BLOG - FRANZ-JOSEPH-LAND EXPEDITION 2007
31st of August: Thomas Ulrich is back home
For months on the move in the ice of the Arctic, with only one other man, Børge Ousland – and then, all of a sudden, quickly back home: On August 13, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland had been picked up at Cape Flora by the Norwegian sailing boat „Athene”. After a stop in Murmansk, the two reached the North Cape on August 21. And only three days later, Thomas safely arrived back home in Switzerland. Let’s hear what he tells about us the end of the successful and eventful expedition:
„14th of August. Day 106. On board of the ‚Athene’, we first had to stow all our material safely, especially our kayaks. The wind was very strong, the waves were up to five meters high, und after some time, Børge and me stopped to be very active … For half a day, we got quite seasick, we had to get used to the sailing and the stormy conditions. Another new situation was that, all of a sudden, the decisions weren’t up to us – we weren’t the ‘bosses’ anymore, but there was a crew of four people who had all the responsibility: our skipper Thorleif Thorleifson with Tobias Thorleifson, Wollert Hvide and Gustave Brun Lie!“
„19th of August. Day 111. We reached Murmansk in the middle of night. There we had to handle the formalities regarding our permit for the traverse of Franz Josef Land after actually having finished the traverse! Børge and me had been afraid of this moment weeks before … Although we were sure to have the permit from the Russian side, we had no proofs at our disposal and were quite nervous. Another ship piloted us entering the fjord of Murmansk. We anchored at a pier in the early morning: Everything there is black, the piers are surrounded with dozens of cranes and railway goods wagon for the loading and unloading of the coal which is exploited here – not really a very attractive port for tourists! When it got clear, Irina from the ‚Murmansk Maritime Agency’ came on board; she had the task to organize the formalities, not an easy job in Russia. A short time afterwards, officials from customs and emigration came on board. We had a little problem as the visa for Russia of the Norwegian crew had ran out two days before; and they had two passengers on board – us – who they had picked up in international waters. We explained that we had walked from the North Pole to Franz Josef Land and then had traversed the whole archipelago. The young official who listened to us thought about it and then remembered he had already heard the name ‘Franz Josef Land’ – years ago, in school! He then phoned to his boss, then the officials left us with our passports. All of a sudden, everything went quickly and smoothly: An hour later the representatives of the authorities were back and stamped our passports – and then they left us. We too left the port of Murmansk shortly afterwards (anyhow we hadn’t the right to leave the boat), surprised and happy: We had been afraid to finish in prison, in reality, everything went so smoothly. It had took us just a few hours to handle the formalities and leave Russia in a proper way!”
„21th of August. Day 113. Facing no other problems, we reached the North Cape. The wind was strong and against us. In total, we’ve made 1200 nautical miles on board of the ‚Athene’. At the North Cape, the representative of our main sponsor Gaz de France came on board for a concluding party in formal dresses! The same evening, I said goodbye to Børge. His trip isn’t finished yet: He conMartined on board of the sailing boat to Bodø, and is now biking home to Oslo where he will arrive in about two, three weeks. A strange feeling to say goodbye to the man with whom I’ve passed more than three months with very little space for each of us! I myself conMartined my journey the same day with our friend Stig-Tore Johansen. He brought me to Kirkenes by car. It was late in the evening, and the atmosphere above the woods of the Finnish mark was wonderful – everything was green, a beautiful sunrise surprised us … On the 22nd I got my material packed, on the 23rd I flew from Kirkenes to Munich, and on the 23th my wife Åsta and my three girls Linn, Silje and Julie picked me up at Zurich airport!”
„31st of August. Now I’m back home for a week already and try to ‘resocialize’! Actually, this isn’t difficult at all. Rather strange is that I don’t even have the impression to have lived for four and a half months in the ice of the Arctic (before the expedition to Franz Josef Land, I was guiding a group to the North Pole). Only two days after arrival I had to do a photo shooting and now I’m organizing all the photographic material of the expedition to present it to the National Geographic Society. During my trip, my children have grown and changed, now even the little daughter has started her first year of school! My family gave me a warm welcome back home. I would like to thank them all for their comprehension. I also say thank you to Børge, with whom I was on the move for such a long time, and to Hans Ambühl who helped us a lot from home. My thanks also to go all the others, all the people who supported me in one form or the other – in an active way or just by showing their interest in our expedition.”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italien
25th of July – 1st of August: Bears and Bordeaux at the Beach
On July 24, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland reached Cape Flora, the goal of their expedition. In the meantime, they’ve already passed more than a week there waiting for the sail boat which will pick them up. A few impressions...Finally at Cape Flora:
July 24, 2007 : Successful completion of the expedition
Today, on the 85th day of their expedition they finally made it: Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland reached Cape Flora which marks the final destination of their Franz-Joseph-Land crossing! At this place, where nowadays stands up a memorial tablet, Nansen and Johansen have met the british explorer Frederik Jackson on June 17th, 1896.
Thomas and Børge have covered a distance of more than 1400 kilometers, walking and kayaking, since they started at the Northpole on May 1st. Without any airdrops, just with what they brought with them. They have not met a single human being in that time - but instead had many close encounters with polar bears, seals and walrusses.
Forced rest days with polar bear
July 20, 2007 : The bad weather makes the adventurers wait
On July 15th, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland arrived in the Northeastern part of Northbrook Island after the successful crossing of De Bruyne Sound and built up camp there. And there they still were on July 19th … The weather has been so bad that the adventurers were forced to rest four days at the same place. Little strolls, playing cards, listening to music, reading and a few polar bear visits were the entertainment during these long days …
“16th of July, day 77. Rest day. In the morning weather wasn’t yet too bad, but in the afternoon very strong winds began to blow causing high and rough waves. We had to pull our kayaks to higher ground on the beach. Fortunately our camp is in a safe and good spot. The sea is open and black, we won’t have to deal with ice anymore! I have to try to keep my spirits high, somehow it will work out.”
“18th of July, day 79. Still in the same place. Today it was just pouring, the whole day long. I’ve tried to make a new record and never go out of the tent. Unfortunately I haven’t managed to do it, in the evening I just had to go out … I ask myself how Nansen and Johansen managed to deal with such storms with their material. They didn’t even have a proper tent! Today we had extensive polar bear visit. First, a curious young male showed up and triggered the fence right outside our tent. Finally, we could scare it off only with warning shots of our .44 Magnum placed right in front of its paws! After, a polar bear mother with her cub passed by. They disappeared again much faster than the male. For sure, up to now, we’ve had at least 20 polar bear visits on Franz Josef Land, but we’ve never had a problem with them. We’re wondering how the bears can survive here in the South, there are no more ice floes, their natural hunting ground. We’ve also seen a herd of walruses today, and Børge could even observe how the walruses successfully chased off the polar bears without a moment of hesitation!”
“19th of July, day 80. A long time that we’ve been on the move by now! And now we’ve passed the fourth day at the same place, actually it wasn’t too hard to wait. Today it wasn’t almost raining anymore, but there was fog and the wind came from the wrong side. So we made a little stroll up the hill to an old deposit we had discovered before. It must be from an expedition of the early 20th century. We’ve found an old ski, debris of a broken sledge, remnants of an old tent camp and walrus bones. Exciting!”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
July 16, 2007 : Cape Flora, their goal, is close
On the 14th of July, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland left their camp in Tichaya Bay and managed to do the first part of the crossing from Hooker to Northbrook Island. Cape Flora, the goal of the expedition of the two adventurers who move on Nansen’s tracks, lies in the South of Northbrook.
“14th of July, day 75. We left Tichaya and paddled from Hooker Island to a small island more to the South. The wind was strong and against us, but we managed to reach the island after about 10 km of paddling. From here, we could glimpse for the first time Northbrook Island – what a strange feeling to be, all of a sudden, very close to the goal! On our way, a walrus mother with her child came very close, surfaced and huffed at us and then disappeared as quickly as she had showed up. We were very alert after having read about the dangerous encounters Nansen had with walruses. Our magnum was ready on the waterproof bags on our kayak! Now we’re curious to see what will happen tomorrow … Weather is good, hopefully we can do the crossing.”
“15th of July, day 76. One of the most important days of our expedition lies behind us! We have managed to do the crossing of De Bruyne Sound which was worrying us for a long time! Our point of departure on the little island was ideal and we found a good way over the 37 km stretch of open water. Without never getting out, we were sitting for 10 hours in our kayaks which we had bound together to a katamaran. The wind from the East helped us and we could even use our sails. Now we’ve reached Northbrook and have built up our camp in the Northeast of the island. To reach Cape Flora, the goal of the expedition, we have to do another 40 km around the island and Cape Barents. But this is not so worrying as the crossing of the large De Bruyne Sound! So in fact, we’ve almost reached our goal and are simply very, very happy …”
As soon as the two adventurers will have reached Cape Flora – presumably in a few days – the long waiting will start: They should be picked up there toward the middle of August by a Norwegian sailing boat. If someone would like to cheer up Thomas by sending him an SMS on his satellite phone, he can ask expedition manager Hans Ambühl (hans.ambuehl@visualimpact.ch) how to proceed.
