Making a difference

Mike Horn sits on Pangaea’s deck smelling the salty air and staring at the wide and endless expanse of ocean. He is overwhelmed by the possibilities … traversing so many continents, oceans, rivers, jungles and ice lands. Exploring planet Earth with passionate and caring people by his side, Horn knows that together we can achieve a lot and make the planet a better place to live in.

Horn is acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest modern-day explorers and for 22 years now he has been based in Château-d’Oex, the neighboring village to Gstaad in the Berner Oberland.

Among his exploits have been Latitude Zero, an 18 month circumnavigation of the Earth around the Equator; the Arktos Expedition, a 27 month solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle; the North Pole Winter Expedition, the first-ever “polar night” expedition to the North Pole, and the Himalaya Expedition, summiting two mountains higher than 8’000m without the use of additional oxygen.

During many years of exploration experience around the world, Horn has witnessed first-hand the beauty that the planet beholds, as well as the alarming rate at which the environment is deteriorating.

Later in 2008, Horn launched yet another project “The Pangaea Expedition”, the biggest environmental project of its kind in the world to date.

Horn says: “The Pangaea Expedition is the most exciting adventure I’ve ever undertaken. After two decades of exploration, I want to invest the knowledge and experience I have acquired into a new challenge and to share these experiences with today’s youth.”

During the course of the Pangaea Expedition, Horn invited groups of young adults from around the world to the Mike Horn base in Château-d’Oex, in the picturesque valley of Gstaad and the Pays d’Enhaut. Here the youths undertook a challenging period of testing and assessment and engaged in a series of physical and mental tests with experts from the Mayo Clinic USA. They learnt about survival and first aid, photography and filming, engaged in environmental workshops and activities such as cycling, climbing, swimming, horse riding, raft building parasailing and abseiling. The camp was completed with a two-day “Mike Horn Raid” crossing the valley of Gstaad, the Via Ferrata of La Videmanette, hillsides of La Braye and finishing 48 hours later in the village of Château-d’Oex.