Youngest to Pole Project: Jacob “Val” Myers’ World Record Expedition in Antarctica
Val
Jacob “Val” Myers is a 25-year old mountain athlete and conservationist hailing from the oldest mountains on planet Earth; The Appalachians. Val has been interested in conservationism as early as his teen years when he worked in Gorges State Park as a park attendant. Tracking turtle populations, gathering biostatistics from local rivers, and maintaining trail systems were just a few of his responsibilities, and while in high school he was the founding president of the Southern Appalachian Nature Expeditions (SANE) science club which worked alongside local forestry to track river health and lead cleanup efforts when necessary.
Spending most of his youth climbing trees, cliff diving from the many waterfalls that flowed through his home mountains, and keeping his bare feet on trails whenever possible, Val was a wild child. After getting trapped atop an exposed ridge during a wind storm while backpacking in 2018, Val found both a renewed respect for the world’s more extreme environments and a fire in himself to pursue a life of adventure. In an effort to push his limits and cope with the COVID pandemic in 2020, Val began running mountain ultramarathons in his home range. His first effort was the 77-mile Foothills Trail, and he completed the journey with no sleep or resupply in 37-hours. In 2021 he crossed all 800 desert miles of the Arizona Trail, effectively walking from Mexico to Utah with a few side adventures canyoneering by the ancient Hopi Indian ruins of Sedona along the way. Most recently, Val completed the Inaugural Crazy Mountain 100 near his new home in Montana. The Crazies is regarded by many as the top 5 hardest 100-mile races in the entire United States due to the remote nature of the course, the intense heat and exposure, and the some 25,000 feet of vertical gain across the entirety of the race. Nearly half of all runners who stepped up to the start line failed to complete the race. Val finished 32nd.
All these exercises in endurance have been culminating toward Val’s largest effort to date; The Youngest To Pole Project
What Is the Youngest to Pole Project?
In November of this year (2023), Val is attempting to be the youngest person in human history to ski solo/unsupported/unassisted across the Antarctic Continent to the Geographic South Pole! This record, currently held by French adventurer Matthieu Tordeur who was 27 at the time of his South Pole trek in 2018, has been a goal of Val’s for over two years now, and in that time he has developed a level of expertise in the field under the guidance of Polar Legends like Lou Rudd, Wendy Searle, and Ben Saunders.
The route begins at Hercules Inlet just inside the Antarctic Peninsula, and from there Val will ski over 700-miles through temperatures of -40F, whiteouts and blizzards with roaring, storm-grade winds, intense isolation, and hazardous wind-blown snow ridges referred to as “sastrugi.” The journey is expected to take around 45 days, in which Val isn’t allowed to accept resupply or help of any capacity as he drags a pulk full of survival equipment across the continent.
Antarctica is a continent with a very young human history. It was barely 100 years ago that the famous race to the South Pole occurred between Roald Amundsen and Cpt. Scott. Once people found their way onto the great frozen continent, they agreed to set a strict series of guidelines to preserve Antarctica’s pristine polar wilderness, and in accordance with this mission Val will be operating his expedition under the conservation guidelines of the various authorities that exist in the continent.
As a conservationist himself, Val recognizes the environmental impacts of his expedition. While a minuscule contribution to emissions as a whole, the Youngest to Pole Project has partnered with Climate Force in a reforestation effort where Val will personally plant enough trees to offset the carbon produced in his pursuit of this world record. Val hopes that by taking personal responsibility for his carbon expenditure he can positively influence other adventurers to protect these remote and wild places we all test ourselves in.
Apart from his personal and ecological reasons for taking on this massive journey, Val also aims to showcase the positive effects of engaging with natural spaces to communities across Appalachia. “We are in the middle of a drug and mental health crisis in Appalachia. People are staying inside more than ever, addicted just as badly to their devices as they are to the drugs that have rooted themselves in my home. Overdoses and youth suicides are at an all-time high, and I’m not standing for that.” Val has reached out to schools across Appalachia where he will be presenting on both his expedition and the positive benefits of exercise, recreating in outdoor spaces, and finding community.
The Odds
I want to be very clear here: The difficulty of a polar journey should never be understated. Over a month of intense cold exposure and exertion puts a great strain on the body, and that is why I (Val) have devoted multiple years of my life to this project. In the last year alone I have endured temps below -40F on multiple occasions, undertaken a 20-day solo expedition on a glacier in Norway, competed in a 300-mile race in the Arctic, and pushed my body in ways I didn’t previously think possible. To cope with the effects of the cold I spent this Winter laying in a creek in Montana and then forcing myself to set up my tent and reheat myself to stave off the effects of hypothermia. I’ve operated as a guide for one of the world’s premiere polar guiding companies, and through my time working with them rigorously tested every last piece of equipment I intend on bringing with me to the Pole. While working with this company I have given clients a foundation upon which they can build their polar skillset, and with the more experienced clientele I have helped get them through a whole variety of rigorous Winter conditions (something we affectionately refer to as the “University of Polar Travel”). There remains very few experts in my field I haven’t called, received field-tested tips from, or studied under in an effort to fully prepare myself for the journey.
What Now?
Famous polar explorer Robert Swan once famously said “There are only two things that can hinder a polar expedition: Money and Weather.” I can’t control the weather, though I’ve trained to respond to it appropriately. What I can do is fundraise as aggressively as possible to fund this journey (around $100,000 in total) and provide some financial support to Climate Force’s powerful reforestation efforts.
If this project excites you, if you run your own business or have a friend who does, if you are someone who cares about the environment or a parent in Appalachia, please, please, donate to the project here or reach out to me at Myers.JacobG@gmail.com and at the contact form on my website ValhallaHikes.com to discuss ways we can get you involved in the project. We can only bring this dream to life as a community, and I believe so deeply that Appalachia and the larger adventure community around the world wants to see this happen.
Much love to y’all.