adventure · arctic ice ·Sep 10, 2025

Graeme's Arctic Adventure - The Importance of Failure

For some, sailing on a boat with your family through the Arctic for weeks on end would be a family reunion you’d opt to avoid. For Graeme, it was an incredible adventure. Like most things, it didn’t go entirely as planned but the lessons learned stuck with him, and became the founding principles of Ignik, a small company trying to make a big difference.

Embracing Failure and Adventure Along the Arctic’s Northwest Passage

In 2018, Graeme Esarey set sail with his family on a bold adventure: crossing the Northwest Passage, one of the most elusive and challenging maritime routes in the world. The route takes you through the beautiful and brutal Arctic from Alaska, over the top of Canada to Greenland. The trip wasn’t about achieving a goal for the sake of success; it was about creating a once-in-a-lifetime experience that would shape his family’s perspective and deepen their connection to wild places. Graeme says, “As a family, we needed a proper adventure, and kids need to have these formative life experiences”, so they set sail on a multi-generational journey with Graeme’s parents, kids, and wife.

However, the journey didn’t go as planned. With winter coming, thick sheets of ice threatening to entrap them, and the very real possibility of needing to overwinter in the ice, Graeme made the difficult decision to turn back. While this could be defined as failure in the technical sense of not making it through the Passage, it actually became a powerful reminder of the role failure plays in both adventure and life.

"When the Canadian Coast Guard said they were leaving and we should too, there was a part of me that wanted to stay because persistence pays. But that part of me was stuffed to the ground by the fact that I had two girls aboard and they needed to get home from this experience."

The True Meaning of Failure in the Arctic

For Graeme, the decision to cut the 2018 journey short was grounded in a deep sense of responsibility. "I didn’t want to kill my kids," he explained. "When the Canadian Coast Guard said they were leaving and we should too, there was a part of me that wanted to stay because persistence pays. But that part of me was stuffed to the ground by the fact that I had two girls aboard and they needed to get home from this experience."

Despite the disappointment of not reaching Greenland, the trip was transformative. Graeme doesn’t see the retreat as a failure. “I wanted to get through the Northwest Passage, but it wasn't so much that we had to get to Greenland as we needed to have this experience, especially with my dad, who has a long history as a commercial fisherman in Alaska”. Not all journeys follow the straight path we envision. Sometimes, the real value comes from the detours.

In this case, the experience planted the seeds for what would become Ignik. The expedition revealed issues with adventure waste and gear failures firsthand—driving home the fact that the same people who enjoy and spend time in the wild can have a directly negative effect on the places they love so much.

This realization turned into an opportunity to innovate, a lesson learned from adversity that defines Graeme’s approach to business and life. “We saw 1lb green bottles laying around where they shouldn’t be”, Graeme testifies, recalling multiple examples of human impact on wild arctic landscapes in pristine locations that were uninhabited, yet littered with debris. Graeme and his family also experienced frustrating gear failures with handwarmers not working when they should.

“They had packaging failures (letting air leak in), and we had carried these handwarmers 5,000 miles… they sucked! That was a really good reason to say maybe we could do something different and seriously improve hand warmer performance. And that’s how Ignik got started”.

"The Arctic rewards persistence"

The Journey Back: Knowledge, Experience, and Perseverance

The family adventure in 2018 and the start of Ignik wasn’t the end of Graeme’s desire to explore the Arctic. In 2024, Graeme returned to the Bering Strait with a new and incredibly capable crew, a wealth of experience, and a refined vision for crossing the Northwest Passage.

Graeme is stubborn and persistent, and the goal this round was singular- make it across. The biggest differences in success ended up being skill, experience and timing, “We actually knew what we were doing this time.” Graeme reflected, “Had we known what we know now, there’s a small chance we could have gotten through in 2018, but not a great chance because the ice conditions in 2024 were much more favorable for a transit.” But even with the experience of the past trip, the Arctic remained as unpredictable and awe-inspiring as ever.

"The Arctic rewards persistence," he said, "but it also forces you to constantly adjust your plans. The ice moves, the weather changes. You have to remain present, flexible, and ready to make decisions in the face of uncertainty."

And that, Graeme believes, is where the true magic of adventuring lies: in learning to dance with uncertainty and embracing the wild unknown.

Life Lessons from the Arctic: The Courage to Persist

The second trip was a magical journey, not only because of their success in completing the passage at an incredible speed of just 3 weeks, but also because of the insights gained. The scenery was amazing, the people they met and their stories were deeply impactful, but more than anything the teamwork of the crew made the challenge not just possible, but enjoyable.

The lessons didn’t end with the completion of the trip. Graeme’s journey into the Arctic gave him a new perspective on his company's future. "We also have a great team here at Ignik. We haven't solved the problems we set out to tackle when we started. Yet." he admitted. "There are still significant challenges, but we’ve made a dent. And that’s what drives us forward—our commitment to doing better."

First Product Pitch. The Gas Growler

"I think there's tremendous parallels between work and life and expeditions and startups."

Running a small business, much like adventuring in the Arctic, is an exercise in persistence and course correction. “The Arctic really tests you," he said. "If you make a plan and it's a bad plan. What are you gonna do about that? That's what the whole life of a startup is, you think, you know something, and you're proven wrong and then you have to adjust. So, I think there's tremendous parallels between work and life and expeditions and startups.”

The real value lies not in avoiding failure, but in embracing it as an integral part of the journey to success. This emphasis on not being afraid of failure is a key brick in Ignik’s foundation and is even a requirement of all those who are a part of the team at Ignik.

The Power of Dreams and the Journey Ahead

Graeme Esarey’s experience in the Arctic, from the initial failure in 2018 to the triumph of crossing the Northwest Passage in 2024, is a powerful reminder that persistence, and the willingness to learn from failure can bring great rewards. It’s not about avoiding setbacks; it’s about learning from them, adapting, and moving forward with renewed purpose.

Ignik’s story, like Graeme’s journey, is a testament to the power of persistence and the belief that through innovation, we can solve real-world problems and make a lasting impact on both people and the planet. The outdoors doesn’t need more junk. It needs better thinking. The team at Ignik is committed to persistent, relentless pursuit of outdoor gear that not only performs better, it is better, for our families and the places we love.