Pelly Bay (Mar 10/03) - Mike Horn has probably seen more adventure than Indiana Jones could ever dream.

Mike Horn hopes to become the first person to travel around the Arctic Circle without the aid of motorized transport. He's now in Kugaaruk. - photo courtesy of Vincent Ningark

Eight months ago he set out on a journey never tried before -- to be the first person to travel around the Arctic Circle without the aid of motorized transportation.

If he succeeds it will be another notch on his belt.

Over the past 10 years, the 36-year-old South African has been the first person to travel around the equator without motorized transportation and has swam the 5,000-mile long Amazon River.

Horn began his latest journey, across one of the world's coldest regions, when he set sail for Greenland from Norway.

The trip was an arduous one, dodging icebergs, propelled only by the wind, and almost ending up cast adrift in a life boat when his craft nearly sank.

"A sinking boat when you're not near land is a big problem," laughed Horn.

But he wasn't laughing at the time, spending five straight days bailing out his boat trying to find and fix the hole that was threatening to send it to the bottom of the Atlantic. He fixed the problem, reached Greenland and crossed the country on skis -- 700 miles in 15 days.

His journey then took him to Arctic Bay where ice forced him to abandon his boat and continue on foot, a huge delay since he had planned to sail to Cambridge Bay.

On foot through the perpetual darkness of the Arctic winter, Horn encountered wolves, polar bears and faced the loss of all his equipment.

A bottle of heating fuel he was carrying exploded due to a change in pressure.

The result was the loss of his tent, a burnt face and the loss of all his equipment. "It was -30 and you're standing around in only you're underwear."

Thanks to the teachings of Inuit elders he met along his journey he was able to build an iglu and use candles to survive.

A satellite phone call to his wife in Switzerland allowed him to signal Iglulik RCMP to assist him.

Replacement equipment was then sent from Europe to Iglulik.

Horn is now in Kugaaruk, preparing to head west to Cambridge Bay. His journey will then take him into Alaska and then onto Siberia.

He expects to be another 18 months on the road, as it were. He said the trip has been an amazing one and has shown him the strength of his resolve.

He said as he travelled through the extreme cold and the dark he thought this may be his last trip.

But now the sun has come back and he remarked on the beauty and diversity of the landscape and his renewed faith.

"We set a lot of barriers in our minds that things are impossible. But, when you get down to it things aren't that difficult," he said.