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
They have found some salt,
July 13, 2007 : Camp at the abandoned polar station in Tichaya Bay
On the 9th of July, the 70th day of the expedition, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland managed to do – after a morning visit of three polar bears at their tent – the crossing from Koettlitz Island over to Hooker Island: 12,9 km on ice which wasn’t landbound anymore but drifting fast. The ice floes were moving against each other, touching and docking and then drifting away again. On their way, Thomas and Børge had to bear the effects of a snowstorm; the fresh snow caused five to ten centimeters high studs beneath their skis. The problem was only resolved when the finally found the wax for their skis. They established camp below a bird cliff where they remained on July 10 as well:
“10th of July, day 71. We had a forced rest day today: It was pouring and we didn’t feel like going out and getting wet. Instead of the loud rain, we could hear the screaming and shrieking of the birds in our tent. Yesterday evening, a polar bear mother with her two cubs passed by: Børge had just said, how strange, no bear visits, when I opened the zipper of the tent and saw the three bears just behind the fence! When they saw us they were so afraid that they just run away.”
“11th of July, day 72. Today we’ve done the 7,3 km long stretch over to Tichaya Bay, still on Hooker Island. We used our katamaran and were mostly paddling in open water and wearing our swim suit all day. An exciting moment to get to Tichaya! It’s the location of a famous abandoned polar station which had been opened in 1929. Till 1963, it was one of the most important points of departure for polar expeditions. We’ve found some salt, sugar and coffee in one of the old huts!”
“12th of July, day 73. We used this day for a little exploring trip through the buildings and have found some 15 to 20 years old tins with food which doesn’t even smell too badly … During the stroll, I have done a strange movement with my back which now hurts. It’s not the first time that after the endless pulling of the sledge, my back has problems to adapt to other movements. Now I’m lying in the tent, I can’t move very well, hopefully I will get better soon. Our camp lies near Rubini Rock, a huge, about 200 m high basaltic bird cliff. There are about ten to fifteen thousand seabirds nesting here! A word about the polar station: It once was the northernmost geophysical observatory on earth and had been established as a radio and weather station. Up to 60 men and women were living here and about 20 buildings are still existing – a kind of ghost town in Tichaya Bay, the ‘calm bay’.”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
Potato chips and jelly bear
July 8, 2007 : The goal is getting closer, the mind is tired
On July 5, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland covered 10,2 km from a bay of Luigi Island over a pass where they had to carry the material of their kayaks in several portagesover to Champ Island. There, on July 6, they looked out for the giant round stones which Børge knew from a former visit – without success. The messages of Thomas make understand that he finds it harder and harder to motivate himself mentally; and the body is tired anyway.
“7th of July, day 68. We have seen an incredible lot of polar bear tracks, astonishing so far in the South. We have done one of our record days by foot – 32,4 km in 10 hours – and have walked across to Nansen Island. But my mind isn’t in a very good state. The whole day in front of my inner eye jelly bears, potato chips and a kind of Swiss candy flew though my head … It was almost boring, the ice good, just walk, walk, walk. The final goal of our expedition, Cape Flora, is coming closer, and I’m getting tired and find it difficult to motivate myself.”
“8th of July, day 69. 28,5 km in 10 hours – again a hard day. We have walked from a little island in front of Nansen Island around the last and on to the South in direction of Koettlitz Island. The ice wasn’t always very good, sometimes we were standing in the water which reached above our ankles. It’s only 82,3 km to Cape Flora, for the first time it’s a distance less than 100 km … Today again I didn’t feel very good psycologically, I’m fed up with the continous up and down while walking and with the continous having to take decisions. It’s time that the goal gets closer. Well, now we are in our tent, it’s warm and cozy, the sun is shining and I’m now going to eat the 28 little chunks of chocolate which we always keep for the evening.”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
July 5, 2007 : The two adventurers have changed day with night
After a few days of adapting their rhythm, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland now move only during night. They wake up in the evening at 6 PM (4 PM CET), get ready and then leave travelling with the cooler temperatures of the night.
“3rd of July, day 64. Today we’ve moved at a comfortable, slow pace and haven’t done a lot of distance. First we had to decide which way we would take around Luigi Island; the conditions at its coast didn’t look good, we managed to see a lot of twisted pack ice and glacier fronts and therefore decided to conMartine from Salisbury Island to the East, edge Luigi Island and head on to Nansen Island. On our way today we encountered really good landbound ice; the snow laying on it was frozen during night and carried our skis. So the night with its cooler temperatures – about 2 degrees celsius less – really helps us.“
“4th/5th of July, day 65. Again a challenging day. We have gone on to edge Luigi Island and walk to Champ Island. But to start with in the morning, we had a polar bear visit; it came quite close and we could chase it away only with pepper spray and warning shots. Then we walked along the fjord on good, landbound ice; because of the rain, we found big puddles on it. All of a sudden, the wind begun to blow, we could use our kites and sail through the puddles and do totally 31,2 km! At one point we met open water – probably caused by warmer currents – and had to paddle around a cape before building up camp on Champ Island. Tomorrow we want to explore it and find the huge round stones which Børge knows from a former visit – strange, two to three meter big balls!“
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
Arrival on Salisbury Island after
July 2, 2007 : Change from day to night “shift”
On June 29 and 30, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland stayed in their camp next to the winter hut of Nansen and Johansen on Jackson Island. They passed the two rest days by playing cards, reading, listening to music and making a few little repairs on their material. The weather was very bad, the pouring rain made the snow on land and on the ice melt. The crossing to the next island therefore changed into what seemed to be giant ice rink. Then, on July 1st, the trip went on:
“1st of July, day 62. Børge has changed his undershirt after two months, I myself have changed my socks! Nansen and Johansen waited longer, actually they didn’t even change their shirts but just turned it to have the cleaner outer surface on their skin … We paddled through good water 17,5 km over to the north side of Salisbury Island. The wind was extremely strong, the weather was good. We found a lot of water on the ice, sometimes even our skis were below the water. But we moved on very well, at the end we used our katamaran and the swim suits to overcome an open lead between the ice and the island. The walruses today came very close, their curiosity made us somewhat nervous – they popped out of the water and the ice with their big muzzles but let uns in peace. By the way, we’ve decided to change from day to night ‘shifts’, which means that we adjust our rhythm and will get up later in order to move during night and rest during day in a few day’s time. We hope to find cooler temperatures during night which means better ice and snow conditions. Furthermore, during day the sun up here in the Far North is extremely strong and burns us literally.”
“2nd of July, day 63. Today we’ve made a distance of 12,5 km and have moved from the north to the south side of Salisbury Island. In the morning we started with our kayaks paddling along Cape Mc Clintock before getting on shore. The wind was fierce and against us, we hardly made any distance, it was really strenous. We avoided the next cape, Cape Fisher, a 150 m high, steep basaltic cliff, by the land and went up 260 meters of altitude, got onto a glacier and then went down to another bay where we put up camp next to a rocky nose near the landbound ice. The cape was a wonderful spot where we have seen flowers for the first time! We have already shifted our rhythm for 5 hours and in fact had harder, better snow moving in the night. It seems really worthwhile to walk during night. And the light in the night is almost more beautiful with the low sun just above the horizon.”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
June 28, 2007 : Impressive tracks of the pioneers on Jackson island
Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland have reached one more important goal on their expedition on the tracks of Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen: On the picture they’re at the ruins of the hut where their predecessors have wintered in the harsh climate of Franz Josef Land for seven months from August 1895 on. But one thing after the other:
“25th of June, day 56. A good day. Normally we get up at 5 o’clock. I woke up at 4.30, heard footsteps and could just wake up Børge to tell him ‘The bear is here!’ before the flare shot of the protection fence around our camp went off. Everything worked at it’s best – the tracks of the escaping bear showed that he definitely was deeply impressed by the smoke, howling and banging of the fence! We put it up once again and needed two more hours to get ready for departure. Then we walked from Houen to Torup island which Nansen describes in his books as one of the most beautiful places on earth – indeed: Thousands of birds are nesting here, the cliffs are covered with green moss, a spot of unreal beauty! Over solid landbound ice we then reached a cape. After eight, nine kilometers we got our kayaks ready for paddling and along a 30 m high glacier cliff to a next cape. In the West we saw huge surfaces of black, open seawater; the same as Nansen had experienced it – a very different landscape. We went on along a strange cape towering up like a knifeblade, again thousands of birds. Their screaming shrilled out of the cliffs. We went on on solid landbound ice, we had got a little bit scared of the open water because of the many walruses in there. After 18,8 we finally built up camp.”
“26th of June, day 57. We edged another cape paddling, then reached again landbound ice and walked about 14 km through the Hjalmar Johansen sound to Jackson island. The about 80 m high, with green moss covered basaltic cliffs of the bird island almost blinded us – definitely one of the most wonderful places which we’ve saw up to now. The ice was rather bad, rotten, but we proceeded well, as the ice isn’t broken up and compressed like pressure ice. I hope it won’t get winter again, today it was snowing … 20,5 km, a good day!”
