Today marks two weeks of being home from Everest and I have to say I am enjoying the dramatic reduction in stress as well as increase in comfort. But not everything is 100% peaches and cream. Ending an expedition brings an unusual mix of melancholy and relief. On Everest, every single piece of my physical and mental energy was focused on survival, so now things like couches, showers and a nice dinner seem odd, and at times, trivial.

Still, I have spent more of my life with a roof over my head than in a tent (although this past year it's about equal) so being home is also a somewhat normal transition. The post expedition 'funk' is nothing new and I have felt this same way many times before. In another week or so I should begin feeling a bit more 'normal'. However, Everest and the Poles will always be with me and every event from here on out will be looked at through the filter of those experiences.

I have been working diligently on a number of projects, film, book, arranging speaking engagements. I seem to spend a part of every day coordinating with the crew from Scream Agency about one interview or another. As I have said so many times previously, the real work begins now.

Which brings me to the real point of this post. I am definitely starting to feel some solidarity with Kermit. It is not easy being green. Or much of anything else if you have a story printed about you.

Normally, I don't respond to critics as most are angry to the point of being unusually vitriolic (I have no idea why), unwilling to listen to the both sides, misinformed or who knows what else. I would like to engage each of these people in an objective conversation, but I am only one person and there are not enough hours in the day. So more often than not, I choose to respectfully decline any further discourse. However, a few posts this week were so off base to that I felt compelled to reply. Not to the actual people writing under anonymous screen names, but simply to cyber space in general. What follows is a small sampling of some of the recent comments floating around the blogosphere and my attempts at trying to answer their criticisms.

Comment: This guy is an environmental wacko. He goes around to elementary schools and tells kids how polar bears are dying because their parents are driving SUVs. He is nothing but a propagandist for Climate alarmists to indoctrinate our children.
Answer: I actually present at middle and high schools, too. As a side note, automobiles are responsible for 25% of the carbon emissions in the US, so I guess all cars are to blame, not just the SUV's.

Comment: Shame he did not have the same team for all three so a large number of people would hold the record.
Answer: I actually tried to get a team for all three but there are very few people (read: no one) who wanted to sacrifice three years of their life to train, plan, fundraise and live with almost no money all based on a very slim chance of success. Seems odd that no one wanted to sign on, right?

Comment: What with flying across the globe, literally, the danged fool is only contributing to climate change.
Answer: There is definitely some burning of fossil fuels going on; however, I purchase carbon offsets to mitigate the emissions produced from flying to and from these places. However on the actual expedition, I get all my energy from solar power, travel only by human power and burn a small amount of white gas (for a camp stove) that averages out to a little more than one cup of fuel per person per day. All totaled, that means I've spent nearly six months this year having a carbon footprint of almost nothing. Most people would consider themselves danged fools to live without so much for so long.

Comment: Thanks eric for the heads up, but I could have saved you a lot of money and hypothermia, you see, our climate is in God's Hands and it changes and it always will. Its a futile exercise to go through a neurosis over God's Divine Plan, He made the place and He will do what He feels is right. Makes perfect sense, think about it.
Answer: Not sure how to answer that one. Either you believe in the fundamental principles of science or you don't.

Comment: Worthy cause and all--but the bottom line has to be that he's a rich kid spending daddy's $$$, instead of working for a living like the rest of us. Wonder what next year's "challenge" will be--probably something unique, like circumnavigating the globe entirely underwater in a personal (nuclear-powered) submarine.
Answer: No daddy is not rich. After volunteering for the Peace Corp for two years in the 60's he took a job with non profit organization and received a modest salary. I think a lot of his disposable income has gone to pay for the medical costs associated with having Parkinson's disease for over 20 years.

Comment: Does Eric work for a living?
Answer: No, I don't work for a living, unless you consider creating your own business, developing brand marketing and communication strategies, developing websites, being an advocate, leading trips for outfitters (guiding in Antarctica), fundraising, organizing speaking tours and doing every odd job imaginable to support a meager existence, work. Nope. No jobs here.

Comment: It must be a pleasure to have no responsibility.
Answer: I totally agree. I mean I really miss those carefree days on the Arctic Ocean skiing to the North Pole in minus 40 temperatures on unstable ice where my decisions directly affected my team's survival. Man, it was like being a kid on summer vacation.

Comment: (From a Wisconsin paper) If I'm not mistaken, Larsen lives in Boulder, CO. This would make the headline incorrect, he's not "local", rather a "native".
Answer: Hey you can take the guy away from the cheese but you can never take the cheese out of the guy. I am actually a resident of Minnesota now but have been training and spending time with my girlfriend in Colorado. Of course, it all depends on what your definition of 'is' is... or in this case 'local'.

Comment: I pray for global warming everyday. I hate being cold.
Answer: I hate being cold, too. Maybe a better prayer is for a new pair of long underwear. I work with a great company called Terramar that makes amazing base layers. Perhaps I can get you a good deal.

Comment: I would have done this years ago. however, i'm not a bazillionare and have to go to work every day.
Answer: I would have done this years ago too, if I WAS a bazillionaire. However, for the past three and a half years, I've had to work every day (and night and weekend) to accomplish this goal. You'd be surprised at the six figure income I received when I was cleaning chimneys and bartending.

Comment: Good for you Eric Larsen. Now its time to grow up and get a job and don't work on the bucket list til your over 50.
Answer: I actually feel pretty grown up... Although I get the whole 'grow up thing'... I mean if someone were to tell me to grow up when I was 37 I'd agree, but I've really matured a lot in the past two years.

Comment: You have to be wealthy to run around the corners of the earth unless your a missionary. South pole 80K, Everest 80K, north pole 80K....these are only ballpark and could be much more depending on actual events, but the guy is loaded.
Answer: Do rich people drive Kia Rio's with crank windows and manual locks? As far as costs - South Pole - $0.00 as I guided two clients on this leg for a company called Adventure Network International. The clients paid the company, I got paid a little. North Pole - $140,000 All with money raised from Corporate Sponsors. Everest was $87,000. (Tiger Woods gets millions, I get a few thousand.) Of course, those figures don't include all the time, money and effort put in to getting the sponsors, organizing logistics, training, acquiring gear, etc.. So I guess, you either have to be really wealthy or be a very hard worker and make a lot of personal sacrifices.

Comment: I would hardly call this guy an explorer. He is going to known destinations that have been traveled to countless times before by others.
Answer: Totally agree. I consider myself a story teller more than anything else, but come on, if you had the chance to call yourself an explorer, wouldn't you?

Comment: Maybe he thought he would take advantage of global warming and head to these places before they get annoyingly cold again. Or, maybe he was just curious to see if the polar bears are really ticked off over the meltdown.
Answer: Amazingly enough, the polar bears are fairly peeved.

Image: A sign along the trail to Everst Base Camp. Why can't everything be this simple?