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On Thin Ice: An Epic Final Quest into the Melting Arctic
In March 2014, Eric Larsen and Ryan Waters set out to traverse nearly 500 miles across the melting Arctic Ocean, unsupported, from Northern Ellesmere Island to the geographic North Pole. Despite being one of the most cold and hostile environments on the planet, the Arctic Ocean has seen a steady and significant reduction of sea ice over the past seven years due to climate change. Because of this, Larsen's and Waters' trip--dubbed the "Last North Expedition"--is expected to be the last human-powered trek to the North Pole, ever.
Filled with stunning, full-color photos and GPS maps plotting his progress, On Thin Ice is Larsen's first-person account of this historic two-man expedition. Traveling across the retreating sea ice on skis, snowshoes, and even swimming through semi-frozen arctic slush, Larsen and Waters each pulled over 320 pounds of gear behind them on sleds through temperatures that plummeted to nearly 70 degrees below zero. At times, they covered little over a mile a day. They were stalked by polar bears and ran out of food. It was, in Larsen's words, "easily one of the most difficult expeditions in the world."
More than just a heart-stopping adventure narrative, however, On Thin Ice offers an intimate and haunting look at the rapidly changing face of the Arctic due to global climate change.
Filled with stunning, full-color photos and GPS maps plotting his progress, On Thin Ice is Larsen's first-person account of this historic two-man expedition. Traveling across the retreating sea ice on skis, snowshoes, and even swimming through semi-frozen arctic slush, Larsen and Waters each pulled over 320 pounds of gear behind them on sleds through temperatures that plummeted to nearly 70 degrees below zero. At times, they covered little over a mile a day. They were stalked by polar bears and ran out of food. It was, in Larsen's words, "easily one of the most difficult expeditions in the world."
More than just a heart-stopping adventure narrative, however, On Thin Ice offers an intimate and haunting look at the rapidly changing face of the Arctic due to global climate change.
289 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2016
35 people are currently reading
259 people want to read
About the author
Eric Larsen
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 7, 2019
Eric Larsen and Ryan Waters undertake an unsupported trip, no food drops and they have to carry everything on sleds they pull, to the north pole. They wanted to undertake the trip before global warming made it impossible. The ice sheets covering the pole are rapidly melting. The book is full of pictures showing the conditions they had to travel through. Larsen does a good job of depicting how grueling the trip was. He does get a bit repetitive, especially in describing previous trips he had made to the poles and the difference between the south and north poles. Since he partially did the trip to raise awareness of global warming I wish there had been more information in the book about global warming.
September 7, 2017
It's a compelling story. Larsen does a nice job showing the unglamorous side of an expedition like this. The book could have used a bit more editing, but overall a good quick read.
March 12, 2025
Pretty amazing journey and probably the last two people that will ever be able to make it to the North Pole unsupported but I grew to hate Eric more and more hahaha. The writing was super repetitive and I get it the journey was insanely hard… like insanely hard but the writing just pissed me off so much especially towards the end. The entire time he was writing as if they had absolutely no chance of making it or all the odds in the entire world were stacked against them..all the way up until the end! The journey was amazing but the writing drove me mad. Not just the writing either, boy do I feel bad for Ryan waters (who was portrayed as stoic and level headed) because Eric seemed like an absolute nightmare to be around, constantly throwing fits or crying about something so dumb. Like “day 3 just when it couldn’t get any worse my wife wrote me saying at a party our one year old son called another man daddy, I immediately broke down and cried uncontrollably” like bro grow up. Or how he kept mentioning if they didn’t get to the North Pole by day 52 the plane would get them early and they’d fail…he literally mentioned this throughout the entire book and I continually thought like if you asked for another two days they really would be like no??? And sure as shit they ran out of time and asked for a one day extension and guess what…they got a one day extension like no shit buddy. I mean I could go on all day so much pissed me off like he kept writing about how they were running out of food, “we have one day left until we get there and all we have left is one day of food…..and 5 days of emergency rations in case” like oh really you’re precisely planned trip where you packed food for each day worked out perfectly?? You’d have to read it to really understand the frustration about that one. He even kept mentioning “once we get there there might not be anywhere for the plane to land…it needs 1600 meters of flat land to land and if there’s no where to land we’ll have to journey back with no food which is almost certain death” legit repeatedly mentioned this one way or another and then when they get there there’s a picture of him celebrating and I kid you not i think you could’ve landed every fuckin plane on the planet in that picture…legit miles of just nothing flat land. Atta boy retard. Even when they were like legit 10 yards away he starts counting down and he’s like 10..9..8..12(the ice pushed us back two yards)..11..10 like fuck you dude.
