Karl Kruger is about half of the way through his journey. In the next two years, he hopes to complete the standup paddle board expedition through the legendary passage. The remote Arctic environments offered him something that is lost on more southern latitudes.
In the summer of 2022, while sitting on a rock somewhere in the Canadian Arctic, Karl Kruger had an epiphany.
It was the farthest north he had been yet but the weather was acting up, so he had to take a break in his expedition.
The going had been good until then. He was in the middle of an expedition through the Northwest Passage on a standup paddle board (SUP), a type of surfboard powered only by a single paddle.
He had to travel light, carrying little entertainment. And on the way north the only two batteries he brought had been confiscated by border guards. He had to rely only on the sun to charge his electronics. It didn’t matter much anyway: the last phone connection had been left behind long ago.
All he could do was to stay on that rock for two days doing little else than watching the ice go by. And thinking.
“It was the most deeply humbling experience I think I have ever had. To just sit in a place like that for two days, thinking about human insignificance and the scale of time. It was a real turning point for me and my approach to life,” Karl Kruger told Polar Journal AG.
To claim a record
The Arctic solitude and the effects it had on him were unexpected, Karl Kruger admits. Before he started his trip, his main goal had been to learn but also, less high-mindedly, to claim a record for himself.
Should he complete his journey next summer, he will be the first person to standup paddle his way through the entire length of the Northwest Passage.
“It was only when I was sitting there looking at the ice that I realized what a trifling thing that is. I realized that it didn’t make any sense to want the attention of someone who wouldn’t even be able to conceive of what I was doing. It just really didn’t matter,” Karl Kruger said.
“What mattered was that I was there, and that I was experiencing it. Who cares if anybody notices or if I get attention? The beauty in it all was that I was there. So at that point I started to focus on what I was learning and all the little things I was experiencing,” he said.
Stuck in the fog
Karl Krüger’s journey is divided into four legs. He completed the first 650-kilometers stretch through Nunavut in the Arctic summer of 2022, and the second one, also of 650 kilometers, in 2023. But, due to funding issues, he had to postpone the third bit of the journey from 2024 until 2025.
Next summer, he hopes to paddle at least 1100 kilometers, aiming for Gjoa Haven on King James Island. From there, he will complete the rest of the way through the passage in 2026.
So, under his belt, he already carries two 650-kilometer journeys full of highlights. But, he did not avoid some low moments as well.
“Every year tends to have its own little theme. The first year was about navigation, and finding my way through the Arctic. The second one was about deprivation, about how much you can go without,” Karl Krüger said.
This deprivation, which he counts as the lowest moment yet, was brought on by a five-day fog. Not only did it make navigation near impossible, the lack of sun also meant that his electronic devices could not be recharged. It even made it difficult to find places to land with his SUP.
“I was reduced to navigating only by what I could hear. I was by a rocky shoreline, so it was very risky to go ashore because of the waves breaking. I had to listen carefully before getting close to land but fortunately there is a big difference between the sound of waves hitting rocks and waves hitting smoother shorelines with a rocky beach,” Karl Krüger said.
“It didn’t always work out. Sometimes I would paddle in and look but have to go back out again,” he said.
But in the end, after five days of worrying, the fog disappeared.
“It felt like a rebirth when I came out of the fog. The sky was blue, the sea was calm, and everything felt easy,” he said.
Simplicity means safety
The Northwest Passage has a long history of testing the resolve of explorers, sometimes in frighteningly deadly ways. In recent years, more and more vessels have managed to pass through the infamous passage. But none, yet, have made the entire length of the passage on a standup paddle board.
So why, aside from wanting to be first, did Karl Krüger choose this particular means of transport? The answer can be summed up in a single word: simplicity.
But Karl Krüger also has a longer explanation.
“I wanted to show that you can achieve a lot with very little equipment, and the paddle board requires you to travel with very few things,” he said.
“But it is also a safety thing. If you do fall in the water, you just have to crawl back up again: it is easy. That would not be true in a kayak or a canoe or a larger vessel. And that also makes the whole trip more comfortable as I don’t have to worry as much about things going wrong,” he said.
Moreover, he pointed out, the SUP is extraordinarily fast. So fast, in fact, that back in 2017, Karl Krüger managed a high placement in a race against sailboats; the so-called Race to Alaska which takes place along the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. He placed 17th out of 60 contestants, and was, by far, the highest placed, non-motorized vessel.
This was his first long trip on a standup paddle board and an inspiration for the Northwest Passage journey.
In search of solitude
What Karl Krüger got a glimpse of during the Race to Alaska, and what he later experienced the full extent of, was an immense satisfaction found in complete solitude.
In fact, when he talks about his experiences in the Arctic, the concrete encounters with wildlife and the Arctic wilderness seems less important than the philosophical revelations he had while there.
In a slide show Karl Krüger uses to talk about his journey, he included a quote by the American writer and psychologist Clarissa Pinkola Estés; a quote he believes encapsulates what he has learned. The quote reads:
“The doors to the world of the wild self are few, but precious. If you have a deep scar, that is a door. If you have an old, old story, that is a door. If you love the sky and the water so much you almost cannot bear it, that is a door. If you yearn for a deeper life, a full life, a sane life, that is a door.” – Clarissa Pinkola Estés
The quote, in Karl Krüger’s opinion, speaks to the essence of life in the wild.
“At the heart of it, my reason for doing things like this has always been personal growth. The bigger the project, the more I have to do to achieve it, the bigger the results will be in the end. I become a different person.”
“This project has completely rewired how I act in the world with people in it,” he said.
And, if all goes according to plan, Karl Krüger should be back to complete his journey over the next two summers. Not only will he get to claim a record, he will also get to learn even more about human solitude.
Because that word, solitude, is what is now the essence of the endeavor.
“It is the most pure form of solitude I have ever experienced. Sometimes I don’t see any signs of humans for two weeks. It is just me and the breeze, and the wildlife, and the weather, and the water. It is absolutely beautiful,” he said.
Ole Ellekrog, Polar Journal AG
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