CHASING THE POLAR STAR
by Daniele Matterazzo
ABOUT DANIELE
Daniele Matterazzo is an explorer and environmental hiking guide from Padua. Genuine and shy-looking at first glance, gentle soul. His temper gradually becomes more chill as the conversation goes on.
As soon as he gets the chance, Daniele slips the backpack on his shoulder and sets off for a new adventure to northern Europe, searching for a solo experience that marvels him, tiny in the presence of nature.
Over the years he has partially crossed Lapland, Ireland, Iceland, Kungsleden (Sweden).
"Walkinscape," or "walking through your inner nature," has become his way of creating an intimate relationship with those boundless expanses of land, where animals outnumber humans.
His approach to the outdoors reflects what he has experienced. Despite having recently turned 34, Daniel tells us that he has already lived three times. He says it with pride, and doesn’t ask for commiseration. He just wants to inspire, not show off.
Until the age of fifteen, he played all kinds of sports: from athletics to swimming, from acrobatic dancing to team sports. The teenage years were also the most carefree for him: those afternoons with friends and mopeds, his first girlfriend, that feeling of invincibility constantly printed...
However, you are not ready to face major challenges that may come on your way when you live the best time of your life. For Daniel, the challenge happened after a car accident he was involved in.
Consequences were a sub amputation of his left arm and hand. Since that event, it became almost impossible for him to use or move his limb.
The accident negatively affected Daniele's relationship with his own body and with other people. He had to rethink the concept of “limit”.
The following years were the most difficult for him. A sequence of microsurgical operations to restore, in vain, the original function of his upper limb. The shame of showing his disability in public. The pain of giving up any sports activity and accepting a comfort zone that had become his routine.
This empty period in self-esteem and human relationships taught him that limits only come from yourself, and that you must be brave enough to look within in order to accept and then overcome them.
During the pandemic, Daniele randomly watched a film about the “Camino de Santiago”, the famous hiking route in Spain. That experience ignited the spark of exploration in him. Before that shock, Daniel was not the type for weekend hikes, let alone long solo traverses. That film had somehow twisted his approach to sport and life.
So, here he is a few weeks later, ready to start the Camino, with his backpack full of dreams. Final destination: independence!
To carry out that experience of slow but steady walking gave Daniele sensations he had previously not experienced by practicing other activities. The outdoors as a concept, with all the nuances it made him experience, had become a necessity. A trigger to dig inside his own insecurities and convert them, step by step, into strengths.
The idea of going to the next level came to his mind after the first crossing on Spanish soil. For Daniele, raising the bar means now seeking the challenge rather than escaping from it. Exploring desert territories, where there are no hostels or shelters that can give him refuge. Camping in remote places, or finding a shelter from sudden freezing rain.
While attending the national survival instructor course, Daniele is ready to take on the"polar route," his new challenge that he will experience in Greenland in August 2024.
THE JOURNEY
The expedition, led solo and totally autonomously, plans to retrace the wildest part of west-central Greenland. The route, which is also called the "Arctic Circle Trail," follows the track that local people of Inuit used to take in late autumn starting from the 'ice cap' in Kangerlussuaq to reach Sisimiut. The destination of his journey, thanks to the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, still remains free from ice expanses even during winter season.
To traverse 200 km. during the 12-day time frame, Danieel will rely on 25 kg. of equipment. - including provisions, clothing and camp materials - and on his own strength.
In fact, the traveler will need to sail with small boats to cross the currents separating the ice sheet-covered expanses, simulating a grip on his left hand in order to row. Also the uncertain weather will be another challenge for him: during summer in Greenland, indeed, days of peaceful sunshine succeed to windier and, at times, stormy days.
THE POLAR STAR
A challenge met, a further step towards new adventures.
Daniele carries this achievement with him, enthusiastically, on his way back.
Walking among the ice and rocks of Greenland's hinterland did not weigh down his backpack of equipment, but that of awareness.
He started his journey from the Ice cap, the second largest ice cap in the world.
An unnecessary stop, but imposed by the dreams of a young explorer. Diving into the immensity of the millennial Russell Glacier, sleeping cradled by the generous waterfalls that accompany the view. An exploration that repaid the more than 35 km diversions from the starting point with a flag on the to-do list of a lifetime.
Daniele then moved on to the tundra, finding a more unfavorable landscape than the Lappish one he had encountered a few years earlier. The high humidity forced him to walk on a mixture of grass and mud, and to ford some rivers where he had anticipated a lower water level. A couple of times he fell into the water, wondering if he was ready enough to complete the walk. As many times, in the solitude of the night spent in the tent, he felt lost, powerless before the supremacy of nature. He approached each difficulty with a resolute approach, turning every trial into an opportunity for growth.
In the far north, Daniele has crossed a new line. It is the culmination of a journey that has taken him from the acceptance of his own limits to the freedom to challenge them. Suffering, testing his technical and mental endurance. He has reached his polar star.
In his future, the explorer imagines challenges in different weather and climate conditions, as well as his first alpine ascent. The memory of the completed traverses will be a good companion to prepare for them.
