This map shows the daily progress of the team as they make their way to the pole. A review of each position is written below.
05Apr07 The team have now all arrived at Svarlbard and are settling in. They have been checking their equipment for one last time and packing the sledges. They have also been having some familiarization training and today hope to get a couple of hours on a glacier to get used to the sledges in snow and ice. If all goes well with the weather which is looking good at the moment, they will leave for Camp Barneo on Sunday morning.
08Apr07
The team are on the ice and in great spirits.
They flew to Camp Barneo this morning at nine o'clock as planned and then transferred straight to a helicopter which flew the South to the drop off point. Camp Barneo is very near the Pole this year. Once on the ice they set off straight away and have covered 2 miles already. They have now made camp for the first time and trying to warm up in their sleeping bags. It is at least 30 below. Apparently Andy's thermometer gadget stops working at -30 and it has stopped working! Everyone enjoyed the flights and the bustle of Camp Barneo.
The ice is reported as being very good this year so looks like they are in for a good trip. At the momentthey are at 89 20 45 North 83 23 53 East
Pete sent a quote from Joe through on the email.
Joe; 'Based on our skiing ability delighted that there are very few hills between here and the Pole'.
Day 2 09 April 07
The team had a good night, but drifted back about a mile during the night. They were very pleased however that they had decided to walk a couple of miles from the helicopter drop off. They could hear some strange rumbling sounds in the distance and decided to keep them in the distance, skirting around the area. Another team of two people were also dropped off and they decided to camp straight away. This evening the other team have caught up and it turns out that the rumbling was ice splitting, and it had split right through their camp.
The team have worked very hard today, and have managed to cover around 6 miles, in their first full day on the ice. The going has been tough as the snow is “sticky” and it is extremely cold, at least 30 below. They are feeling very pleased with progress and at 9pm UK time have had an evening meal and climbed into their sleeping bags for the night. Two of the team have suffered small patches of frost nip, Pete Lowrie on his nose and Andrew Warrender on his cheek. They are both OK, the treatment is to rub the affected area to get some warmth back into it and then cover it to protect it.
On the plus side, the cold does seem to have provided very good ice. Most unusually they have yet to see a lead (break in the ice). Normally they would expect to have to find their way around several of these per day. The wind has swung around behind them during the day, and they are hoping that this should help to slow the drift away from the Pole that they suffered last night.
The only technical problem they have at the moment is the fuel. This doesn’t seem to be working very well with the cookers, although it is not clear why. Camp Barneo have some of the same fuel, as was used last year and will fly fresh supplies out to them in the morning. There is enough fuel for breakfast however so they should be fine for hot drinks.
Day 3 10 April 07
A day of great frustration today. The team had not moved anywhere at all at 5:00 pm UK timeand instead have been holed up inside their sleeping bags waiting. The problem has been the re-supply of fuel without which they are pretty well helpless as they have no other way of melting snow for water to drink and cook etc. As I mentioned yesterday they had enough good fuel for breakfast and Camp Barneo have obtained fresh supplies of fuel. This needed to be flown out to them by helicopter, and the helicopter was due to reach them by midday. Since they had camped by a good landing site and the way ahead seems to be leading into a large area of rubble, (lumpy broken ice field with no flat area to land a helicopter easily) the team decided to wait where they camped last night till the helicopter had dropped off the fuel before breaking camp and getting going again. Unfortunately the helicopter was delayed and still hadn't arrived when they phoned in. It was due to land in ten minutes however and not only did they have fresh fuel on board but also a different design of cooker that may well be able to use the existing fuel.
The plan was to check that the fuel problem was solved and then break camp and start hauling, but only for around a couple of hours. This is so that they can at least make some progress today to feel happy about but will not have to break their "body clock rhythm". We have to remember that they are in constant day light so in some ways they could just carry on and walk whenever they feel like it however it is better to try and stick to your natural time to prevent unnecessary fatigue from creeping in.
Despite the frustration of staying put though the team sounded very cheerful, and the main talking point of the day was that the whiskey had frozen! It remains extremely cold and the team are wondering just how cold it has to be to freeze whiskey! Has anyone any answers? (I had a brief Google and I think it may be at around -50C)
They have actually made some slight progress; during the night they drifted a mile closer to the Pole however during the day the wind has once again swung around to the North and they have now drifted back half a mile. At 5pm therefore they had gained half a mile.
