Area Resident Documents North Pole Adventures

Keith Heger is more than a Morton Grove resident who works in Wilmette. Heger is a modern-day explorer. Before settling in the area, Heger consumed 7,000 calories per day, made friends with Inuit elders, and filmed a documentary—all during expeditions to the North and South Poles. 

He recently visited the Morton Grove Public Library to discuss his adventures and how he captured it all in a documentary that was featured at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.

Heger’s Background

Keith Heger grew up on the northside of Chicago. Although he never was a Boy Scout, he fell in love with the outdoors and earned a bachelors degree in marine biology.

After college, Heger worked at the National Outdoor Leadership School in Wyoming. For five years, Heger led ski and mountain expeditions in the western United States.

In 2002, Heger moved back to Illinois and joined The Northwest Passage, an adventure travel company in Wilmette. Two years later, Heger bought his home in Morton Grove where he lives with his wife and two children.

An Adventure to the North Pole

In 2009, to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Admiral Peary reaching the North Pole, Heger and photographer and environmental advocate, Sebastian Copeland traveled to the icy region. They made a documentary about their trip called "Into the Cold."

Their journey began in Resolute Bay, Nunavut, Canada. Heger and Copeland had dinner with a group of Inuit elders whose ancestors first settled in the Arctic Circle in 1000 A.D. The elders told Heger and Copeland that they were the first explorers who had asked to meet the locals.

Heger hired a pilot to take them about 400 miles from the North Pole. “It takes a very skilled pilot to land on an ice float as both the sky and the terrain are blue and white," Heger said.

Each man pulled a sled that contained their tent, sleeping bags, clothes, provisions, a gas stove, cameras and laptops. The sleds weighed 195 pounds each at the start of the trip.

When Heger and Copeland reached the edge of each ice float they used their sleds as boats and paddled to the next float.

Heger's group was not spared from the common dangers, as Copeland found himself overboard in subzero waters. “It was something we had prepared for," Heger said. "I pulled him out of the water and got his sleeping bag so he could stand on it. I went through his gear and got out dry clothes. Within ten minutes, I had helped Sebastian change and we were ready to go.”

It was necessary to consume 7,000 calories and drink three gallons of water per day in order to ski an average of eight–12 hours a day. Heger lost 35 pounds on the journey. Fortunately, he said he had gained weight in the months prior to the trip.

Copeland screened "Into the Cold" at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival. He and Heger hope a cable channel will purchase the film so it reaches a wider audience. 

You can watch the film's trailer here.