The question is, What puts a smile on my face at the end of the day? That's why I do what I do. When you have to rely on yourself to survive, you find that inner strength we all have so much difficulty finding in our daily lives. Once you've discovered it, you get such a sense of satisfaction, such a sense of being alive. We all want to take time off to think, to concentrate on that one thing we really want to resolve in our life. But that time is very difficult to take in the modern world. There's always someone around you, always something to do, always a phone ringing. Now imagine all that is taken away. All of a sudden you find yourself with so much time that you say, The only thing that I can really do today is look at myself. That is the freedom that we're all looking for that we can never find. Being alone gives you the freedom of choice, the freedom of thought, a moment to have bold ideas. I'm not doing what I do for the risk or to die. I'm doing it to live.

Horn, 42, has completed motorless circumnavigations of the equator and the Arctic Circle. During the winter of 2006, he skied to the North Pole.