Sample: Introducing People

Borge, 43, lankily erect, fair-featured, and self-possessed, with long, ropy arms and cinnamon hair, was known, among other things, for his obsessive preparedness; he was a study in Nordi cool. Mike, 39, a dark-featured, dimpled South African-born Swiss, tightly muscled and with gigantic thighs, had a zesty kinetic spirit that gave the impression of a bull in a china shop; he thought of himself as a hot Latin and was more inclined to wing it. You could see the stamina shining out of his eyes. Thomas, 39, a compact and talkative Swiss, quick to laugh, with twinkly blue eyes and an underlying edge, was fastidious about safety and had a professional alpine guide’s love of detail. At one point, he was a prospective third partner on Mike and Borge’s trek to the Pole in the dark, but, for reasons which will be explained later, they went their separate ways.

Marguerite Del Giudice, Arctic Dreams & Nightmares, National Geographic, Jan., 2007.