“27th of June, day 58. First we traversed a bay of Jackson island on good landbound ice, then we edged a cape. In the middle of the bay, next to the open water, we heard strange noises like from a steam engine: a group of narwhales which we observed for about half an hour! Then, a polar bear mother with her two cubs approached, the little bears have certainly been born in this year, furry fluffy things which would be nice to have in the tent to play with – but without mother … They came up to three meters close and sniffed at our sledges before we had to chase them away first with a flare shot and then a warning shot! In the morning it takes us a long time to get our ‘motors’ ready, we have consumed a lot of our energy and I think we wouldn’t make it anymore to pull 170 kg heavy sleds like we did in the beginning.”
“28th of June, day 59. Finally we have reached the winter hut of Nansen and Johansen! We didn’t have to round Cape Norway but went through the mountains and used our kayaks only for the last half an hour. It was an incredible moment when we reached the ruins of the winter hut of the two pioneers standing 20 m from the shoreline: Rests of its walls built with stones are still there, then we discovered the huge wooden roof ridge over which they had tightened walrus skins. We found polar bear and walrus bones around; the two ate a lot of meat. That’s the place where they wintered for seven months, it’s incredible to see it and to realize they hadn’t lost courage and didn’t get mad here! A very impressive place. By reaching it, we have accomplished another big goal of our expedition! On our way, we see many polar bears, this morning we had a visit of one which seeemed to be kind of a grandfather polar bear with grey beard. To make a change, we tried out our pepper spray and clouted him a good dose of it – we didn’t see him anymore for the whole day … Our various polar bear protection systems really work perfectly. The only problem: We are really totally worn out and now will take one or two rest days in this place.”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
June 24, 2007 : Camp on Houen island north of Alexander island
On June 22nd, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland managed to accomplish the last bit of the long passage on the Ocean between Freeden and Hoffmann island. “It wasn’t as bad as we had feared, we met quite good, landbound ice on the way”, said Thomas. Then a new experience on Hoffmann island: “For the first time during this expedition we found soil beneath our skis, real firm ground, not only glacier, ice or water. We also saw the first human tracks: an old abandoned polar station of the 1960ies – an inhospitable place, all the rooms filled with snow and everything totally broken!”
“23rd of June, 54th day. We moved from Hoffmann to Erzherzog Rainer island. Thanks to the information which the coordinator of our expedition, Hans Ambühl in Interlaken, manages to read on actual satellite images and communicate us by satellite phone, we were moving on firm ice constantly aware of the only 200 m distant edge of the scary pressure ice zone – the caotic zone in which we had moved for days! Nansen didn’t even know where he and Johansen were exactly. We today, and that’s the big difference, have these incredible technological gear – GPS, satellite phone, satellite images and other. We though try to give more value to our expedition by overcoming a longer distance without deposits or support. Anyway, it’s incredibly impressive to see what Nansen and Johansen have done up here without help and without loosing courage! On Erzherzog Rainer island, our camp is built up on glacier ice, we climbed up 200 meters from sealevel and have for the first time a great view on the caotic pressure ice below. By the way, we have reduced our daily program to eight and a half hours of walking. We’re both quite worn out, the breaks get longer, twenty instead of ten minutes, before we decide to move again … We have also reduced our daily food to the half in order to have enough to eat till the end of our expedition.”
“24th June, 55th day. Today, coming from Erzherzog Rainer island, we’ve reached the little Houen island north of Alexander island. That’s the island where Nansen and Johansen put their feet on firm ground for the first time – a feeling we’ve already experienced on Hoffmann island! This morning we could first ski down the 200 meters gained yesterday, a special moment. Then we were moving on not very thick but solid, landbound ice and overcome do the 21,9 km without bigger problems. Here, our camp is standing between boulders and stones. Tomorrow we hope to conMartine to the west and towards the open water where the sooner or the later we will use our kayaks as little sailing boats.”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
June 21, 2007 : On the way between the islands Freeden and Alexander
After approximately 900 adventurous kilometers from the North Pole over the ice of the frozen Arctic Ocean, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland have reached a few days ago, on June 14, Eva-Liv island in the Northeast of Franz Josef Land. Just in time, they’ve also got the permit to traverse the big archipelago with its 191 islands: Viktor Boyarsky, the Russian agent of Thomas and Børge, has worked extremely hard for it and managed to overcome all obstacles … Now the two adventurers have one and a half month of time to explore Franz Josef Land and traverse it on the tracks of Nansen and Johansen towards Cape Flora in the Southwest – an expedition which hasn’t be done that way since. But of course, compared to their predecessors more than 100 years ago, Ulrich and Ousland have plenty of information and a totally different, high end equipment.
The 15th of June was a “sleeping day”. On the 16th, the two reached – with their kayaks working as a catamaran – Adelaide island south of Eva-Liv. There, for the first time, they could really put their feet on land. Walking on a solide stretch of ice, they went on south to Freeden island where they made two more rest days before attempting to traverse the approximately 40 km long passage to Alexander island. First, it was just an attempt: On June 19th, the two ended up in horrible ice which convinced them to retreat back to land and get a better overview from the top of the island in order to know more about the conditions on the sea which by now is only partly frozen and shows a lot of open water and difficult ice to traverse. The last news from Thomas:
“20th of June, 51st day: An interesting day after our retreat yesterday from the ice which drifted rapidly away with us … Today we had good weather and went up to Freeden island once more to get a better overview. We decided to attempt the traverse again – in ski boots and swim suit. The first 1,5 km or 3 hours were really difficult, we were basically hopping from one piece of ice to the next. All of a sudden, the ice got surprisingly better, we met nicely frozen icepans and were able to set up camp after 15,4 km. By the way, we had a bear’s visit today: A young male came very close, he was only 20 m away, we were ready to greet him with pepper spray, rubber bullets and signal flares. But he stopped and then followed us for about half an hour, trotting 200 to 300 m behind us, before he got to bored with us and went away without having to chase him away.”
“21st of June, 52nd day: A hard day, once more, with ice which wasn’t as good as at the end of yesterday. It’s quite warm, it seems summer arrived here, too. The leads don’t freeze anymore. So we had no choice but hopping from one ice floe to the next. At the end of the day, we had managed to do 13,6 km. There are about 9 km more to go to Hoffmann island. From there, we should be able to walk on solid landbound ice to Alexander island. Sometimes, today, we let our kayaks go in front of us, then looked for another way for ourselves, then got the kayaks back again. Strangely, there was no drift on this side of the bay. Hopefully we can leave the rotten ice tomorrow – it’s an incredible feeling to get on land!”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
Thomas Ulrich and Børge
June 18, 2007 : Arrival at the first island to the Northeast of the Russian archipelago
One month has passed since we’ve informed you last in English about the progress of our two adventurers: Since the 13th of May, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland have covered hundreds of kilometers, have fought with a lot of bad pressure ice, have had other days with excellent, huge solid ice shields for easy progress and a record day during which they’ve covered 53 km with their skis and kites; they have suffered from pains in their feet and have seen more and more birds, polar bear tracks and seals the closer they’ve got to the coast. Their goal: the coast of Franz Josef Land or better of one of the islands of the archipelago. On the 14th of June, after 45 days on the ice of the Arctic Ocean, the two have finally reached land. The days before were a hard, difficult struggle as Thomas tells us: “11th of June, day 42. After the record day of yesterday on which we’ve covered 53 km, today wasn’t bad either. Our camp was on really bad ice though. Everything moved around us, the ice was rotten and only 60 to 80 cm thick. We wanted to leave this pressure ice zone as fast as possible and indeed found some better ice where we could use our sails. At the end we’d done 18,3 km. It was warm and drizzling, the snow on the ice is wet and the water is pushing up from below – it will be good to reach land soon …”
On the evening of the 12th, they had only 15 km more to go to the coast. For the first time, Thomas and Børge had sighted land: “12th of June. A beautiful day! We were taking pictures with our underwatercamera when I discovered a strange line above the horizon, a kind of lenticular cloud above the pack ice – land sighted, the first island of Franz Josef Land! An incredible feeling … We were hopping around like kids and shouting with joy! Finally we even managed to see the two rocky noses on the island which Nansen mentions in his book. We’re totally motivated and convinced to reach land tomorrow.”
“13th of June. The conditions got worse and worse, the ice was horrible, totally rotten and broken up, the leads filled with polished chunks of ice; furthermore, we suffered a strong drift to the North – after six hours of hard work with our kayaks bent together to form a catamaran, we had moved just 500 meters in the right direction! It’s scary to be here, everything is moving … In front of the island we saw the usual dark cloud which indicates open water; in the last 43 days, we’ve always tried to avoid such leads, but now we’re holding directly towards it in order to reach the land paddling through open water.”
“14th of June, 45th day. We knew: That’s going to be D-Day! In the morning we had drifted back North to the position of the day before. Then, after ten hours in terrible ice we managed to get to the lead, where we started to paddle with our kayaks over a huge, broad channel. Finally, on the other side, we met good ice connected to the land. So, after 25 hours – we had been on the move day and night –, we reached the little Eva Liv Island. Unfortunately, we couldn’t really get on it because of its steep, glaciated shoreline. But at least we found a spot below the cliffs where to build up our first camp on land.”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
May 18, 2007 : Temporarily no English version of Thomas' blog
Due to a bottleneck in manpower, we are forced to temporarily disconMartine the English version of Thomas' blog. Hopefully we will soon be able to serve you again.
