North Pole eludes Meghan Buchanan again, but explorer from Edwards still has her eyes on the prize
Meghan Buchanan/Courtesy photo
It wasn’t a worldwide pandemic or geopolitical events that prevented explorer Meghan Buchanan from attempting once again to trek to the North Pole in April. It was a crack in the runway.
Meghan Buchanan, a resident of Edwards, has been on a quest to complete the Explorer’s Grand Slam, which is climbing the highest peaks on each of the seven continents, known as the Seven Summits, and then adding the Nordic ski to the North and South Pole. She completed the trek to the South Pole in December 2021 and finished the Seven Summits in December 2022. The distance to the North Pole from the 89th degree to the 90th degree is about 70 miles.
Last year, when Buchanan and her team tried to complete the feat, the Civil Aviation Authority of Norway did not approve flight permits between Barneo Camp, a temporary camp that is set up for science and sport purposes, and Longyearbyen, Norway, which is the highest latitude airport in the world. There is only a short window of time to complete the trek in the spring and that change did not give the team enough time to reroute, and the task of completing the Explorer’s Grand Slam would have to wait one more year.
During the past year, Buchanan did not sit still, but rather continued to train and hike high peaks all over the world and 14ers in Colorado. But her eye remains on the prize. This spring presented a few more challenges to trek to the North Pole, and they weren’t the physical kind.
“We found out the only way through this year was through Russia. So that inherently is a great risk to Americans and to those traveling from NATO countries in general,” Buchanan said. “So, there was a lot of hesitation if we’d even be able to do it this year because of the route.”
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But the team forged ahead, and Buchanan took on the task of working on the logistics and researching all the laws that needed to be followed to not get arrested or detained.
“No credit cards work over there. Our phones don’t work over there. Prescriptions had to be notarized. So, there were a lot of things that I had to dive really deep into to figure out how we’re going to do this. If you want to take your little Garmin mini receiver, that is a satellite device. You have to have permission from the government to bring that into the country,” Buchanan said.
“I had a hard time sleeping for two nights before we went because I was more nervous about getting through customs than I was about actually doing the trek,” Buchanan said. “I think it’s all about control and things you can control and what you can’t.”
Like when the team realized their visas had the wrong date on them, and they had to buy another flight that fit the date.
“So, last minute, we had to buy a brand-new one-way ticket for $2,000 for a route that went through Moscow and wait another night. It was our only option,” Buchanan said.
Although Buchanan and a few of her teammates were delayed in customs, there were no real hiccups and they made their connecting flight and the trip was on. While basing out of Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Buchanan and her team learned of a ski area nearby and took a taxi over and rode the lift to check it out.
“A lot of young snowboarders heard us talking, and they asked us, ‘Where are you guys from?’ and it turns out one of them lived in Denver for six years. Everyone was very inviting and welcoming. They had not had any sort of real visitors, foreigners, for a long time,” Buchanan said.
The team was also using this time to check equipment and protocols so that they’d be ready to go at a moment’s notice.
“It’s a lot of ‘hurry up and wait’ and after quite a few days of waiting, we found out that the first runway had cracked. The runway is created on ice and they were not going to be able to repair it. So, they were going to start building a second runway,” Buchanan said.
“After waiting and waiting, we get the call saying the second runway is cracked in several different areas. It cannot be repaired by normal methods. Now we have run out of time. There’s no time to try to build a third. And so, the season is canceled, nobody is going to the North Pole,” Buchanan said. If she had completed that distance, she would have been the fifth American woman and the 13th woman in the world to do the Explorer’s Grand Slam.
Disappointing as that news was, Buchanan said it comes with the territory.
“You do have people reacting in very different ways. I mean, there were teams that have been trying to do this ski since 2019. We all have sponsors, we have people counting on us. We have people that are so excited for us. Yes, you want it, but at the same time, you have to be able to adapt quickly, understanding the things you can’t control, and not waste energy on it,” Buchanan said.
Buchanan trains this attitude just like she trains for climbing the highest peaks. As someone who has dyslexia, Buchanan, who literally is a rocket scientist and works for a major defense contractor, has struggled all her life with the learning disorder, but consistently decides to choose to rise up and practice GGRIT: Gratitude, Growth, Resilience, Integrity and Tenacity. Buchanan uses that platform for motivational speaking events and shares with people how they can better deal with life’s challenges by practicing those traits.
“If you are spinning and getting frustrated, anxious and working yourself up over the things that are in the past and you have zero control over, that is wasting your energy. Put all that energy into your next plan, the next thing and start training,” Buchanan said.
Buchanan is already planning the next thing, and there are several things in the works.
“I’m doing my first marathon in France, but it’s a fun marathon, we go through wine country in Madoc where there are wine stations, filet stations, oysters and everyone’s in costume,” Buchanan said. She’s also turning 50 this summer.
“My goal was to do the Seven Summits by my 50th birthday, so that’s done, but of course, I changed it to doing the Explorers Grand Slam by the time I was 50, but I won’t reach that goal, but things don’t always work out, but I’m excited to celebrate anyway,” Buchanan said. “In Vail, 50 is the new 30, right?”
She’s also writing a book, which she says is much harder than getting to the highest peaks, due to her dyslexia.
“Writing this book has been very emotionally exhausting but also very cathartic. I didn’t realize how much I had kept my dyslexia a secret. I was so embarrassed of who I was. I did not understand the power it was giving me. But it was great because it opened my eyes to so many things,” Buchanan said.
“I really do hope that this point comes across in my book to help people understand and embrace their challenges and it’s a gift in this lifetime that I got to figure this out and share inspiration with others.”
