Explorer Will Steger lives on the edge

NEAR ELY, Minn. — Read deeply about the towering adventures to the North Pole or coast to coast across Antarctica of Minnesota's Will Steger — surely holding a spot on the Mount Rushmore of polar explorers — and the mind is set afire with images of his grit and savvy and self-awareness.

Spend an afternoon in the adventurer's company and you'll get closer to his truth:

Pushing the edges of his existence, in any context, isn't what Steger does. It is who he is. Something cellular.

It's why in 1970, he moved from the metro to the pine woods near Ely for what he called "a life of goodness, following my heart," and built a small cabin.

It's why now, decades after he first sketched it out during an expedition, his five-story Steger Wilderness Center is close to completion, rising above his small cabin and Pickett's Lake. Camp David inspired his vision for the center, he said, where leaders will come together "for lightning to strike" around environmental and energy policy.

And it's why Steger currently isn't in Ely but in the wildest of wilderness more than 1,000 miles away.

Day One of his two-month solo expedition began Wednesday near a great lake of the Canadian Arctic — continuing a rite of spring he first began in 2013. When spring breaks up, Steger breaks out. He plans to ski the first 300 miles before relying on his Alpacka lightweight raft for river travel. Finally, he anticipates more than 100 miles of hiking to get to his endpoint at the Inuvik village of Paulatuk on the Arctic Ocean. Stacked and strapped to sleds will be 240 pounds of food and gear. A resupply isn't in the plans.

"As a human being, as long as you are alive, you are moving, you are evolving," said Steger, 78, nodding to his guiding principle.

Two weeks before his trip and with his packing and planning dialed in, Steger was energized under a spring sun at his homestead. A lunch of tomato soup and crusty bread further fueled the day and conversation with visitors.

Friendly faced and always soft-spoken, he talked about his center's long, methodical build; his environmental advocacy; the inspiration he finds in young people; and why his compass for adventure points north again and again. The conversation was edited for length and clarity.

"You have to have a vision because it happens over time. It starts with getting the public informed, first through education, and then through media. It is all about building constituency. If you can get constituency, you can pass policy, and once policy is passed you can't change it on a whim."

"I was very aware of Camp David early on … world leaders, small groups interacting. I see working with national policy leaders and eventually international. I've done international expeditions. I know it is capable of that here. I had the vision 40 years ago, but it is amazing the timing. When you are doing environmental or energy policy, to be steeped in these surroundings, really gets you in the right space for that. It's all relationship building. The building was designed with that in mind."

"I committed early on to a life of simplicity. That was my value, but it also made sense. If I wanted to own a lot of stuff, I'd have to spend my time working for that stuff to buy it. But living closer to the land early on freed me up with my time and energy to my commitments. I came from an entrepreneurial background, but I committed to myself early on that I wouldn't do a business, I wouldn't make money for money's sake. I would take the longer way around and build out the center and the nonprofits."

"The solos I've been doing up there are in country I have always wanted to be in. I was always interested in rugged country and the divide to the Arctic Ocean. The Coppermine [River] region has been a spiritual place for me. I think that is why I have ended up there so many times.

"There is a real strategy. Over the last six months, I have worked on this a lot to find a route that is most challenging. It wasn't just drawing a line. First I didn't know if some of it was possible to do, with the rivers and the danger. I had to put a lot of time into it. Nobody travels that area. Nobody has any idea to help me. That is the reason I am doing this.

"I will be in the western Arctic, which is much warmer because of the influence of the Pacific [Ocean.] It is going to be unusually pleasant in weather you can pretty much trust."

"I am not bringing a gun. I have a bear-scare device. If I was on the Arctic Ocean with polar bears, I would have a gun for sure, but the gun weighs so much. It's 10 pounds and more than the raft I am using. It is just a clunky thing to portage. There is a slight risk, but a gun also doesn't guarantee you total safety from a bear because they can come at night. I have to compensate for that by being prepared for it. I am extra cautious and looking out. I am never afraid, because if you are you are in the wrong space."

"Most people seek comfort and security. They do their whole life not to take a risk. That's a choice of course. But for myself, the more the risk, the more the character, the more the experience. To me, it is all about the experience. Risk-taking isn't about jumping off a cliff. You really have to know what you are doing.