Thank you for your understanding.
Hans Ambuehl, Interlaken, Switzerland
May 13, 2007 : Børge and Thomas cover 80 km in two days
Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland have moved on a lot. After two rather difficult days, they have finally been able to use their kites, as Thomas tells us: “10th of May. Like yesterday, today was again very hard. In 9 hours of struggling we have made 14,1 km through young pressure ice with a lot of little open water leads – a really wearing job. Unfortunately we couldn’t do more, we’ve arrived quite shattered … Back home, after a day like this, you would sit down, have a beer and rest the next day, here, the show will go on tomorrow! It snowed in the morning, now the temperature is very mild, -6 degrees only, it’s spring up here. We have seen snow crystals as big as the leaves of a beech tree.”
“11th of May. We are at 88° 19’ 13’’ North and 57° 00’ 21’’ East. Nothing special to say – a hard day, quite disgusting weather with strong winds from the South, quite a lot of fresh snow and whiteout, we’ve made 15,1 km …”
“12th of May. A long, long day! We have walked for 14 hours and covered 40 (!) km. The wind has switched to North which allowed us to use our kites, half of the day in a whiteout, unfortunately. We wanted to leave latitude 88 North behind us and according to our GPS, we’ve just made it for 10 m. We are at 87° 59’ 52’’ North and 62° 07’ 05 East. The landscape we sailed through was a constant up and down, it seemed to me like being on the moon, sometimes we had some pressure ice to fight with. With the help of our kites we managed in some way to pull our sleds around the ice towers. Now, after 14 hours of work, we’re weared out, it’s half past three in the morning here and we are just preparing dinner.” Today, by the way, the two have not only seen fox tracks but also a little bird – and this in the hostile ice desert of the North.
“13th of May. Our position is 87° 39’ 37’’ North and 65° 35’ 22’’ East. In fact, after the hard day yesterday we wanted to walk only for 8 hours, but then everything turned out quite different … After half an hour, the wind came up again and we could begin to use our kites. Soon afterwards we could even change the skis with skins we were using to waxed skis without skins. At the end we have again walked and sailed for 14 hours and covered once more almost 40 km! But not in good, flat ice but in a difficult, constant up and down through pressure ice zones and little leads of open water. Again it seemed to me more like being on the moon than on earth, it was incredible to sail around the impressive ice sculptures. At the end we were shaky and had to stop, it has been incredibly hard work. The weather was quite good in the morning, then it changed to whiteout again. Big, dark clouds in front of us indicate huge open water leads which we will have to try to avoid.”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
May 9, 2007 : Blue skies, whiteout, pressure ice and polar bears
On May 6, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland have left latitude 89 North behind them; in the meantime, after only nine days of walking, they have overcome more than 150 km. Thomas’ messages show that every single day can be completely different than the previous one: “7th of May. Today we’ve made 18,4 km; we now are at 88° 55’ 41’’ North and 51° 08’ 00’’ East. The weather was really nice, a bit foggy for a while, then nice again. Everything went very smoothly. After half of the day, we’ve discovered some strange tracks on a pressure ice mound: a mother polar bear with two cubs! The foot prints of the cubs were quite small, it would surely be nice to play around with them, but I wouldn’t like to meet the mother – especially not during night …”
“8th of May, day eight. A good week and almost 140 km separate us from the North Pole behind us. We are a well adjusted team, each of us two knows what he has to do and where he has to store his things in the sledge in order to proceed the fastest possible. In the evening we build up the tent, then Børge carries out all the jobs outside around the tent whereas I see to the “decoration” of the interior. Then we cook dinner together and try to get to sleep towards midnight. The first week has served us to adjust several things. We aren’t wearing anymore the heavy shoes, for example, but a lighter model, a kind of cross country shoe which keeps warm till -20 degrees. We have the first aching spots and blisters on our feet; to pull the 170-kg-kayak over the ice, especially through bad pressure ice zones, means to make the heels suffer under a lot of pressure – but no worry, everything is okay! In difficult ice, the tip of my kayak quite often points in the wrong direction; when Børge laughed at me today, I answered him that I haven’t done 6000 km in the pack ice of the Arctic and another some thousands kilometers in Antarctica as he has, so I’m glad to learn more – he then said that yes, unfortunately in Antarctica he has ‘only’ covered 4500 km!” I guess, I will never reach 6000 km … But I still like it here, it’s thrilling, the landscape is fascinating. Today was a day with a crystal clear blue sky, -15 to -18 degrees cold, but in the evening in the tent it gets really warm with the sun always shining on the tent. We have done another 18,6 km and are on 88° 40’ 46’’ North and 53° 20’ 04’’ East.”
“9th of May. Today everything changed completely … When we woke up, we just saw into the whiteout, and the whole day we hardly saw further than the tip of our nose. The worst thing was that we finished in a very rough zone of young, broken up ice – we met huge pressure ice ridges, some were so high to allow us to ski down … It wasn’t easy to find a way through this labyrinth, sometimes we first had to explore the route without sledge. A really, really hard day – well, we have done our kilometers, 14,4 km for today, a little less than the last days. Let’s hope in a better day for tomorrow!”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
May 6, 2007 : The two adventurers get on well!
Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland proceed fast. That’s what Thomas has told us on the satellite phone: “3rd of May. Today we have covered 18,3 km; we are at a position of 89° 29’ 52’’ North and 44° 44’ 52’’ East. It again has been a super day! Since April 29th the sun has shone all the time and it doesn’t go down anymore. We had good ice conditions, sometimes some pressure ice, but no open water leads. During day, each of us has two liters of warm water with him. In the evening, we mix the rest of it with our dinner – potatoe mash with lots of dried meat and oil. The breakfast consists of a kind of porridge with sugar, milk powder and oil and during day we eat a similar blend of food with dried meat. Hopefully we keep on going smoothly!”
“4th of May. We are just having dinner – potatoe mash with dried meat. I’ve also saved some chocolate from the day … The weather was still good, just once we had to cross a fog bank, afterwards it turned nice again. It’s comfortably warm in the tent, we even manage to dry our stuff, but outside it’s still -17/-18 degrees cold. The conditions were somewhat harder today, the ice was good and covered with snow, but we met a few spots with pressure ice which was hard to get over with the 170-kg-kayak. A few times we could even use our kites which helped us to walk with much less effort for a few kilometers. The schedule of the day looks like this: We get up at 9 AM (6 AM Swiss time), then it takes us three hours to boil water, get everything ready and to take down the tent. We start to walk at 12 AM and then go on till 9 PM with a rest every one to one and a half hour. Everything is working well, but I’ve already had to adjust some details of the gear – for example the harness with which I pull the kayak: It had worked perfectly during the ‘Last Degree’ expedition where I had to pull ‘only’ 80 kgs, but made some problems now with the 170 kg. We are fine and happy!”
“5th of May. We have seen the first polar bear! It was quite distant from us and then went away, but it’s still astonishing to see a bear so far north. Therefore we have now put up the fence which protects us from polar bear visits during night. Today, we have again covered 17 km, we are at 89° 10’ 11’’ North and 48° 02’ 33’’ East. It was a very rough day in a whiteout and with hard snow drifts. It was extremely tiring to get over those pressure ice zones with the heavy kayaks, yes, sometimes it’s just a botch-up … We would have loved to use the kites, but the wind blew from the wrong (SE) direction. Today was really hard. We navigate with the sun, but if it doesn’t shine – like today – we have to check our position from time to time on the GPS and put a little windflag on the skipole and try to hold the direction watching it. Børge and me are already a well adjusted team. During day, I have time to give myself up to my thoughts – like making plans for the house which I’ve bought back home just before coming up here …”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
May 3rd, 2007 : Thomas and Børge start their next adventure!
On May 1st 2007, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland have started their next adventure from the North Pole, after having been flown out by helicopter to the Pole and having passed one day with last preparations for the trip. The first goal of their big expedition to the South: reach by ski and with kayaks and sleds 86° 4' of northern latitude – the point most to the north which had been touched by Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen on March 14th 1895 during their legendary expedition to the Arctic. The new adventure of Ulrich and Ousland in fact doesn't only have sportsmen' goals – to reach, if possible, by ski and kayaks the archipelago of Franz Josef Land, traverse it and then travel on by sail boat to Norway – but is also deeply inspired by the mentioned historical expedition of Nansen. The two adventurers would like to pay tribute to that expedition.
