
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 24, 1994                   TAG: 9404240022
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: OSLO, NORWAY                                LENGTH: Short

NORWEGIAN REACHES NORTH POLE ALONE

He pulled a 265-pound sled on skis. He braved polar bears and temperatures of 40 below zero. And after 52 days, Borge Ousland became the first person to reach the North Pole alone and unaided.

The 31-year-old Norwegian adventurer sent a pre-coded message - "Expedition ended, want pickup" - via satellite, indicating his 620-mile journey was completed, at 2:39 p.m. EDT Friday, 8:39 p.m. at the North Pole.

Others have gone to the North Pole alone, but always with the help of dog sleds or supplies brought in from the outside.

It was Ousland's second North Pole record. In 1990, he and another Norwegian, Erling Kagge, were the first team to ski there without help.

Ousland set off March 2 from Cape Mys Atkticheskiy in Russian Siberia. He skied up to 18.5 miles a day for 52 days, pulling the sled, braving bears and sleeping in a tent at temperatures that fell to 40 below zero.

Before starting his last leg of 9 miles Friday, spokesman Hans Christian Erlandsen said Ousland told him by radio that "his legs felt like jelly. He said it was the toughest thing he had ever done."

Erlandsen said Ousland survived mainly on porridge and fat. He had saved weight on his sled in every possible way, including cutting the cover and margins off a book he brought along.

Ousland was one of four men who started off this spring in hopes of making the trek alone and without outside help. Two gave up and were rescued. The third had to accept outside supplies, eliminating him from the informal race.

by CNB