But just because he was a married millionaire with a publishing job, didn’t mean he got soft. Not all all. In fact, he had his own private island in the north, as well as his house and Denmark, and he’d travel back and forth, as well as go back up to Greenland.

His most badass story took place in 1926 when he was in the northern reaches of Greenland, when he got caught in a huge storm. He took cover beneath a dog sled, but the snow overtook him and froze him in place. The ice was so tightly packed around him that his beard was frozen to the ice. If he were to turn his head, he’d have ripped out parts of his face.

After 30 hours of trying to claw his way out, he had a genius idea. He actually took a shit, let that freeze and used the frozen shit to chisel his way out.