But let’s hear Thomas Ulrich’s account about the first two days: “Today, on May 1st, we have started our adventure. The kayaks and sleds were quite heavy, but slided well. Each of us is pulling about 170 kg. We have atached a smaller sled loaded with fuel at the end of the kayaks, in order not to have to pull all the load in one attempt over the rough ice. We have passed a few water leads, one was covered with quite thin ice, so we put on our swim suit. On the first day we made about 17 km and reached 89°48’ 57’’ North and 34° 20’ 04’’ East. The sun is shining, it’s quite warm, and we have lovely big even surfaces to walk on.” And his voicemail message of May 2nd says: “Today we have covered another distance of 16,4 km in 9 hours of walking. It was quite a fight, we didn’t only found nice flat ice, but also pressure ice which was hard to pass with the heavy kayaks. Everything is going on nicely, but I’m sure we will meet other situations too! The weather is just incredibly nice, during the day it’s about -10 to -15 degrees ‘warm’ and inside the tent it’s really cozy. Spring seems to have reached this place too, although there are no trees flowering up here ...”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
April 27, 2007
To follow in the footsteps of Fridtjof Nansen from the North Pole to Norway. That is the motto Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland, his Norwegian friend, have chosen for this year’s expedition. They pursue two goals with it: one historical the other athletic:
On the one hand they plan to cross the Siberian group of islands of Franz-Josef-Land in the footsteps of Nansen in the International Polar Year (2007) in memory of the achievement of the legendary Norwegian
The route they’ve planned starts at the North Pole in early May and takes the two adventurers on skis to the archipelago of Franz-Josef-Land (at a distance of 900km). They will cross the group of islands scattered about 350km with skis, kayaks and kites following Nansen’s historical route. At the southern edge, at Cape Flora, Thomas and Børge will be met by Thorleif Thorleifsson in a sailing-boat and taken back to Norway. The arrival at the northern coast of Norway is scheduled for the end of August.
On this website we will inform you about the course of the expedition regularly.
Safe and sane back in Interlaken
31st of August: Thomas Ulrich is back homeFor months on the move in the ice of the Arctic, with only one other man, Børge Ousland – and then, all of a sudden, quickly back home: On August 13, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland had been picked up at Cape Flora by the Norwegian sailing boat „Athene”. After a stop in Murmansk, the two reached the North Cape on August 21. And only three days later, Thomas safely arrived back home in Switzerland. Let’s hear what he tells about us the end of the successful and eventful expedition:
„14th of August. Day 106. On board of the ‚Athene’, we first had to stow all our material safely, especially our kayaks. The wind was very strong, the waves were up to five meters high, und after some time, Børge and me stopped to be very active … For half a day, we got quite seasick, we had to get used to the sailing and the stormy conditions. Another new situation was that, all of a sudden, the decisions weren’t up to us – we weren’t the ‘bosses’ anymore, but there was a crew of four people who had all the responsibility: our skipper Thorleif Thorleifson with Tobias Thorleifson, Wollert Hvide and Gustave Brun Lie!“
„19th of August. Day 111. We reached Murmansk in the middle of night. There we had to handle the formalities regarding our permit for the traverse of Franz Josef Land after actually having finished the traverse! Børge and me had been afraid of this moment weeks before … Although we were sure to have the permit from the Russian side, we had no proofs at our disposal and were quite nervous. Another ship piloted us entering the fjord of Murmansk. We anchored at a pier in the early morning: Everything there is black, the piers are surrounded with dozens of cranes and railway goods wagon for the loading and unloading of the coal which is exploited here – not really a very attractive port for tourists! When it got clear, Irina from the ‚Murmansk Maritime Agency’ came on board; she had the task to organize the formalities, not an easy job in Russia. A short time afterwards, officials from customs and emigration came on board. We had a little problem as the visa for Russia of the Norwegian crew had ran out two days before; and they had two passengers on board – us – who they had picked up in international waters. We explained that we had walked from the North Pole to Franz Josef Land and then had traversed the whole archipelago. The young official who listened to us thought about it and then remembered he had already heard the name ‘Franz Josef Land’ – years ago, in school! He then phoned to his boss, then the officials left us with our passports. All of a sudden, everything went quickly and smoothly: An hour later the representatives of the authorities were back and stamped our passports – and then they left us. We too left the port of Murmansk shortly afterwards (anyhow we hadn’t the right to leave the boat), surprised and happy: We had been afraid to finish in prison, in reality, everything went so smoothly. It had took us just a few hours to handle the formalities and leave Russia in a proper way!”
„21th of August. Day 113. Facing no other problems, we reached the North Cape. The wind was strong and against us. In total, we’ve made 1200 nautical miles on board of the ‚Athene’. At the North Cape, the representative of our main sponsor Gaz de France came on board for a concluding party in formal dresses! The same evening, I said goodbye to Børge. His trip isn’t finished yet: He conMartined on board of the sailing boat to Bodø, and is now biking home to Oslo where he will arrive in about two, three weeks. A strange feeling to say goodbye to the man with whom I’ve passed more than three months with very little space for each of us! I myself conMartined my journey the same day with our friend Stig-Tore Johansen. He brought me to Kirkenes by car. It was late in the evening, and the atmosphere above the woods of the Finnish mark was wonderful – everything was green, a beautiful sunrise surprised us … On the 22nd I got my material packed, on the 23rd I flew from Kirkenes to Munich, and on the 23th my wife Åsta and my three girls Linn, Silje and Julie picked me up at Zurich airport!”
„31st of August. Now I’m back home for a week already and try to ‘resocialize’! Actually, this isn’t difficult at all. Rather strange is that I don’t even have the impression to have lived for four and a half months in the ice of the Arctic (before the expedition to Franz Josef Land, I was guiding a group to the North Pole). Only two days after arrival I had to do a photo shooting and now I’m organizing all the photographic material of the expedition to present it to the National Geographic Society. During my trip, my children have grown and changed, now even the little daughter has started her first year of school! My family gave me a warm welcome back home. I would like to thank them all for their comprehension. I also say thank you to Børge, with whom I was on the move for such a long time, and to Hans Ambühl who helped us a lot from home. My thanks also to go all the others, all the people who supported me in one form or the other – in an active way or just by showing their interest in our expedition.”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italien
Visitors at Cape Flora
25th of July – 1st of August: Bears and Bordeaux at the BeachOn July 24, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland reached Cape Flora, the goal of their expedition. In the meantime, they’ve already passed more than a week there waiting for the sail boat which will pick them up. A few impressions...
“July 25. The first day passed quickly. It started with the encounter with the biggest bear we’ve seen during the whole expedition. He was having a nap next to a little lake near our tent when we discovered him – a huge thing, certainly weighing around 500 to 600 kgs! We followed each other for a while before it disappeared.”
“July 26. I’ve found some 4 m long driftwoods of whichwe’ve built a sort of scaffolding which we can use to hang up our laundry but also as a training apparatus for our upper muscles – it’s time to work again on my shape for rock climbing back home!”
“July 27. I’ve spent the whole day in the tent while Børge left for an excursion. We have to take turns, we can’t leave the camp unguarded because of the bears.”
“July 28. At 2.30 in the night, the first alarm flare went off. A young, curious bear without any fear was behind our tent next to the food. He walked into the second fence as well and needed two warning shoots in front of his mouth to make him understand that, in our opinion, he was going to explore the wrong place. Then he went to see our kayaks which were still lying about 400 to 500 m downhill. There, we had built up another fence which he set off too till he really had enough of all the smoke and banging and finally left. In the afternoon, I hiked towards East and found a beautiful walrus skull.”
“July 29, day 90. Washing day – after exactly three months! An incredible feeling … I’ve washed for the first time my underwear, my socks and myself and put on a new SmartWool shirt I haven’t worn before. I feel like new born! Then we carried our kayaks uphill to have everything near our tent. And finally, I called my wife and my daughters who are in Norway and just about to leave themselves for a two-day-long kayak expedition.”
“July 30. I hiked 7 km to the East and visited a little walrus colony where I startled a bear from his sleep. He quickly run away over the bad ice and then disappeared in the open water.”
“July 31. Again an incredible day. I was asking myself long before how I would have passed this day, the 15th anniversary of the wedding of Åsta and me. When we were about to get ready to sleep we heard a strange noise. First we thought it came from a walrus. Then, when we had a glance out of our tent, we discovered a nuclear icebreaker about 1 km in front of the coast and a helicopter which was about to leave from the ship. We thought, well, now everything is over, there may be some unexpected problems with our permit and we will be picked up and arrested. In fact, a few Russians approached with guns and asked for our passports and permits. Then, the tourists arrived: All of a sudden, we were surrounded by about 100 lively Americans, all equipped with the same yellow jacket and a swim vest! After three months, the first human beings … They swarmed out like bees all over the island, made a lot of noise and were photographing all around. Many of them came to see us and I think at the end no one really believed that we had been on the move for three months already coming from the North Pole .. We could then organize some food, fruits, bread, 2 tins of beer, 2 bottles of vodka and 3 bottles of wine. But we forgot to ask them for the most important thing: books! Unfortunately, we’ve finished all we had to read...
Finally we celebrated my wedding day with a bottle of Bordeaux, and more important, with the last two pieces of cake baked by Åsta. I’ve carried them all the way from the North Pole to here.”
“August 1. I made another hike alone and have found huge bones of a whale.”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italien
Finally at Cape Flora:
Mission accomplished!
