North Pole - April 12

Our camp on April 12. Typical set up: two tents + tipi tent for breakfast/dinners, which Ben and I also used as sleeping tent



photo © Guillaume Cuvelier

Hillary Clinton in Greenland for Arctic summit

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/11/arctic-clinton-idUSN1121495420110511

Arctic Boots

This photo gives an idea of the sole thickness of arctic boots... We never got cold feet at the pole!

Skeptic Arguments and What the Science Says

Skeptical Science:

A must-visit site for anybody interested in climate change and its consequences:

"Scientific skepticism is healthy. Scientists should always challenge themselves to expand their knowledge and improve their understanding. Yet this isn't what happens in global warming skepticism. Skeptics vigorously criticise any evidence that supports man-made global warming and yet uncritically embrace any argument, op-ed piece, blog or study that refutes global warming.

So this website gets skeptical about global warming skepticism. Do their arguments have any scientific basis? What does the peer reviewed scientific literature say?"

http://www.skepticalscience.com/

Mikhail Gorbachev makes it to the North Pole!

Alexandre Laurent (right), our Youth Ambassador (16) and I – at the North Pole – holding a flag in celebration of Mikhail Gorbachev 80th Birthday (March 2)! Mikhail Gorbachev is founder and honorary chairman of Green Cross International, partner of our Pax Arctica North Pole 2011 expedition.

Russian kids (15-18) on their way to the North Pole

report from Barneo.ru:

Today an An-72 airplane from the fleet of the Federal Security Service (FSB) arrived at Barneo. It brought the members and leaders of the 4th "Ski to the North Pole!" Youth Expedition. In December 2010 the Adventure Club held a contest to select participants. The seven lucky winners, aged 15 to 18, came to the Arctic to receive their prize: an opportunity to make a 100-km ski trek to the North Pole, accompanied by famous adventurers Matvei Shparo and Boris Smolin.

The youth expedition members are:

Arina Legkaya (Moscow)
Veronika Tsesko (Moscow)
Alexei Maltsev (Kungur, Perm Krai)
Alexei Podvolotsky (Veliky Ustyug)
Alexander Buzov (Livny, Orlov Oblast)
Sergei Kuznetsov (Novocheboksarsk, Chuvashia)
Yevgeny Velichko (Omsk)

Their guides are Roman Ponomarev and Ivan Dubov.

After a training session near the camp, the expedition participants boarded a helicopter to travel to the starting point of their ski trek

This is what the North Pole looks like!

Here we are meters from the geographic North Pole, on ever shifting ice. We detach our pulkas to ease the final search.

April 14, 2011 - 15h22 - the ephemeral North Pole

Right at the North Pole. Actually it is not much different than what we have seen during much of our progress these past few days. More leads, smaller chunks of ice floating, so it's a challenge to be on the right ice floe at the right time to 'capture' the North Pole, however briefly. We move from one floe to the other and here it is! 90º, were it only for an ephemeral moment. So thrilling that we forget that we have taken our gloves off while we take pictures...

Michel Rocard, Ambassadeur des pôles

April 16 – On our way back from Barneo, meeting a few friends at Longyearbyen airport, waiting for their turn to go to the North Pole (they will take the same Antonov plane we landed with): Michel Rocard, ex-Prime Minister of France and now Ambassador for the Poles (he was signatory of the Antarctic Treaty and is a key player in the protection of the Arctic), Laurent Mayet (his advisor), both invited to the North Pole by the Russians. Also got a chance to chat with Jean-Bernard Schmidt (fellow venture capitalist and adventurer - at right on photo), who could not be part of our earlier expedition but will now join Ben, our guide extraordinaire, in Barneo for his own turn at reaching the pole (with friend Patrick de Giovanni).

BACK IN BARNEO

We arrived back in Barneo last night expecting to set up our tents for one last night in the cold but to our surprise there was room available in one of the big heated airstrip tents. The luxury of heat made us almost delirious but the truth is none of us slept very well. After so many nights sleeping in the intense and humid cold our bodies just could not get used to the overheated tent. We had been so happy to reach the North Pole that we spent too much time with our gloves off taking photos, video, etc. Unfortunately we all suffered from minor frost bite and the sudden exposure to the heat in the tent made our fingers swell up.

Just after we updated the blog yesterday a helicopter arrived with a surprise guest; a couple of government officials from a region in Northeastern Siberia called YAMALO-NENETS. They came to the North Pole for a dedication ceremony and asked us to join them for salted dry fish, hot wine and vodka. Life is full of the most unexpected surprises. After the celebration they invited us to share their helicopter for the return trip to Barneo.