Day 4 11 April 07 am
Progress at last. The helicopter arrived with good fuel and the team broke camp and hauled their sleds till 11pm UK time last night making quite good progress. They have covered about 4 miles and feel in control of their expedition again. The extreme cold has also abated and the weather has warmed up to a comparatively balmy -25C which is much more manageable. Last night the wind was against them for the 4 hours of walking but this morning it has swung around to the side of them and everyone is hoping that this will stop the drift away from the Pole. Last night during their camp the drifted about a third of a mile in the wrong direction. They still have not seen any leads which is very unusual, so the ice is very good. The going has been fairly good though the snow has been a bit "sticky" perhaps due to the extreme cold. They are hoping for good conditions today. The team are feeling very good though and are now less then 30 miles from the Pole as they start out this morning.There should be another update tonight
Day 4 11 April 07 pm
The team have a great day and made big progress. They set themselves the target of getting to within 23 miles of the Pole and have made it so they are feeling very pleased with themselves. Conditions have been very good today as it has been a lot warmer with the temperature climbing to a peak of -17C during the day. They are now at 89 37 11N 081 54 51 E.
Everyone is getting much more used to the routine tasks that need to be carried out and they are becoming a stronger and happier team. The fuel problem had been very frustrating and the extreme cold quite a survival trial. They have worked hard at achieving their target and so far the gear is holding up well now that they have got the fuel problem licked. They had to replace 2 skins on the skis today and one of the pole straps broke but that is all. They have worked on cleaning the cookers that have been gummed up by the bad lot of fuel and now have two serviceable cookers spare. They also have a couple of the cookers that the Russians use so they are feeling much more secure about food and drink.
They had to cross their first lead today and also climb over a pressure ridge. Finally just as the GPS told them that the 23 mile target had been reached they cam to a very big lead. It was some 200m wide and stretched away as far they could see in both directions so they decided to camp and see if the wind would help them. The wind has swung back around to the South and sure enough by the time they had cooked and eaten the evening meal the lead had closed by about a third, and the thin ice covering it has started to form pressure ridge. Everyone is hoping that the wind will carry on and complete the task during the night.
They are aiming to try and get to the Pole on the 15th as this will give them time to have a night on top of the world before the helicopter ride back to Camp Barneo. They are now due to fly back from Camp Barneo on the 17th.
Day 5 updated 13 April 07
Sorry there was no update last night, the boys were having a curry night and forgot to phone! Only joking.
Yesterday was quite an eventful day. When they awoke the lead had closed but while they were having breakfast and packing the gear it opened up again. They set off along it's edge trying to find a place to cross however after 3 hours of fruitless searching the lead suddenly opened up even more and became more of a lake than a lead. It was about half a mile across and there looked to be no way across. They turned back and ended up back the last campsite where they made camp and called the Russians to see if there would be any chance of a lift over the lead by helicopter.After about a 3 hour wait a helicopter was able to divert and give them a lift. It was full of American tourists who were on their way back from sipping champagne at the Pole and were in great spirits. Apparently one of them had got all the way to the North Pole for his celebration champagne and then refused to leave the helicopter on account of the cold. I wonder what he thought of our team!
Although it had been a frustrating morning it had also been one of the most beautiful. The weather was wonderful, steam rose off the lead and the refraction effects in the atmosphere made it look as though there was 3 suns. Little bits of mist drifted by and the arctic was at it's most stunning which rather made up for the delay.
Once over the big lead the team set off again and had to cross an ordinary sized lead. The wind however had now become very strong with a storm blowing in and by the time they stopped to make camp they were in a white out. They built especially high walls around the tents as protection against the storm and then all climbed into one tent and cooked a curry. I wasn't joking about the curry night, but it was difficult to phone however due to the weather conditions.
This morning when they phoned the storm had blown over and the weather now is good. You will notice from the position though that because of a combination of the helicopter lift and the storm they are a long way East and unfortunately the wind is an Easterly so is tending to blow them away from the Pole. Their position is 89 41 15 N and 098 27 45 E. They are going to set off North but turn left at every obstacle and hope that this will give them about the right overall direction.
Day 6 13 April 07 They have had an amazing day today and have got to within eight and a half hours of the Pole. They have worked hard and also had few leads to contend with which has allowed them to keep a fairly straight course. They did come across a very big freshly frozen lead which was very beautiful to look at even if it was an obstacle. The wind has been very strong most of the day but it has been blowing from behind all the time so has not caused any problems. They did however have to spend 2 hours digging the tents in and building an extra high wall for protection tonight. They are hoping that the wind will keep the drift in the right direction during the night and are really looking forward to reaching the North Pole. It might even be tomorrow if the conditions hold. They are now at 89 51 44 N and 108 15 00 E. More news tomorrow.
