Willard native Swarner treks to North Pole

READ PART 1 HERE If one pictures the Earth as a glass of water, the North Pole would be the floating ice cubes on top."The ice on Antartica is on top of a continent and it moves about a foot or two a year," said Willard native and former Sandusky resident Sean Swarner. "Up north, there is no land mass there, just polar ice. And because it's ice on just this huge glacier, it cracks and it moves, and because it moves, it splits open."We could be walking along, and it's either quiet because we're in a safe zone, or you can hear the ice cracking and pushing up against one another," he added. "It was just terrifying at times."For seven days in early April, Swarner and his party of six cross-country skied roughly 70-to-80 miles through minus-30 degree temperatures. Wind chills reached close to minus-90. And if the threat of frostbite wasn't enough, the team had polar bear sightings, too."And then there were other times where we had to cross the water where the ice was only about an inch thick or even less, becoming almost like a jello," Swarner said. "On these openings in the ice, called leads, you could see moving water under the ice. Looking down, the water looked like oil because it was so deep, it was almost black."Swarner is the only known person to contract both stage four Hodgkin's disease and an Askin's sarcoma — two forms of deadly cancer he was diagnosed with at ages 13 and 16 respectively.On April 11, sometime around 3 p.m. eastern time, the 42-year-old ended an amazing 15-year journey where he joined only 57 others to complete the Explorer's Grand Slam. The endeavor, comprised of climbing the Seven Summits (the highest peak on each continent — Everest, Aconcagua, Elbrus, Denali, Kilmanjaro, Puncak Jaya and Vinson) as well as both Poles, had never seen a cancer survivor accomplish its ferocious demands."The only way to know you got to the North Pole is through GPS, there's no summit like on Everest, or any real distinguishing features," said Swarner of getting to the Earth's true north (90 degrees north latitude). "There can't be because of the constant shifting of the ice caps. The North Pole looked just like the ice five feet away, or like the ice yesterday or the day before."And then while we're at the North Pole, we're moving," he added. "So you'd move away from the North Pole and have to take a step or two back to get back to the spot again. But as anti-climatic as it was, it was still a very emotional moment."Training for the top of the globeIn the months leading up to the North Pole, Swarner trained by pulling tires to simulate the 150-pound sled he'd drag on the ice."I went into a Big O Tires store and said, 'This is going to be a strange question, but what do you do with your old tires?'" Swarner said. "When they said all they do is recycle them, I asked if a could have a few. Once I explained to them what I was doing, they let me take some and told me to do what I want with them as long as I bring them back to be recycled."So I went home, drilled some holes right in the middle of them, then drug them all around the neighborhood," he added. "I found out the tires were so much harder to pull."Swarner worked out four times a day. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, he'd do a P90X workout and in the afternoon he'd work his arms and shoulders. And then it was on to 250 single-leg squats off of his couch for each leg. Finally, he'd do 100 squats and a core workout after that. On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, it was yoga in the morning, then dragging tires or running in the afternoon with plenty of stretching in between.Planes, planes and more planesSwarner's flight plans from his Denver-area home were delayed 12 times.To get to the beginning of his expedition, he had to go from Denver to Dallas to London to three different Norway stops — Oslo to Tromso to Longyearbyen — then to base camp. From there, one must board a helicopter to the 89th parallel and ski north.Finally, on April 2, he and his team finally landed in Longyearbyen. From there, is was off to Camp Barneo — a temporary base set up annually since 2002 by the Russians in the late spring on an ice flow relatively close to the North Pole."Because the Russians are in a different time zone and because the North Pole never gets dark in the summer time, they picked us up at 12:30 a.m. from Longyearbyen," Swarner said. "Then we left at 1:30, landed at Barneo around 3:30, got on a helicopter around 4:30 then landed at 5:15 and started the expedition on no sleep."Having gone to the South Pole in 2015, the arctic conditions were nothing new to the 1993 Willard grad. However, there are differences."The environment was different. I don't want to say it was new because I'm familiar with the cold conditions, but I'd never been in a terrain like this before," Swarner said. "I'd also never been in humidity like this before. It was 95 percent humidity up there, even with that cold of temperature. Every time I took a breath in the tent, it was like I was breathing out a cloud."Of the 15 people that went to Camp Barneo to trek to the North Pole, half had to be evacuated for frostbite or exhaustion, including Swarner's team doctor."From the moment you wake up, to the moment you go to bed, you're constantly doing something," said Swarner of battling off frostbite. "You're either trying to melt snow for water, trying to stay warm, eating, hydrating or you're skiing forward."The final stepsThe spot was close.But with the end of everything he'd been working for and training for the previous 15 years, just steps away, Swarner surprised all in his party when he suddenly stopped,"I had a flag with 1,960 names on it that was rainbow colored with the word 'HOPE' across it, and when were about 20 to 30 feet away, I just stopped," he said. "I unhooked my harness and walked back to the sled I'd been dragging. I remember everyone in my group looking at me like, 'What are you doing?' Then I pulled out my flag, laid it out on top of my sled, which is when I said, 'These people have been pushing me for the last 100 miles, it's time I push them.'"Each time he's completed a leg of his Grand Slam, starting with Everest in 2002, Swarner has carried a similar flag with him that reads, "Dedicated to all those affected by cancer in this small world. Keep Climbing!""Everyone that had been touched by cancer got to the North Pole before I did," Swarner said. "That was my way of honoring them because they inspired me."With one big chapter of his life closed, Swarner created a next one.He proposed to his girlfriend Julissa via satellite phone."She said yes!," Swarner said. "My friends joke that marriage will be the toughest challenge yet. Tougher than cancer or this Explorer's Grand Slam."Swarner founded CancerClimber Association, a non-profit organization, in 2001. Since Everest, he's made a living on being a motivational speaker all around the country, as well as authoring a book, "Keep Climbing" and a series of E-books on his website SeanSwarner.com.Swarner had a SC Featured segment in June on ESPN titled "True North."He'll have another documentary out in October and is in the process of planning expedition adventures for clients — a trek to Everest Base Camp and a hike up Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa — set for sometime in 2018.Willard native Sean Swarner dons Santa's hat after reaching the North Pole on April 11. He became the world's first cancer survivor to make it to the world's two poles and climb the to the highest points on all seven continents.One of the camps used by Willard native Sean Swarner during his early April trek to the North Pole. Willard native Sean Swarner drags his 150-pound sled behind him as he skies across the floating ice that leads to the North Pole during his trip in early April. On April 11, Swarner became the first cancer survivor to ever reach both the world's poles and to have climbed to the seven highest points on each contient. Willard native Sean Swarner is among three skiers captured in this early April photo during his trek to the North Pole, which ended on April 11. Willard native Sean Swarner poses for a photo, looking through his ice covered face protector, during his trek to the North Pole in early April. On April 11, he became the first cancer survivor to complete the Explorer's Grand Slam — treking to both the world's poles, and climbing to the seven tallest points on each continent.Willard native Sean Swarner poses next to the Russian flag at North Pole Base Camp in early April, also known as Camp Barneo, a temporary ice camp set up by the Russian Geographical Society. The 42-year-old became the first cancer survivor to reach both poles and climb the Seven Summits on April 11.