[2] He started his career as a Norwegian Navy Special Forces Officer with Marinejegerkommandoen, and he also spent several years working as a deep sea diver for the oil industry in the North Sea.

On 4 May 1990 Ousland and Erling Kagge became the first explorers ever to reach the North Pole unsupported, after a 58-day ski trek from Ellesmere Island in Canada, a distance of 800 km.

[3] In 1994, he made the first solo and unsupported journey to the North Pole from Arctic Cape in Russia.

[6] On 22 January 2006, together with Mike Horn he began a journey to the North Pole in full Arctic night, successfully concluded on 23 March.

[7] In September 2010, Ousland's team aboard the trimaran sailboat The Northern Passage completed the circumnavigation of the North Pole.