"There is nothing like thin ice. I have been traveling on thin ice for 60 years. I have this knowledge of ice, but I decided 10 years ago to push the limit because of all my travel soloing I avoided anything with current. I was really afraid of it. I wanted to learn from that fear of thin ice, and that is one reason I pursued these trips at [spring] breakup.

"The other part that draws me is the presence of nature in the north. It is hard to describe in words how pretty it is. Very few people have ever traveled like that because of the danger. The reason I can do it is because I have a dry suit. If I fall in [the water] I can survive. I have the technical gear. I wouldn't think of it without a dry suit.

"The dry suit is so uncomfortable, you end up 'Oh, I've got 20 yards there. I'll just try it without.' And that's when you die. You have to know when to wear it.

"You always know what your risk is. Some things I won't bother with — if I have to take two days walking around a one-mile section I'll do it. Or call in a plane and quit, I'll do it. I've done that. You don't risk your life. It's something you don't do. I don't play with my death."

"Doing a team is much different. When it is going well it can be good. I traveled a lot with just a partner, which is probably the best way because there is good safety there. If I was traveling with a partner right now, I would be talking all the time and I wouldn't be in the moment as much. The solo is absolutely a different type of situation. I consider it safer being alone. I don't have to consider another person."

"The joy is just being there, whether it is being miserable in a storm or being in the most beautiful scene you can imagine in the spring bloom. It's the presence of where you are at. I can't think of a more beautiful presence than the Great Bear Lake region. The lake is an ocean. It is the eighth-largest freshwater lake in the world. It is absolutely pure. Nobody has ruined it. It hasn't been polluted."

"I am really proud of my age. I think people are ashamed of their age and they are trying to hide it. I don't look at it that way. My 70s have been a really good decade for me. I have been super blessed and fortunate. I have lived properly — I say that with some humility — but it is not surprising. It is your habits, how you live and how you eat, and how you think. Especially how you think that determines your destiny in so many different ways.

"These expeditions are good for me because I thoroughly work myself out. Then I can see any flaws in my mental thought processes or my body. Solos are a check-in for me, and they always have been. Especially now.

"You have to be humble. There are no guarantees of anything. Your habits dictate so much of your life.

"What doesn't change, I've found, is my intuitive mind gets stronger and stronger. I don't think if you are living properly, you don't lose that with age if you are dialed into that. The mind can be your biggest enemy or biggest friend."

"I stay moderate in my habits. To me, I have to watch caffeine because it will affect my sleep. I don't do any sugar. I eat right. I don't overdo much. I hike some. I take long walks with a good friend. The main thing I crave is good sleep."

"I can't speak for Native people, but I can speak that I have traveled in their country for 65 years. The reason they survive is because of their humility and respect. It is that simple. And traveling where I am traveling, that is the currency. If you are in that good frame of mind — real humility and respect — you stay pretty safe. There is something to that."

"Going to the wilderness, it is a real spiritual and learning experience in so many different ways, but another well of important energy is to be around younger people. The beauty of the first couple decades of a person's life, that they are coming alive and making decisions and have their confusion and joys and awareness of all that. It is a very important energy for older people — that connection to the older generations.

"I feel a kinship to the young generation now because there are certain values that we held [in the 1960s] and they hold now. The youth have come of age now. I have worked for three or four generations of teaching. The youth get it. They finally get it. I didn't feel they got it 20 years ago or 40 years ago. Maybe it is an evolutionary process that the youth have to get it because it is a matter of survival. They are really in a privileged place right now. They've been handed a really tough but really incredible opportunity."

"I saw 20 years ago the real solution or the ability to adapt to what is coming is economical, it is job-creating. Otherwise, I would just have lived as a hermit up here. I wouldn't have bothered. There are going to be jobs. There is going to be technology. There are the tools. All of us in America are privileged, but to be in this country we have the privilege to be able to control our destiny. Things are going to change, and we have to accept the changes that are coming. There also are great things coming in. We can mold our destiny and our society."

"The legacy isn't about this person or this thing, it's about everything that is created around a legacy. My legacy would be a lot of other people's legacy. It is all kind of one. I have the ability to maybe make dreams a reality — I have a certain ability. My life has been about that. Early on I was going to be a teacher and then I really wanted to live in the wilderness. I also recognized my vocation was in education. I knew where I was going all my life, and I have vision for this place. But to realize that, it really takes a community. If you are 78, if you are into yourself, you have lost the game. It doesn't have anything to do with ego."