Day 7 14 April 07 I am sorry to disapoint you all but no North Pole today. Infact the team have not been able to move out of their tents for the full 24 hours. Yesterday's strong wind has turned into a full blizzard and they are in a total white out and cannot move. To add insult to injury the wind has swung around and is blowing them away from the Pole. At least they are all well and safe in their tents, and at the moment the worst thing is the frustration of being unable to move.They are at 80 50 24N and 160 04 00 E which gives you an idea of what the weather is doing. You will see from the number that they are slightly further away from the Pole than yesterday, but also that they have moved about 52 degrees around it. My problem is that this postion is off my little diagram as I haven't really allowed for such a swing to the side. Rather than take up loads of time re-drawing everything though I thought I would get the news out to you and for the moment I have just changed the colour of the plot to show that the longditude scale has been shifted. Sorry for the bodge but I hope it makes sense.
Hopefully the blizard will soon blow itself out. There is little else to tell you as the reception with the phones in these conditions is not very good and it took Pete several attempts to get this amount of news to me.
Day 8 15 April 07
The blizzard has raged all day and our poor team are still trapped in their tents. They are having hot drinks every four hours or so but there is little to report they say except that if this goes on they are afraid of getting bed sores! Last night they were blown to within 4.7 miles of the Pole but at the moment they are again being driven away from the Pole and are now 8.2 miles from the Pole and doing about 0.6 Knots. It is all very frustrating although at least they are safe and cheerful. They think the wind is beginning to die down a bit and the sun has just broken through so they are hoping that they may be able to move soon. Time is short now as they are supposed to be collected tomorrow and they will set off as soon as possible but at the moment although visibility has improved the wind chill is still to dangerous to be out in. Camp Barneo are predicting that conditions will not be good enough till tomorrow afternoon, however the team point out that this is for flying helicopters and that conditions don't need to get that good for walking. They hope it will be possible to break camp later on tonight. They are at 89 51 53 N and 087 52 11 E Lets hope for better news tomorrow.
I hope the map makes sense. You will se that they have been blown back in rnage of the original diagram scale so tonights position is back to being plotted in red.
Day 9 16 April Mixed news today. The team have had to catch the helicopter to the North Pole and are now in Camp Barneo. It is disappointing in way to have to give up on walking all the way however there is another major storm forecast in the next 12 hours or soand given the time limit and the fact that they were starting to run low on supplies they decided it was better to accept a lift from the helicopter. Not only that but the drift had carried them to 12.5 miles from the Pole was taking them ever further away. At least they have seen the North Pole and been able to take a few souvenir photographs. They are now all sitting in a heated tent enjoying a beer and feeling very happy despite not being able to walk all the way. They were picked up at about midday our time.
They may be there for a couple of days as the storm they have just ridden out has wrecked the runway at Camp Barneo and they will have to wait until it has been rebuilt before they can be flown out. The Russians now have a bit of a backlog of people needing to either get out of or into Camp Barneo and have laid on an extra transport plane to help out once the runway is operational. In the mean time the tent has beer and lots of very interesting people to talk to so I think they are having a good time. More news tomorrow
Day 12 19 April 07 Sorry for the gap in communications but there is not all that much to report. The boys are still stuck in Camp Barneo held there by the weather and the lack of a serviceable runway. There is not much that anyone can do about the weather except wait however the runway is being worked on. The original runway has a crack running through it which is mainly blamed on the wind blowing the ice around. Camp Barneo was making 1 Knot of drift at one point in the last few days and all this movement imparts huge loads on the ice which cracks. To prepare a new runway the Russians get out their bulldozer (flown up there at the start of the season) and bulldoze out a runway sized flat pan on the strongest looking bit of ice available. Next they drill a hole through the ice and pump loads of sea water up to flood the new runway. At the temperatures up there the sea water freezes into a lovely smooth runway. They repeat this process a few times in order to build up the thickness and strength of the runway which they test by dropping a special weight out of a helicopter at just the right height to see if the ice breaks. The reason it has been taking so long to do is that the poor old bulldozer has been fighting a loosing battle with the snow drifts and then the temperature rose to around a balmy -6 C or so and the sea water was taking an age to freeze. I am told however that the runway is about to be passed as fit to use and there is thought to be a break in the weather coming which could allow the first flights out this evening. Our team are waiting their turn and are most likely to be on the second flight out. In the mean time they are getting very good at scrabble! It is still looking hopeful that they will catch the scheduled flights back from Svarlbard which are booked for Sunday.