December 12, 2020
n March 2014, Eric Larsen and Ryan Waters set out to traverse nearly 500 miles across the melting Arctic Ocean, unsupported, from Northern Ellesmere Island to the geographic North Pole. Despite being one of the most cold and hostile environments on the planet, the Arctic Ocean has seen a steady and significant reduction of sea ice over the past seven years due to climate change. Because of this, Larsen’s and Waters’ trip—dubbed the “Last North Expedition”—is expected to be the last human-powered trek to the North Pole, ever.
Filled with stunning, full-color photos and GPS maps plotting his progress, On Thin Ice is Larsen’s first-person account of this historic two-man expedition. Traveling across the retreating sea ice on skis, snowshoes, and even swimming through semi-frozen arctic slush, Larsen and Waters each pulled over 320 pounds of gear behind them on sleds through temperatures that plummeted to nearly 70 degrees below zero. At times, they covered little over a mile a day. They were stalked by polar bears and ran out of food. It was, in Larsen’s words, “easily one of the most difficult expeditions in the world.”
More than just a heart-stopping adventure narrative, however, On Thin Ice offers an intimate and haunting look at the rapidly changing face of the Arctic due to global climate change.
Filled with stunning, full-color photos and GPS maps plotting his progress, On Thin Ice is Larsen’s first-person account of this historic two-man expedition. Traveling across the retreating sea ice on skis, snowshoes, and even swimming through semi-frozen arctic slush, Larsen and Waters each pulled over 320 pounds of gear behind them on sleds through temperatures that plummeted to nearly 70 degrees below zero. At times, they covered little over a mile a day. They were stalked by polar bears and ran out of food. It was, in Larsen’s words, “easily one of the most difficult expeditions in the world.”
More than just a heart-stopping adventure narrative, however, On Thin Ice offers an intimate and haunting look at the rapidly changing face of the Arctic due to global climate change.
May 16, 2018
Fantastic read. This is an amazing story loaded with incredible photography documenting an amazing a complshment. I’ve spent time in the polar areas and this book just made me do a head shake again and again. There is a very fine line between survival and death when completing a polar journey like this and Eric conveys this to the reader well. Congratulations Eric Larsen and Ryan Waters!
August 17, 2020
Whew. It’s as much a picture book as it is long form nonfiction, and the photos are spectacular enough that it’s worth getting your hands on a copy if you can. It definitely gets repetitive but the authors did a great job of really painting for the reader the physical and psychological toll of the expedition. Humans are bonkers!!!! If you love adventure tales, pick this one up.
January 9, 2022
This was a very interesting book about two topics that are of great interest to me. Surviving in polar temps and the melting poles. What was very frustrating about this book was that it seemed extremely repetitive. The author would state the same information several times within the same page. Overall, the great pictures and unique perspective made this quick read worth it.
June 29, 2020
It's not the best written book that I've ever read but it is one of the prettier books with lots of photographs. It's certainly an amazing feat. The melting of the ice cap is stark and scary though and the authors do an excellent job of driving that message home.
January 4, 2020
There is nothing better than earned rest.
August 16, 2020
This is a true account of two men walking to the North Pole, how the did and all the problems in doing it. Very interesting, also comments on the melting snow cap.
