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North Pole Documentary Features Boulder Climbers

By Mark Taylor

BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) - It's a roughly 500 mile trip across a frozen ocean, with temperatures 60 below freezing, and one bad mistake could cost you your life. But standing atop the North Pole was a longtime goal of Boulder's Ryan Waters.

"A very small group of people have ever done that," Waters said.

polartrip
(credit: Animal Planet)

His colleague Eric Larsen had made the trek twice before, and in early 2014 the pair set out to achieve Waters' dream of skiing to the North Pole in an un-supported trip in under 50 days.

CBS4 first reported on their journey when they returned successfully in May 2014. They reported that the trip likely will be the last of its kind due to the lack of ice.

"The amount of open water just keeps getting bigger," Waters said.

Now their journey is chronicled in a new documentary on Animal Planet called "Melting: Last Race to the Pole." The two-hour film focuses on their perils and triumphs over the roughly two month trip.

"You see suffering, you see laughing, you see crying. You see polar bears," Waters said.

meltingpic
(credit: Animal Planet)

The pair used skis, snowshoes and at times swims to reach their floating destination.

"Just standing on a pan of ice we could actually see on our GPS that we (were) actually moving South," Waters said.

While this documentary will add to the climate change conversation, Waters hopes viewers take away from it a look at a desolate but beautiful place, where few have been but many should care about.

"We are just another avenue for people to see that location, and see what kind of changes are happening," Waters said.

"Melting: Last Race to the Pole" airs on Animal Planet Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Mark Taylor is a weekend morning anchor and reporter with CBS4 news covering a wide variety of stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkTaylor_TV.

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