Don’t Say The Word Impossible To Jacob & Co.’s New Partner Explorer Johan Ernst Nilson

Johan Ernst Nilson is a Swedish explorer who has spent the last 25 years exploring the planet. He is one of only 21 mountaineers to have completed the Adventure Grand Slam – climbing all Seven Summits and reaching the North and South Poles. He has undertaken 52 expeditions, visited 178 countries, and has spent over 3,000 nights in a tent! He has co-created an Astronomia Everest with Jacob & Co. that contains vials of water from both the North and South Poles and a small rock from Everest, all collected by Nilson himself. 

Yes, I have. We went on an expedition to the Himalayas, where we flew a helicopter up to 7,000 meters to see how the watch would cope at high altitude with a decrease in air pressure and a drop in temperature to -30 oC /-40oC. We also wanted to see how it would cope with shaking and hitting against rock and ice when climbing.

I thought that I would come back to Jacob with a cracked watch and a list of things that needed fixing for the next watch, but there wasn’t really anything at all. I was surprised at just how strong the sapphire crystal is.
 

“Sure, you can,” I replied. He then reminded me that I was the worst player on the football team and said that I could never just cycle to Hamburg, for example, because I was dedicated to doing it.

I told him, “Listen, I can bike to the freaking Sahara if I want to, but I don’t want to.” We got into a bit of an argument about it, and I got a little bit angry and quit my job at the Grand Hotel, bought a bicycle, and cycled to the Sahara!

After 52 days, I arrived in Morocco, and then I came back again to prove my friend wrong. That was the start of a 25-year, 52 expeditions, 178 countries, 3,000 nights in a tent (or eight and a half years) journey! 
 

I get a little bit emotional when I look at this watch because I remember when I first started out: I slept in a tent for 60 days at the North Pole to get the water that is now inside the watch.

From there, I went to the South Pole to get water, and then I climbed Everest to take a little stone that we cut into small pieces to put inside the watch. The three major areas of the planet are inside this watch – the three poles where the three largest glaciers exist – the Arctic, Antarctica, and the Himalayas.
 

We haven’t decided yet, but it is going to be something connected to the Arctic, Antarctica, Mount Everest, and/or glaciers and nature.
 

Awareness is the first step to discuss these things. You sit at a dinner party, and you discuss the watch, and you get talking about the environment. People who can buy a watch for almost $900,000 are pretty powerful, and they can make a difference, or at least, they hang out with people who can, so it can be powerful. 
 

I have done something called the Adventure Grand Slam. I think only 10 people in the world have done this. It is the highest point on all the seven continents around the world, plus the North and South Poles.
 

Falling through the ice and then getting trapped underneath it in the North Pole was pretty dangerous. But also having big rocks fall next to my head on Mount Everest, having a shark bite my kayak when I was traveling from Stockholm to Africa, having lions sleeping on my tent when I was sleeping out in the bush. So, many things.
 

I’m going back to the Himalayas now for about a month or two. Then I am going to the Arctic in March for a project. I am working on a very big podcast for Spotify, 50 episodes, and I have a new book coming out. I have a lot of things going on. 

For me, the word impossible doesn’t exist. Impossible is just a word that we invented to explain things we don’t understand. Everything that we see around us was impossible 1,000 years ago. All the dreams we have that are impossible now will be standard in 1,000 years.

So, what I would say to kids is: Just because you don’t know how to do something doesn’t mean it cannot be done in the future. And just because it has never been done doesn’t mean that someone can’t do it. So everything is possible; it just takes time.