I am writing you from the warmth and comfort of Mary Ann's Polar Rigg in Longyearbyen after successfully reaching the North Pole yesterday at 11 am local time. It has been an incredible and tough few days.
The team (Colin, Masha, Julie and Rohan) had become increasingly more efficient allowing us to up our daily travel time to eight hours, meaning we were on the trail for roughly 10 hours each day. With temperatures of ranging form 20 to 30 below the entire trip, it didn't take much of a break to become bone chillingly cold.
Overall the ice conditions were decent, but the last three days were definitely the most challenging of the entire week. Almost in an instant, the surface conditions changed from larger multi year (ish) pans to smaller pieces with lots of newly pressured ridges and blocks. Several times, we formed human chains shuttling sleds and gear across unstable areas.
One of the challenges of Arctic Ocean travel is traversing pressured and broken ice. While most of the ice can appear stable and strong on the surface; in reality, it is just a thin skin of frozen water floating on a cold ocean thousands of feet deep. As ice sheets (pans) collide and grind against one other they break up into a variety of pieces and shapes. And because of the random nature of this movement every ridge and obstacle poses a unique problem to solve. Worse yet, the pans are also separating at times meaning the blocks of ice that were once stable due to pressure are now loose, floating like ice in a glass. This constant movement of ice and diversity of terrain is one of the best and worst parts of this type of adventure. You are constantly engaged in problem solving but added to that is the stress that, at any given point, the ice that we are traveling on could easily break up underneath us.
I think my entire team was beginning to think I was crazy for being so careful. Even after they saw me fall in. But after we reached the pole the entire sheet of ice that we were skiing on - larger than several football fields - buckled and cracked underneath us. At the same time, huge blocks of ice bigger than cars were being heaved up into the air nearly twenty feet as two pans collided. The 'show' lasted for over 20 minutes as we tried to find a way to cross to met up with the Norwegian team for a pick up from one of Barneo's MI-8 helicopters. Even strong and formidable Rohan, commented on how scary and intimidating the scene was.
'Have you ever seen that before?' Colin asked. 'Many times,' I replied. Which, just to reiterate is one of many reasons why I am so careful here.
We had a good travel day on the 18th covering over 11 nautical miles, but by the end of the day we still had over three miles to reach the pole. Despite some initial protests of continuing on, I made the decision to camp for the night. The ice had been devolving into smaller and smaller pans and bigger and bigger pressure. I knew all too well how badly things can go. In 2014, it took us over eight hours to cover the last three and a half nautical miles to the pole. Pushing on after 10 already difficult hours in subzero temperatures was safe.
In the end, it proved to be a good decision as we experienced some of the worst ice of our entire week-long adventure over those final three miles to the pole. But despite winding through a variety of ridges and thin ice sections, we finally reached a fairly wide pan and after a bit of walking back and forth, located the North Pole with the Garmin GPS and DeLorme inReach
It was an incredible moment for the entire team and I was please that I was able to help facilitate the journey for everyone.
Image: Last Degree North Pole expedition group selfie
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<div dir="ltr">[s]<br>[c1]p: 90.00.00:174.08.221W<br>[t]North Pole<br>[a]sunny -25 degrees F <br>[b]I am writing you from the warmth and comfort of Mary Ann's Polar Rigg in Longyearbyen after successfully reaching the North Pole yesterday at 11 am local time. It has been an incredible and tough few days. <br> <div><br></div><div>The team (Colin, Masha, Julie and Rohan) had become increasingly more efficient allowing us to up our daily travel time to eight hours, meaning we were on the trail for roughly 10 hours each day. With temperatures of ranging form 20 to 30 below the entire trip, it didn't take much of a break to become bone chillingly cold. </div><div><br></div><div>Overall the ice conditions were decent, but the last three days were definitely the most challenging of the entire week. Almost in an instant, the surface conditions changed from larger multi year (ish) pans to smaller pieces with lots of newly pressured ridges and blocks. Several times, we formed human chains shuttling sleds and gear across unstable areas. </div><div><br></div><div>One of the challenges of Arctic Ocean travel is traversing pressured and broken ice. While most of the ice can appear stable and strong on the surface; in reality, it is just a thin skin of frozen water floating on a cold ocean thousands of feet deep. As ice sheets (pans) collide and grind against one other they break up into a variety of pieces and shapes. And because of the random nature of this movement every ridge and obstacle poses a unique problem to solve. Worse yet, the pans are also separating at times meaning the blocks of ice that were once stable due to pressure are now loose, floating like ice in a glass. This constant movement of ice and diversity of terrain is one of the best and worst parts of this type of adventure. You are constantly engaged in problem solving but added to that is the stress that, at any given point, the ice that we are traveling on could easily break up underneath us. </div><div><br></div><div>I think my entire team was beginning to think I was crazy for being so careful. Even after they saw me fall in. But after we reached the pole the entire sheet of ice that we were skiing on - larger than several football fields - buckled and cracked underneath us. At the same time, huge blocks of ice bigger than cars were being heaved up into the air nearly twenty feet as two pans collided. The 'show' lasted for over 20 minutes as we tried to find a way to cross to met up with the Norwegian team for a pick up from one of Barneo's MI-8 helicopters. Even strong and formidable Rohan, commented on how scary and intimidating the scene was. </div><div><br></div><div>'Have you ever seen that before?' Colin asked. 'Many times,' I replied. Which, just to reiterate is one of many reasons why I am so careful here. </div><div><br></div><div>We had a good travel day on the 18th covering over 11 nautical miles, but by the end of the day we still had over three miles to reach the pole. Despite some initial protests of continuing on, I made the decision to camp for the night. The ice had been devolving into smaller and smaller pans and bigger and bigger pressure. I knew all too well how badly things can go. In 2014, it took us over eight hours to cover the last three and a half nautical miles to the pole. Pushing on after 10 already difficult hours in subzero temperatures was safe. </div><div><br></div><div>In the end, it proved to be a good decision as we experienced some of the worst ice of our entire week-long adventure over those final three miles to the pole. But despite winding through a variety of ridges and thin ice sections, we finally reached a fairly wide pan and after a bit of walking back and forth, located the North Pole with the Garmin GPS and DeLorme inReach</div><div><br></div><div>It was an incredible moment for the entire team and I was please that I was able to help facilitate the journey for everyone. </div><div><br></div><div>Image: Last Degree North Pole expedition group selfie</div><div><br></div></div>
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