July 24, 2007 : Successful completion of the expedition Today, on the 85th day of their expedition they finally made it: Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland reached Cape Flora which marks the final destination of their Franz-Joseph-Land crossing! At this place, where nowadays stands up a memorial tablet, Nansen and Johansen have met the british explorer Frederik Jackson on June 17th, 1896.Thomas and Børge have covered a distance of more than 1400 kilometers, walking and kayaking, since they started at the Northpole on May 1st. Without any airdrops, just with what they brought with them. They have not met a single human being in that time - but instead had many close encounters with polar bears, seals and walrusses.
We congratulate to this truly extraordinary accomplishment!
What's up next?
The two explorers have reached their destination, but the expedition is not over yet! Just like Nansen and Johansen, Thomas and Børge now have to be patient. The sailing vessel "Athene" is scheduled to pick them up around August 10th.
But spirit is high, of course, and they don't have any other option than enjoying two to three weeks of "holidays at the northernmost beach of the world".
Hans Ambühl, Interlaken
Annotation from expeditionsmanager Hans Ambühl, Interlaken:
The two explorers are close to their destination and decided that they can afford to use some more battery power for sending live images. So, the images in this article are current photos, again!
Forced rest days with polar bear
visits
July 20, 2007 : The bad weather makes the adventurers wait On July 15th, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland arrived in the Northeastern part of Northbrook Island after the successful crossing of De Bruyne Sound and built up camp there. And there they still were on July 19th … The weather has been so bad that the adventurers were forced to rest four days at the same place. Little strolls, playing cards, listening to music, reading and a few polar bear visits were the entertainment during these long days … “16th of July, day 77. Rest day. In the morning weather wasn’t yet too bad, but in the afternoon very strong winds began to blow causing high and rough waves. We had to pull our kayaks to higher ground on the beach. Fortunately our camp is in a safe and good spot. The sea is open and black, we won’t have to deal with ice anymore! I have to try to keep my spirits high, somehow it will work out.” “18th of July, day 79. Still in the same place. Today it was just pouring, the whole day long. I’ve tried to make a new record and never go out of the tent. Unfortunately I haven’t managed to do it, in the evening I just had to go out … I ask myself how Nansen and Johansen managed to deal with such storms with their material. They didn’t even have a proper tent! Today we had extensive polar bear visit. First, a curious young male showed up and triggered the fence right outside our tent. Finally, we could scare it off only with warning shots of our .44 Magnum placed right in front of its paws! After, a polar bear mother with her cub passed by. They disappeared again much faster than the male. For sure, up to now, we’ve had at least 20 polar bear visits on Franz Josef Land, but we’ve never had a problem with them. We’re wondering how the bears can survive here in the South, there are no more ice floes, their natural hunting ground. We’ve also seen a herd of walruses today, and Børge could even observe how the walruses successfully chased off the polar bears without a moment of hesitation!” “19th of July, day 80. A long time that we’ve been on the move by now! And now we’ve passed the fourth day at the same place, actually it wasn’t too hard to wait. Today it wasn’t almost raining anymore, but there was fog and the wind came from the wrong side. So we made a little stroll up the hill to an old deposit we had discovered before. It must be from an expedition of the early 20th century. We’ve found an old ski, debris of a broken sledge, remnants of an old tent camp and walrus bones. Exciting!”Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
Annotation from expeditionsmanager Hans Ambühl, Interlaken:
The two explorers are close to their destination and decided that they can afford to use some more battery power for sending live images. So, the images in this article are current photos, again!
Arrived on Northbrook Island!
July 16, 2007 : Cape Flora, their goal, is close On the 14th of July, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland left their camp in Tichaya Bay and managed to do the first part of the crossing from Hooker to Northbrook Island. Cape Flora, the goal of the expedition of the two adventurers who move on Nansen’s tracks, lies in the South of Northbrook.“14th of July, day 75. We left Tichaya and paddled from Hooker Island to a small island more to the South. The wind was strong and against us, but we managed to reach the island after about 10 km of paddling. From here, we could glimpse for the first time Northbrook Island – what a strange feeling to be, all of a sudden, very close to the goal! On our way, a walrus mother with her child came very close, surfaced and huffed at us and then disappeared as quickly as she had showed up. We were very alert after having read about the dangerous encounters Nansen had with walruses. Our magnum was ready on the waterproof bags on our kayak! Now we’re curious to see what will happen tomorrow … Weather is good, hopefully we can do the crossing.”
“15th of July, day 76. One of the most important days of our expedition lies behind us! We have managed to do the crossing of De Bruyne Sound which was worrying us for a long time! Our point of departure on the little island was ideal and we found a good way over the 37 km stretch of open water. Without never getting out, we were sitting for 10 hours in our kayaks which we had bound together to a katamaran. The wind from the East helped us and we could even use our sails. Now we’ve reached Northbrook and have built up our camp in the Northeast of the island. To reach Cape Flora, the goal of the expedition, we have to do another 40 km around the island and Cape Barents. But this is not so worrying as the crossing of the large De Bruyne Sound! So in fact, we’ve almost reached our goal and are simply very, very happy …”
As soon as the two adventurers will have reached Cape Flora – presumably in a few days – the long waiting will start: They should be picked up there toward the middle of August by a Norwegian sailing boat. If someone would like to cheer up Thomas by sending him an SMS on his satellite phone, he can ask expedition manager Hans Ambühl (hans.ambuehl@visualimpact.ch) how to proceed.
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
They have found some salt,
coffee and sugar!
July 13, 2007 : Camp at the abandoned polar station in Tichaya Bay On the 9th of July, the 70th day of the expedition, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland managed to do – after a morning visit of three polar bears at their tent – the crossing from Koettlitz Island over to Hooker Island: 12,9 km on ice which wasn’t landbound anymore but drifting fast. The ice floes were moving against each other, touching and docking and then drifting away again. On their way, Thomas and Børge had to bear the effects of a snowstorm; the fresh snow caused five to ten centimeters high studs beneath their skis. The problem was only resolved when the finally found the wax for their skis. They established camp below a bird cliff where they remained on July 10 as well:“10th of July, day 71. We had a forced rest day today: It was pouring and we didn’t feel like going out and getting wet. Instead of the loud rain, we could hear the screaming and shrieking of the birds in our tent. Yesterday evening, a polar bear mother with her two cubs passed by: Børge had just said, how strange, no bear visits, when I opened the zipper of the tent and saw the three bears just behind the fence! When they saw us they were so afraid that they just run away.”
“11th of July, day 72. Today we’ve done the 7,3 km long stretch over to Tichaya Bay, still on Hooker Island. We used our katamaran and were mostly paddling in open water and wearing our swim suit all day. An exciting moment to get to Tichaya! It’s the location of a famous abandoned polar station which had been opened in 1929. Till 1963, it was one of the most important points of departure for polar expeditions. We’ve found some salt, sugar and coffee in one of the old huts!”
“12th of July, day 73. We used this day for a little exploring trip through the buildings and have found some 15 to 20 years old tins with food which doesn’t even smell too badly … During the stroll, I have done a strange movement with my back which now hurts. It’s not the first time that after the endless pulling of the sledge, my back has problems to adapt to other movements. Now I’m lying in the tent, I can’t move very well, hopefully I will get better soon. Our camp lies near Rubini Rock, a huge, about 200 m high basaltic bird cliff. There are about ten to fifteen thousand seabirds nesting here! A word about the polar station: It once was the northernmost geophysical observatory on earth and had been established as a radio and weather station. Up to 60 men and women were living here and about 20 buildings are still existing – a kind of ghost town in Tichaya Bay, the ‘calm bay’.”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
Potato chips and jelly bear
fantasy
July 8, 2007 : The goal is getting closer, the mind is tiredOn July 5, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland covered 10,2 km from a bay of Luigi Island over a pass where they had to carry the material of their kayaks in several portagesover to Champ Island. There, on July 6, they looked out for the giant round stones which Børge knew from a former visit – without success. The messages of Thomas make understand that he finds it harder and harder to motivate himself mentally; and the body is tired anyway.
“7th of July, day 68. We have seen an incredible lot of polar bear tracks, astonishing so far in the South. We have done one of our record days by foot – 32,4 km in 10 hours – and have walked across to Nansen Island. But my mind isn’t in a very good state. The whole day in front of my inner eye jelly bears, potato chips and a kind of Swiss candy flew though my head … It was almost boring, the ice good, just walk, walk, walk. The final goal of our expedition, Cape Flora, is coming closer, and I’m getting tired and find it difficult to motivate myself.”
“8th of July, day 69. 28,5 km in 10 hours – again a hard day. We have walked from a little island in front of Nansen Island around the last and on to the South in direction of Koettlitz Island. The ice wasn’t always very good, sometimes we were standing in the water which reached above our ankles. It’s only 82,3 km to Cape Flora, for the first time it’s a distance less than 100 km … Today again I didn’t feel very good psycologically, I’m fed up with the continous up and down while walking and with the continous having to take decisions. It’s time that the goal gets closer. Well, now we are in our tent, it’s warm and cozy, the sun is shining and I’m now going to eat the 28 little chunks of chocolate which we always keep for the evening.”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
Annotation from expeditionsmanager Hans Ambühl, Interlaken:
After 68 expedition days, the two explorers are getting exhausted. But not only their own energy is becoming low, the batteries they use for their satellite phones , camera, etc. are loosing power. In order to save batteries, Thomas is no longer able to send live images from his digital camera.
