Customer Reviews

Two Against the Ice: A Classic Arctic Survival Story and a Remarkable Account of Companionship in the Face of Adversity

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4 star:		(1)
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Worth the price of the book to read about the calendar pictures and the "Letter from Denmark" episode.

A testament to the amazing character of the two men: loyalty, determination, courage, charitableness, and the ability to find a song in one's heart even when the chips are down. And down they were! That the two explorers were able to survive their multi-years' long ordeal is amazing.

An adventure/travel story at its best.

I'll definitely be re-reading this one and sharing it with others, too.

Great Book! Written by the explorer himself, the story comes 'straight from the horse's mouth' telling of the his expedition to Greenland in the early 1900's. Seeing inside the lives of Mikkelsen and his companion, Iversen during this expedition makes me wonder if anyone today in our soft, comfortable life could ever endure what they did. Their outlook and physical stamina during their hardship makes my 'discomforts' look like peanuts!

a great read. felt i was there on the ice. nice to read about people who can get along during times of adversity.

Objective facts and subjective experiences followed by meditation on cold climates by Ejnar Mikkelsen, a Danish Arctic explorer of considerable repute. He made expeditions to Greenland, Alaska
and Siberia.

This book was written in Danish {Farlig tomandsfaerd} and published
in 1955. The idea was to search (beginning in 1910 and lasting for
three years) for the diaries of the Mylius Erichsen expedition that
went wrong. The expedition was to prove that Robert Peary's mapping of the East Greenland coast was incorrect.

The actual story and the way it is written makes it a gripping and
spellbinding unforgettable polar narrative!

Dag Stomberg
St. Andrews, Scotland

This is the story of how Danish explorers Ejnar Mikkelsen and Iver Iversen struggled to survive while alone on the bleak and frozen northeast coast of Greenland from 1910 to 1913.

Their demonstration of will and endurance in the face of severe hunger, freezing temperatures and extreme fatigue is a quite an achievement.

The book, frankly, isn't as good as their achievement, giving us too much information on some things and too little on others. Still, if you're a survival story buff, it's worth a read, if only because Mikkelsen and Iversen come through as likeable chaps that are worth rooting for.

Mikkelsen, at times, can be an almost poetic writer as he describes the vast wilderness he and Iversen surveyed.

"Whipping up the dogs, we drove down towards the gorge through which we had just come - and halted spell bound: the sun was standing right above a dip in the ice, and its rays were pouring in between the tall ice-cliffs straight towards us. There was sparkling and glittering on the mirror-smooth, crystal-clear banks, the ice crystals which as numerous as the sands of the sea, caught the sun's rays and reflected them in condensed, blazing splendor. Wherever we looked was the flash and sparkle of light and colour; it was like a fantastically lavish firework display, something out of the Arabian Nights. "

Still, at other times, the author leaves out simple storytelling facts. For example, it's unclear how many men are involved in the first sled journey of the book until the trip is over. Later, they seem to easily find the body of a member of a previous expedition, but Mikkelsen doesn't explain how they knew where to look.

As impressive as Mikkleson and Iverson's ability to survive is, their ordeal has certain monotony for the reader: Hunger, cold, fatigue. Hunger, cold, fatigue. Repeat. There are not many surprises. Feel free to skim ahead.

But it's still interesting to read of a place and a time as empty and desolate as this -- when there were still truly unexplored parts of the Earth.

In many ways the book is a testament to friendship, as Mikkeson and Iverson grow increasingly dependent on each other. The fear that one of them might die is overwhelming to them, not simply for the fact that it would make it harder to survive, but because of the fact that the survivor would be left utterly alone in a desolate landscape.

I was skeptical that a story of two men surviving in the face of such adversity could be interesting for a whole book. I found I could hardly put it down & that I didn't want it to end. It is an excellent, well written book.

In 1906 The Danmark Expedition met disaster in NortEast Greenland: Three men, Mylius Erichsen, Høegh Hagen and Brønlund died from cold and starvation. later the body of Brønlund was found, but the bodies of his companions have never been found.
Many expedition have gone there to search for them, and one of the first attempts was the "Alabama" expedition led by Ejnar Mikkelsen. On this expedition Mikkelsen and his companion Iversen walked several hundred miles to search for the dead men. Mikkelsen and Iversen had a hard time and nearly died from starvation, but they survived, and this is the story about this journey. Translated from Danish: Farlig tomandsfærd