Members of the 1986 Steger International Polar Expedition gathered for lunch at Grand Ely Lodge for a special edition Tuesday Group event on Friday, Oct. 9, prior to the expedition’s 40th anniversary celebration at Ely’s Historic State Theater.
Ann Bancroft, Paul Schurke, Geoff Carroll, Bob Mantell and Richard Weber joined together to share Ely memories and brief snippets from the expedition, with time for question-and-answer from attendees for the last 15 minutes of the program.
“We couldn’t have done what we did without this community rallying behind us in so many different ways,” Bancroft said.
Bancroft said Will Steger’s Picket Lake homestead was the highlight of the expedition experience.
“Being up here and living and working amongst you all and getting your help was just tremendous,” Bancroft said.
Schurke described the 1986 expedition as a “homespun entree to this world of polar exploration.”
“It could only happen in Ely,” Schurke added.
Bancroft described dog sledding into town and stopping at the donut shop to buy boxes for those working on the team’s polar sleds in the high school shop classroom. She said she would pass through Whiteside Park with its “no dogs allowed” sign and tie the dog team up right outside the school.
“The kids didn’t even blink with these teams of dogs sitting out there,” Bancroft said. “It was just normal everyday Ely.”
Schurke even brought one of the original polar dogsleds built in Steve Smreker’s high school shop class to the Grand Ely Lodge on the top of his SUV for the event.
Richard Weber was a cross-country skier for Canada’s national team who was “getting a little bored with ski racing” when he decided to hop on board the expedition team.
“I had this opportunity to go to the North Pole and I stopped and thought, how many people go to the Olympics? Not a lot, but quite a few. And how many people go to the North Pole? Even less,” Weber said. “So the North Pole it was.”
“We kind of winged it,” Weber said of the expedition. “We were creative, we thought about it and we succeeded, but there wasn’t a lot to go on at that time.”
Weber operated the most northern fly-in lodge in the world for over two decades prior to its recent closure.
Geoff Carroll of Utqiagvik, Alaska joined the expedition while the team was in the far north on a training trip. Carroll said word got around town that he had knocked down an attacking polar bear with the butt of his gun after the gun failed to fire on the Alaskan ice. The news eventually reached the expedition members.
“A couple weeks after that, this scruffy-looking bunch of characters came mushing into town by dog team, and I got word that those guys mushed in from Duluth, Minnesota,” Carroll said.
“Knocking that bear down took 10 seconds, but it really affected the rest of my life,” Carroll said.
Carroll described Ely as beautiful.
“Coming from Alaska, we think we know all about cold weather, and any place in the lower 48 is kind of second-rate, but I was impressed. We had good 30-below weather here in Ely,” Carroll said.
Sue Schurke told attendees that she did not sew before the team asked her to prepare all the clothes for the expedition — but she learned quickly enough and her efforts spun the popular Wintergreen Northern Wear.
The Arctic suit’s evolution began when she traced the outlines of expedition members on large paper at the Ely Echo to create her first patterns.
“And of course, nothing fit,” Sue Schurke joked about her first attempts.
The expedition also led to the creation of Steger Mukluks, as Patti Steger hand-sewed gear for the trip as well.
No one has trekked to the North Pole since 2014 due to melting Arctic ice, lack of support from air logistics companies and conflict in Russia, Weber said.
“It’s kind of dead,” Weber said. “Even the Russian ice station hasn’t operated since 2019. We were lucky enough to do this in the era of modern polar exploration, but it’s really finished now.”
Paul Schurke advises young people who participate in the Schurkes’ Wintergreen Adventures program to “hitch your wagon to someone who thinks outside the box, and then fasten your seatbelt and enjoy the ride.”
“That’s what happened to Sue and I,” Paul Schurke said of his experience meeting Will Steger and joining the polar expedition.
Ann Bancroft advises younger generations to seek exploration wherever they are. “Adventure is in your backyard, and sometimes we don’t have to go to the ends of the earth,” Bancroft said.