Dr. Christoph Höbenreich kindly agreed to help us out with images. Christoph Höbenreich is mountain- & skiguide from Austria. And he was the initiator and leader of the "Payer-Weyprecht memorial expedition Franz Josef Land 2005", one of the very few expeditions, that got permission to visit Franz-Joseph-Land in recent years. More information about that expedition (in german only) can be found on: www.franzjosefland.com
Good morning, polar bear!
July 5, 2007 : The two adventurers have changed day with nightAfter a few days of adapting their rhythm, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland now move only during night. They wake up in the evening at 6 PM (4 PM CET), get ready and then leave travelling with the cooler temperatures of the night.
“3rd of July, day 64. Today we’ve moved at a comfortable, slow pace and haven’t done a lot of distance. First we had to decide which way we would take around Luigi Island; the conditions at its coast didn’t look good, we managed to see a lot of twisted pack ice and glacier fronts and therefore decided to conMartine from Salisbury Island to the East, edge Luigi Island and head on to Nansen Island. On our way today we encountered really good landbound ice; the snow laying on it was frozen during night and carried our skis. So the night with its cooler temperatures – about 2 degrees celsius less – really helps us.“
“4th/5th of July, day 65. Again a challenging day. We have gone on to edge Luigi Island and walk to Champ Island. But to start with in the morning, we had a polar bear visit; it came quite close and we could chase it away only with pepper spray and warning shots. Then we walked along the fjord on good, landbound ice; because of the rain, we found big puddles on it. All of a sudden, the wind begun to blow, we could use our kites and sail through the puddles and do totally 31,2 km! At one point we met open water – probably caused by warmer currents – and had to paddle around a cape before building up camp on Champ Island. Tomorrow we want to explore it and find the huge round stones which Børge knows from a former visit – strange, two to three meter big balls!“
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
Arrival on Salisbury Island after
two rest days
July 2, 2007 : Change from day to night “shift” On June 29 and 30, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland stayed in their camp next to the winter hut of Nansen and Johansen on Jackson Island. They passed the two rest days by playing cards, reading, listening to music and making a few little repairs on their material. The weather was very bad, the pouring rain made the snow on land and on the ice melt. The crossing to the next island therefore changed into what seemed to be giant ice rink. Then, on July 1st, the trip went on:“1st of July, day 62. Børge has changed his undershirt after two months, I myself have changed my socks! Nansen and Johansen waited longer, actually they didn’t even change their shirts but just turned it to have the cleaner outer surface on their skin … We paddled through good water 17,5 km over to the north side of Salisbury Island. The wind was extremely strong, the weather was good. We found a lot of water on the ice, sometimes even our skis were below the water. But we moved on very well, at the end we used our katamaran and the swim suits to overcome an open lead between the ice and the island. The walruses today came very close, their curiosity made us somewhat nervous – they popped out of the water and the ice with their big muzzles but let uns in peace. By the way, we’ve decided to change from day to night ‘shifts’, which means that we adjust our rhythm and will get up later in order to move during night and rest during day in a few day’s time. We hope to find cooler temperatures during night which means better ice and snow conditions. Furthermore, during day the sun up here in the Far North is extremely strong and burns us literally.”
“2nd of July, day 63. Today we’ve made a distance of 12,5 km and have moved from the north to the south side of Salisbury Island. In the morning we started with our kayaks paddling along Cape Mc Clintock before getting on shore. The wind was fierce and against us, we hardly made any distance, it was really strenous. We avoided the next cape, Cape Fisher, a 150 m high, steep basaltic cliff, by the land and went up 260 meters of altitude, got onto a glacier and then went down to another bay where we put up camp next to a rocky nose near the landbound ice. The cape was a wonderful spot where we have seen flowers for the first time! We have already shifted our rhythm for 5 hours and in fact had harder, better snow moving in the night. It seems really worthwhile to walk during night. And the light in the night is almost more beautiful with the low sun just above the horizon.”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
At the winter hut of Nansen and Johansen!
June 28, 2007 : Impressive tracks of the pioneers on Jackson island Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland have reached one more important goal on their expedition on the tracks of Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen: On the picture they’re at the ruins of the hut where their predecessors have wintered in the harsh climate of Franz Josef Land for seven months from August 1895 on. But one thing after the other:“25th of June, day 56. A good day. Normally we get up at 5 o’clock. I woke up at 4.30, heard footsteps and could just wake up Børge to tell him ‘The bear is here!’ before the flare shot of the protection fence around our camp went off. Everything worked at it’s best – the tracks of the escaping bear showed that he definitely was deeply impressed by the smoke, howling and banging of the fence! We put it up once again and needed two more hours to get ready for departure. Then we walked from Houen to Torup island which Nansen describes in his books as one of the most beautiful places on earth – indeed: Thousands of birds are nesting here, the cliffs are covered with green moss, a spot of unreal beauty! Over solid landbound ice we then reached a cape. After eight, nine kilometers we got our kayaks ready for paddling and along a 30 m high glacier cliff to a next cape. In the West we saw huge surfaces of black, open seawater; the same as Nansen had experienced it – a very different landscape. We went on along a strange cape towering up like a knifeblade, again thousands of birds. Their screaming shrilled out of the cliffs. We went on on solid landbound ice, we had got a little bit scared of the open water because of the many walruses in there. After 18,8 we finally built up camp.”
“26th of June, day 57. We edged another cape paddling, then reached again landbound ice and walked about 14 km through the Hjalmar Johansen sound to Jackson island. The about 80 m high, with green moss covered basaltic cliffs of the bird island almost blinded us – definitely one of the most wonderful places which we’ve saw up to now. The ice was rather bad, rotten, but we proceeded well, as the ice isn’t broken up and compressed like pressure ice. I hope it won’t get winter again, today it was snowing … 20,5 km, a good day!”
“27th of June, day 58. First we traversed a bay of Jackson island on good landbound ice, then we edged a cape. In the middle of the bay, next to the open water, we heard strange noises like from a steam engine: a group of narwhales which we observed for about half an hour! Then, a polar bear mother with her two cubs approached, the little bears have certainly been born in this year, furry fluffy things which would be nice to have in the tent to play with – but without mother … They came up to three meters close and sniffed at our sledges before we had to chase them away first with a flare shot and then a warning shot! In the morning it takes us a long time to get our ‘motors’ ready, we have consumed a lot of our energy and I think we wouldn’t make it anymore to pull 170 kg heavy sleds like we did in the beginning.”
“28th of June, day 59. Finally we have reached the winter hut of Nansen and Johansen! We didn’t have to round Cape Norway but went through the mountains and used our kayaks only for the last half an hour. It was an incredible moment when we reached the ruins of the winter hut of the two pioneers standing 20 m from the shoreline: Rests of its walls built with stones are still there, then we discovered the huge wooden roof ridge over which they had tightened walrus skins. We found polar bear and walrus bones around; the two ate a lot of meat. That’s the place where they wintered for seven months, it’s incredible to see it and to realize they hadn’t lost courage and didn’t get mad here! A very impressive place. By reaching it, we have accomplished another big goal of our expedition! On our way, we see many polar bears, this morning we had a visit of one which seeemed to be kind of a grandfather polar bear with grey beard. To make a change, we tried out our pepper spray and clouted him a good dose of it – we didn’t see him anymore for the whole day … Our various polar bear protection systems really work perfectly. The only problem: We are really totally worn out and now will take one or two rest days in this place.”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
Terra firma beneath their feet
June 24, 2007 : Camp on Houen island north of Alexander island On June 22nd, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland managed to accomplish the last bit of the long passage on the Ocean between Freeden and Hoffmann island. “It wasn’t as bad as we had feared, we met quite good, landbound ice on the way”, said Thomas. Then a new experience on Hoffmann island: “For the first time during this expedition we found soil beneath our skis, real firm ground, not only glacier, ice or water. We also saw the first human tracks: an old abandoned polar station of the 1960ies – an inhospitable place, all the rooms filled with snow and everything totally broken!”“23rd of June, 54th day. We moved from Hoffmann to Erzherzog Rainer island. Thanks to the information which the coordinator of our expedition, Hans Ambühl in Interlaken, manages to read on actual satellite images and communicate us by satellite phone, we were moving on firm ice constantly aware of the only 200 m distant edge of the scary pressure ice zone – the caotic zone in which we had moved for days! Nansen didn’t even know where he and Johansen were exactly. We today, and that’s the big difference, have these incredible technological gear – GPS, satellite phone, satellite images and other. We though try to give more value to our expedition by overcoming a longer distance without deposits or support. Anyway, it’s incredibly impressive to see what Nansen and Johansen have done up here without help and without loosing courage! On Erzherzog Rainer island, our camp is built up on glacier ice, we climbed up 200 meters from sealevel and have for the first time a great view on the caotic pressure ice below. By the way, we have reduced our daily program to eight and a half hours of walking. We’re both quite worn out, the breaks get longer, twenty instead of ten minutes, before we decide to move again … We have also reduced our daily food to the half in order to have enough to eat till the end of our expedition.”
