The expedition is documented in a National Geographic television special "Thawing the Ice Curtain" and Paul's award-winning book, "The Bering Bridge." Paul is invited back to Russia to launch the Soviet-American Friendship Treks, an exchange program involving outdoor adventures.ġ992: Wintergreen makes waves on the home front as well. Presidents Bush and Gorbachev congratulate the Bering Bridge team for its role in the process. The US-Soviet border in the Bering Strait that had been firmly closed and known as the “Ice Curtain” for most of this century is now reopened. Susan’s apparel kept them warm throughout the 1,000-mile, 2-month journey, even as temperatures dipped to -75 º.ġ990: Paul Schurke and Russian colleague Dmitry Shparo lead the Bering Bridge Expedition from Siberia to Alaska to help reconnect arctic cultures long separated by the Cold War.
Deemed a “landmark in polar exploration,” their epic journey results in a National Geographic cover story, a television special and their best-selling book, "North to the Pole". May 1, 1986: Paul, Will, Ann Bancroft and their team reach the North Pole in the first confirmed trek to the top of the world without resupply. Susan’s first clothing designs are field-tested and perfected on numerous polar training trips. So was his assistant guide Susan Hendrickson.ġ982: Following marriage and a honeymoon in the Boundary Waters, Paul and Susan team up with Will Steger to help run his Lynx Track Winter School near Ely, MN, teaching dogsledding and wilderness skills to college and community groups.ġ985: As Will and Paul make plans for a dogsled expedition to the North Pole, Susan develops her design talents by crafting Eskimo-style apparel from new synthetic fabrics. Voila! The trips were a hit and Paul was hooked.
1979: Wilderness Inquiry, a non-profit endeavor that Paul Schurke and Greg Lais founded to provide Boundary Waters canoe trips for disabled persons, became so popular that they explored dogsledding as a means of providing access to the winter wilderness as well.