Detailed Program
Our journey will take us via Oslo to Spitsbergen. The following morning we will fly on from there with an Antonov 74 (a short-runway jet for about 30 passengers). Three hours later we will land on Borneo, a Russian base floating on the ice at the 89th degree of latitude. Every year in April the landing strip is set up again by our Russian partners, its exact location varying every year. At the end of April the ice begins to melt and the temporary “airport” is cleared away. In order to make the best use of our time on the ice we set off for the Pole the very same day. The distance to the Pole is about 120 kilometers. We have calculated sufficient time to reach the North Pole safely – roughly one week will normally do for that distance. In the beginning it will take us some time to get used to the technique of moving about with skis on ice, but we will gradually cope with the special conditions and the constantly changing terrain. Our entire program depends on the weather, of course. At the Pole itself we will spend at least one night, before the helicopter takes us back to Borneo from where we will quickly get back by plane to Spitsbergen – back to one of the remotest places of the world but which we will think is the centre of civilization after our polar expedition...
And this is what a typical day during our expedition looks like:
It is broad daylight for 24 hours. The normal temperature is between 25 to 35 degrees Celsius below zero. The surroundings change all the time, because the current and the wind keep the ice moving. Wake-up is at 7 o’clock in the morning. Melting snow for water takes a lot of time at 30 degrees below zero. If it is not your turn to prepare breakfast and fill the thermos bottles you can doze for another hour. After breakfast we pack up the tents; all in all it takes us about 2 ½ to 3 hours from the time we wake up till we can set off. But this will become routine soon. Then we are on our way for 7 to 10 hours. During our regular short rests we eat high-calorie food. As long as we keep moving we won’t feel cold. At every ice rib and open water lead we traverse we will always have enough time to enjoy the landscape and to take photographs and films. On these occasions Thomas will also share his know-how as a professional photographer with everyone. We traverse a frozen sea with 4000 meters of water below the ice. This makes the polar region so unique. In one day it changes from pack ice to solid ice fields, thin icy patches and open water leads. What we will come across most of the time is pack ice where we can only move about slowly. The first thing we have to do in the evening is to find a safe camping-site on a large, stable ice shelf before we make camp and start preparing supper and melting snow (each person needs about four litres of water a day). As soon as everything is done nothing is more relaxing than to crawl into the warm sleeping bag for a peaceful sleep. With the sleeping bags we provide no one will be cold. Most of us will sleep soundly and wake up cheerfully the next morning ready for new challenges.
