will become fish food. At that point it will suck to be Mingo!

So this planning process has to be accurate and precise. Once the data is collected, contingency plans are developed and that becomes the umbrella that the expedition is planned to. Sounds simple! Figure it this way. For a 100 day period plan each meal, projected injuries and illnesses and the medical material you need to not only survive these incidents but to get better, fuel supplies for 5500 miles in an area that fuel is obtainable occasionally every 200 to 300 hundred miles and in some cases as far as 700 mile. How about the numbers of polar bears you will see. How many non-lethal rounds vs. killing rounds do you pack for your 12 gauge shotgun, how to keep it dry in a very wet environment, cold sea water. What kind of perimeter do I sleep behind on the ice and on shore. Both browns and polar bears will be looking at me each day I am there. On the Yukon kayak trip I had brown bears leave their footprints right next to my tent less than 2 feet from my head! What do I use to establish and maintain a defensible perimeter? Communications, map sections, gps units, cooking stoves and fuel has to be calculated. If I run out there are no Wal-Marts to run to. Do I need a headlamp? It is light 24 hours a day starting May 21. This lasts until august 21. Then the days become considerably shorter. Will I finish before late September when the snow flies and the days are getting very short? Where do I send my resupply packages? How do I know when I will need them sent from my basecamp? Now plan this in a very remote and unforgiving wilderness.

These are just a few of the questions that need to be researched, understood and then incorporated into a solid and bullet proof plan. Any one of these areas can lead to a fatal failure in the plan.

After months of collecting and analyzing data my plan has evolved into this latest phase. One other item that is important. I have advisors that I talk with to help in designing this plan and equipment to make it safer and tougher. These advisors come from both the US and Canada. They are kayakers, mountaineers, rock climbers, casual boaters, backpackers, hikers and open ocean sailors. They come from all disciplines and offer a few words to hours and days of suggestions. I believe that this is more than one man can plan. .

The plan! The main mission parameters are: this expedition will be solo, follow 1000 miles of the Mackenzie River, 3000 miles of Beaufort Sea, Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea waters to access 2500 miles of the Yukon River. My boat, unnamed at this time, is a 12 foot fiberglass boat that will be fitted with extra buoyancy and floatation devices. She will also sport an outrigger to keep her from being flipped in heavier seas. She will also have a special cover on the bow and extending back to the pilots position to shed rain water and any waves that break over the bow. Bilge pumps will keep water from collecting in her hull. As an added safety, the Minnow, will be in tow. At 43 pounds she will cost very little fuel. If I get into real trouble I can kayak to the next village along the shore. This would be a last ditch effort of course. I will also use her to explore rivers on the coast and sometimes just get out and play on the water. I will use a new 15 to 20 HP motor. This will give me the mobility and speed I need to be a bit safer. I am pleased with this section of the plan. I believe, as do most of my advisors that the right compromises have been made and this package should give me some stability and the ability to survive.

At all times I will have about 30 days of food plus my personal and safety gear. I will carry at least 30 gallons of fuel in cans to make sure that I make it to my next resupply points. Fuel resupply will be every village that I pass. Running out of fuel would not be a very positive happening. Might turn ugly in a heartbeat!

Food is the same as always on expedition, dinner, soup, noodles, tea and hot chocolate. Since I do have a real hull with more than a 200 pound payload I will bring some cookies and other goodies. Wow, reaching towards humanity. Breakfast, oatmeal with an occasional pancake meal will be the general fare. Oatmeal will be predominating with over 90 days of this breakfast. Fortunately, I love oatmeal. Added benefit with 90 plus straight days on oatmeal, cholesterol does not stand a chance clogging up my arteries. My stove will be the old standby Optimus 111B. This 30 plus year old work horse I trust with my life. No backups for her.
My armament will be a 12 gauge shotgun with non-lethal rubber slugs, some bangers and of course 2.25 slugs if I am attacked. These slugs will kill a bear if that ever becomes a necessity. Hope not. That would be a sad day for sure. Probably carry a couple canisters of bear spray for brownies and blackies. This spray will stop even the most determined bear. A side note, polar bears use it as a condiment on the adventurer as they eat him. Not a good idea to use it on them.

When sleeping I will be behind an electric fence that is used to keep bears out. These are a pain to erect but are very effective in keeping the camp safe. My tent would not be a deterrent to a determined bear.

My communication needs will be met with a satellite phone system. I will use a GPS system with a series of map programs loaded into this unit. Locating my position each day is critical.

Clothing and survival clothing will be used. The temps on the Arctic coast are just not that balmy. Highs will generally be lower than 45 with the lows hovering in the mid 30’s. I will see almost constant rain if the weather is normal and I am hoping that the winds stay below 20 mph. That will keep the ocean alive and churning but not so turbulent that I have to be ashore. Water temps will be below 40 on the ocean sections so I will wear a full drysuit. Hypothermia is a serious and constant concern of mine. My drysuit will mitigate this issue plus give me added time for survival in these cold waters if something goes horribly wrong. Taking a bath in the Arctic Ocean qualifies as horribly wrong. Temps and conditions on the rivers will be wild but not nearly as dangerous so I will be in gore-tex on the river sections.

These are some of the important considerations in preparing for this expedition. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of decisions that will be studied and then implemented into the final plan. Then, when Mother Nature has her way, the plan will morph into a dynamic document that will change with each hour of each day. Cool huh! I think so! I hope that this plan will look at all situations that will arise. If it does I will have no adrenaline rushes and little drama other than the typical daily challenges. If that happens my survival chances increase dramatically and the expedition will be just that much more enjoyable.

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