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Written & audio book narrated by Jon Turk - Abridged Nonfiction - Abridgment approved by Jon Turk - 2 CASSETTES - 3 hours

Publisher, Harper Audio (1998)

"Cold Oceans is the rare book that comes to the heart of what makes men wander." --Jonathan Waterman, author of The Quotable Climber and A Most Hostile Mountain

Evocative and mesmerizing, Cold Oceans is the thrilling story of Jon Turk's expeditions to some of the most inhospitable regions on earth. Even after being shipwrecked off Cape Horn, stopped by ice in the Northwest Passage, and beaten back by Arctic blizzards, Turk has continued to follow an irresistible urge to explore.

Guided by his restless spirit and fueled by tales of Elizabethan explorers, Turk first heads off alone to kayak around Cape Horn. But while paddling through the rain and mists, a racing storm scuttles his plans. On his next trip, he and his partner Chris Seashore attempt to row the Northwest Passage in a single season, but find themselves more often dragging than rowing their skiff through the half-frozen, gelatinous sea. Two years later, he attempts to run a dog team up the east coast of Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic, making his final camp beneath a wind-varnished iceberg locked into a frozen sea.

On his last expedition, he's again joined by Chris (by now his wife) as they paddle sea kayaks along an ancient Inuit migration route from Ellesmere Island to Greenland. Following in the footsteps of old ways, and listening to the land, its people, and its ghosts, they make the treacherous crossing, but also find the goal within the journey.

Woven throughout the story is Jon and Chris's deepening relationship, and the aboriginal people who survive in these harsh lands. Turk writes with grace, humor, and assured knowledge of the Arctic landscape. . . capturing its beauty, power, vastness, and loneliness. His story is one of love, self discovery, and his exuberant passion for wild places.