October 13, 2021
Good book, the pictures are completely unbelievable. I guess I wish there was more substance. Still happy I read it.
October 18, 2022
great book but can not for the life of me figure out where they were poopin. also we should probably do something about global warming idk just a thought
March 12, 2017
Eric Larsen and Ryan Waters are, to date, the last to reach the North Pole unsupported by walking, skiing, and at times swimming, nearly 500 miles from Ellesmere Island. Both are seasoned adventurers. Larsen is a filmmaker and the leader of trips into Antarctica while Waters leads ascents onto the earth's highest peaks. Larsen had been to the geographic north pole twice before and he knew that the ability to accomplish the feat once again was quickly diminishing as the arctic ice sheets were melting due to global warming. In fact, on this, his third trip, he came upon more and more open water instead of the thick multi-layer ice that used to be the predominant landscape. The two men spent 51 harrowing days and nights accomplishing their goal. Whiteouts, temperatures almost at a constant -40, and even polar bears nearly cost them their lives. Pulling sleds weighing over 300 pounds each over heaving ice took a brutal toll on both men but their desire to document the depletion of the ice drove them forward. The book is an exciting narrative of their journey with many beautiful photographs.
February 9, 2017
The author, Eric Larsen, travelled by foot dragging a sled weighing over 300 pounds to the North Pole.
He was accompanied by his friend, Ryan. Together they faced many challenges outlined in their journey to the North Pole. It's thrilling to read about their adventures.
It's a beautiful and important book. The photos in the book are stunning - they capture the beauty and melting of the arctic due to climate change. The author wants the reader to know the climate change is "real" and happening now! He calls his journey to the North Pole a "final quest" since it will no longer be possible to undertake the journey he took in the future due to thin ice and melting of the arctic.
I highly recommend reading the hard cover edition of the book - since the photos are beautifully presented in the book.
My only critique is that the book needs a bit of editing. Much of it is written as "blogs" he wrote while making his journey to the North Pole. I noticed several typos/grammatical errors and a bit of repetition. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it!
He was accompanied by his friend, Ryan. Together they faced many challenges outlined in their journey to the North Pole. It's thrilling to read about their adventures.
It's a beautiful and important book. The photos in the book are stunning - they capture the beauty and melting of the arctic due to climate change. The author wants the reader to know the climate change is "real" and happening now! He calls his journey to the North Pole a "final quest" since it will no longer be possible to undertake the journey he took in the future due to thin ice and melting of the arctic.
I highly recommend reading the hard cover edition of the book - since the photos are beautifully presented in the book.
My only critique is that the book needs a bit of editing. Much of it is written as "blogs" he wrote while making his journey to the North Pole. I noticed several typos/grammatical errors and a bit of repetition. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it!
December 20, 2016
Eric Larsen and Ryan Waters planned to make an unsupported trip to the North Pole, leaving from Ellsmere Island. The book has stunning photographs of this adventure. Eric wanted to increase awareness about global warming, and this amazing adventure surely does that.
Trekking across Antarctica to the South Pole means trekking across solid ground. Getting to the North Pole means moving across water (not land), and the ice over this water is melting. Thus, Eric and Ryan occasionally had to SWIM across open water leads. They pulled heavy sleds over huge jumbled ice formations; they met a polar bear; the temperature was -30 degrees; they nearly ran out of food as they consumed 8000 calories per day....tough guys.
Trekking across Antarctica to the South Pole means trekking across solid ground. Getting to the North Pole means moving across water (not land), and the ice over this water is melting. Thus, Eric and Ryan occasionally had to SWIM across open water leads. They pulled heavy sleds over huge jumbled ice formations; they met a polar bear; the temperature was -30 degrees; they nearly ran out of food as they consumed 8000 calories per day....tough guys.
May 3, 2017
Will never understand the desire to traverse earth's most hostile environments, but I do enjoy reading about it. Kudos to the team for finishing and drawing attention to our rapidly melting polar ice.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews