North House Folk School

In January, 2020, Rob "Tor" Torkildson joined an elite group of explorers, led by Bjorn Heyerdahl, grandson of Thor, on an epic adventure to round the Cape of Storms sailing a traditional wooden Viking boat. Learn about their handcrafted vessel, their original expedition and modern-day Viking odyssey.

Peripatetic traveler, Rob ‘Tor’ Torkildson, from Hovland is a lifelong seeker and explorer who has worked and lived around the world for the last 30 years. Torkildson has tramped through the Amazon, over the Himalaya, and across the Sahara in his quest to experience sacred landscapes in over 135 countries. He has worked as a diver, commercial fisherman, ship navigator, customs and immigration expert, writer and publisher, a fixer in Africa, and as a vintner and owner of The Wild Hare Winery in San’t Alfio, Sicily. Torkildson has published three travel memoirs, a novella, and in such magazines as the Kyoto Journal, Beat Scene, Ripcord Adventure Journal, Canadian Mountain Journal, The American Alpine Journal, and has won two SOLAS Awards-Gold Medal with Travelers Tales. Torkildson has degrees in Asian History, Psychology and a certificate in Communication Arts. He is an international Fellow of the Explorers Club, speaker for The Explorers Bureau, has carried the Explorers Museum Pennant on expedition, and was a member of the Midgard Expedition lead by Bjorn Heyerdahl to round the Cape of Storms of Africa in a traditional wooden Viking boat.