Another surprise happened when we walked into tent last night. I saw a women in the distance checking her equipment. As we approached she looked up and I realized it was our good friend Wendy Booker who Mary and I climbed Mt. Washington with about 10 years ago. Wendy is leaving tomorrow on the One Degree Dog Sled Expedition. She has an amazing and inspiring story, worth taking the time to read.

I will start posting photos in the next couple of days but for now we are just hanging out, exchanging with scientists and enjoying our last day on the ice.

STANDING ON TOP OF THE WORLD

NORTH POLE at 3:22 pm (Longyearbyen time)

We've arrived! Earlier than planned because the drifting of the ice was favorable and generally moved us in the right direction. With the ice in constant movement - the North Pole is fleeting - but standing with the GPS in hand I see 90˚00.000' showing up on the display, but briefly, as the ice is shifting 1meter every 10 seconds. The only picture of the GPS I can take is 89º59.979'. I'll settle for that. close enough! The emotions are strong, we are very happy but it's almost too cold to celebrate. We are waiting for the helicopter to arrive to take us back to Barneo. Russian logistics insist on picking us up today. So even if we will not be spending the night at the pole (in fact meaning 'around the pole'), for now at least we are standing on top of the world!

DRIFTING TOWARDS THE POLE

We walked 17 km today and the floating ice carried us 2 additional km closer to our goal. The weather conditions are great. The sky is blue, hardly any clouds and very little wind. The elements are so strong that between the sun, the dry air and the wind your skin really takes a beating. In typical hiker fashion, I bartered a quarter of a roll of toilet paper for the use of a second mat to put under my sleeping bag (to a team member who will remain anonymous).

Everything you see for 360˚ is white (although nuances and shapes exist). Although you hear the ice crack, there is very little other sound. So far we have seen no wildlife, it's just the 6 of us! The terrain is becoming very rugged. The compressions ridges are one after the other which makes the going very slow. The challenge is not climbing over, it's keeping your pulka upright behind you.

At this moment we are 17 km from the pole. With a little luck we will float even closer to it while we sleep.

Photo credit: International Polar Foundation

CROSSING TO THE OTHER SIDE

We encountered our first “ice lead” today and it was cutting right across our route to the North Pole. Leads are caused by movements of the ice due to wind, or to currents in the underlying water and, may open and close again within a brief period. They are beautiful because of their deep blue/black color, but they are also very dangerous obstacles because you never know if there is solid ice below. Ben tested it with his poles and decided that crossing at this location was not worth the risk. We walked further along the ice lead until we came to an area of open water. Tying two pulka's together we used them as bridges to cross the water. Unfortunately Ben's boot and ski got wet, so the boot froze to the ski and Ben's foot froze in the boot - he is fine now but suffered for the last couple of hours of the trek. Alexandre pitched right-in, taking over many of the duties of setting up camp.

We covered 18 km and our location tonight is 89˚40'. The temperature is about -25/27˚C. I am sharing the mess tent with Ben and those of you that know me well can understand why I feel right at home.

It's a Helsport TIPI Tent!

Day 2 - 59km from the North Pole

It's about 2:30pm NY time and we just finished eating and are now heading for the warmth of the sleeping bag. Ben has a talent for making even dried food taste great --tonight's dinner was fish soup and beef stew-- although I sure the fact that we're famished as a lot to do with it. We are now 59 km from the North Pole location 89˚ 28. The ice is in good condition, with just a low level wind blowing at our backs. In spite of the relatively good travel conditions, I have never been so cold -- even in Antarctica. There is no where to go to get away from the cold. It is freezing everywhere... - 25˚C (-13˚F) We are starting to encounter compression ridges but so far they have been manageable, only about 3m high. Jeff's thermos broke in his pulka today so although he stayed dry, a lot of his things got wet. We are drying laundry by the cook stove!

AT LAST WE TRANSIT THROUGH BARNEO

After a 2h15 flight from Longyearbyen we finally arrived at the Barneo Air Field. The setting is magical; ice, ridges, wind and sun - 24 hours a day. We stayed in Borneo for about 1 1/2 hours but were anxious to start our journey after sitting around for 3 day in Longyearbyen. We set off around 11am and walked for about 3 hours. Our tents are pitched at N 89˚ 15.956 E 138˚54.258. Temperature is - 22˚