“24th June, 55th day. Today, coming from Erzherzog Rainer island, we’ve reached the little Houen island north of Alexander island. That’s the island where Nansen and Johansen put their feet on firm ground for the first time – a feeling we’ve already experienced on Hoffmann island! This morning we could first ski down the 200 meters gained yesterday, a special moment. Then we were moving on not very thick but solid, landbound ice and overcome do the 21,9 km without bigger problems. Here, our camp is standing between boulders and stones. Tomorrow we hope to conMartine to the west and towards the open water where the sooner or the later we will use our kayaks as little sailing boats.”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
The traverse of Franz Josef Land has started
June 21, 2007 : On the way between the islands Freeden and Alexander After approximately 900 adventurous kilometers from the North Pole over the ice of the frozen Arctic Ocean, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland have reached a few days ago, on June 14, Eva-Liv island in the Northeast of Franz Josef Land. Just in time, they’ve also got the permit to traverse the big archipelago with its 191 islands: Viktor Boyarsky, the Russian agent of Thomas and Børge, has worked extremely hard for it and managed to overcome all obstacles … Now the two adventurers have one and a half month of time to explore Franz Josef Land and traverse it on the tracks of Nansen and Johansen towards Cape Flora in the Southwest – an expedition which hasn’t be done that way since. But of course, compared to their predecessors more than 100 years ago, Ulrich and Ousland have plenty of information and a totally different, high end equipment.The 15th of June was a “sleeping day”. On the 16th, the two reached – with their kayaks working as a catamaran – Adelaide island south of Eva-Liv. There, for the first time, they could really put their feet on land. Walking on a solide stretch of ice, they went on south to Freeden island where they made two more rest days before attempting to traverse the approximately 40 km long passage to Alexander island. First, it was just an attempt: On June 19th, the two ended up in horrible ice which convinced them to retreat back to land and get a better overview from the top of the island in order to know more about the conditions on the sea which by now is only partly frozen and shows a lot of open water and difficult ice to traverse. The last news from Thomas:
“20th of June, 51st day: An interesting day after our retreat yesterday from the ice which drifted rapidly away with us … Today we had good weather and went up to Freeden island once more to get a better overview. We decided to attempt the traverse again – in ski boots and swim suit. The first 1,5 km or 3 hours were really difficult, we were basically hopping from one piece of ice to the next. All of a sudden, the ice got surprisingly better, we met nicely frozen icepans and were able to set up camp after 15,4 km. By the way, we had a bear’s visit today: A young male came very close, he was only 20 m away, we were ready to greet him with pepper spray, rubber bullets and signal flares. But he stopped and then followed us for about half an hour, trotting 200 to 300 m behind us, before he got to bored with us and went away without having to chase him away.”
“21st of June, 52nd day: A hard day, once more, with ice which wasn’t as good as at the end of yesterday. It’s quite warm, it seems summer arrived here, too. The leads don’t freeze anymore. So we had no choice but hopping from one ice floe to the next. At the end of the day, we had managed to do 13,6 km. There are about 9 km more to go to Hoffmann island. From there, we should be able to walk on solid landbound ice to Alexander island. Sometimes, today, we let our kayaks go in front of us, then looked for another way for ourselves, then got the kayaks back again. Strangely, there was no drift on this side of the bay. Hopefully we can leave the rotten ice tomorrow – it’s an incredible feeling to get on land!”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
Thomas Ulrich and Børge
Ousland have reached
Franz Joseph Land!
June 18, 2007 : Arrival at the first island to the Northeast of the Russian archipelago One month has passed since we’ve informed you last in English about the progress of our two adventurers: Since the 13th of May, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland have covered hundreds of kilometers, have fought with a lot of bad pressure ice, have had other days with excellent, huge solid ice shields for easy progress and a record day during which they’ve covered 53 km with their skis and kites; they have suffered from pains in their feet and have seen more and more birds, polar bear tracks and seals the closer they’ve got to the coast. Their goal: the coast of Franz Josef Land or better of one of the islands of the archipelago. On the 14th of June, after 45 days on the ice of the Arctic Ocean, the two have finally reached land. The days before were a hard, difficult struggle as Thomas tells us: “11th of June, day 42. After the record day of yesterday on which we’ve covered 53 km, today wasn’t bad either. Our camp was on really bad ice though. Everything moved around us, the ice was rotten and only 60 to 80 cm thick. We wanted to leave this pressure ice zone as fast as possible and indeed found some better ice where we could use our sails. At the end we’d done 18,3 km. It was warm and drizzling, the snow on the ice is wet and the water is pushing up from below – it will be good to reach land soon …”On the evening of the 12th, they had only 15 km more to go to the coast. For the first time, Thomas and Børge had sighted land: “12th of June. A beautiful day! We were taking pictures with our underwatercamera when I discovered a strange line above the horizon, a kind of lenticular cloud above the pack ice – land sighted, the first island of Franz Josef Land! An incredible feeling … We were hopping around like kids and shouting with joy! Finally we even managed to see the two rocky noses on the island which Nansen mentions in his book. We’re totally motivated and convinced to reach land tomorrow.”
“13th of June. The conditions got worse and worse, the ice was horrible, totally rotten and broken up, the leads filled with polished chunks of ice; furthermore, we suffered a strong drift to the North – after six hours of hard work with our kayaks bent together to form a catamaran, we had moved just 500 meters in the right direction! It’s scary to be here, everything is moving … In front of the island we saw the usual dark cloud which indicates open water; in the last 43 days, we’ve always tried to avoid such leads, but now we’re holding directly towards it in order to reach the land paddling through open water.”
“14th of June, 45th day. We knew: That’s going to be D-Day! In the morning we had drifted back North to the position of the day before. Then, after ten hours in terrible ice we managed to get to the lead, where we started to paddle with our kayaks over a huge, broad channel. Finally, on the other side, we met good ice connected to the land. So, after 25 hours – we had been on the move day and night –, we reached the little Eva Liv Island. Unfortunately, we couldn’t really get on it because of its steep, glaciated shoreline. But at least we found a spot below the cliffs where to build up our first camp on land.”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
English blog disconMartined
May 18, 2007 : Temporarily no English version of Thomas' blog
Due to a bottleneck in manpower, we are forced to temporarily disconMartine the English version of Thomas' blog. Hopefully we will soon be able to serve you again.Thank you for your understanding.
Hans Ambuehl, Interlaken, Switzerland
2 bad and 2 good days
May 13, 2007 : Børge and Thomas cover 80 km in two days
Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland have moved on a lot. After two rather difficult days, they have finally been able to use their kites, as Thomas tells us: “10th of May. Like yesterday, today was again very hard. In 9 hours of struggling we have made 14,1 km through young pressure ice with a lot of little open water leads – a really wearing job. Unfortunately we couldn’t do more, we’ve arrived quite shattered … Back home, after a day like this, you would sit down, have a beer and rest the next day, here, the show will go on tomorrow! It snowed in the morning, now the temperature is very mild, -6 degrees only, it’s spring up here. We have seen snow crystals as big as the leaves of a beech tree.”“11th of May. We are at 88° 19’ 13’’ North and 57° 00’ 21’’ East. Nothing special to say – a hard day, quite disgusting weather with strong winds from the South, quite a lot of fresh snow and whiteout, we’ve made 15,1 km …”
“12th of May. A long, long day! We have walked for 14 hours and covered 40 (!) km. The wind has switched to North which allowed us to use our kites, half of the day in a whiteout, unfortunately. We wanted to leave latitude 88 North behind us and according to our GPS, we’ve just made it for 10 m. We are at 87° 59’ 52’’ North and 62° 07’ 05 East. The landscape we sailed through was a constant up and down, it seemed to me like being on the moon, sometimes we had some pressure ice to fight with. With the help of our kites we managed in some way to pull our sleds around the ice towers. Now, after 14 hours of work, we’re weared out, it’s half past three in the morning here and we are just preparing dinner.” Today, by the way, the two have not only seen fox tracks but also a little bird – and this in the hostile ice desert of the North.
“13th of May. Our position is 87° 39’ 37’’ North and 65° 35’ 22’’ East. In fact, after the hard day yesterday we wanted to walk only for 8 hours, but then everything turned out quite different … After half an hour, the wind came up again and we could begin to use our kites. Soon afterwards we could even change the skis with skins we were using to waxed skis without skins. At the end we have again walked and sailed for 14 hours and covered once more almost 40 km! But not in good, flat ice but in a difficult, constant up and down through pressure ice zones and little leads of open water. Again it seemed to me more like being on the moon than on earth, it was incredible to sail around the impressive ice sculptures. At the end we were shaky and had to stop, it has been incredibly hard work. The weather was quite good in the morning, then it changed to whiteout again. Big, dark clouds in front of us indicate huge open water leads which we will have to try to avoid.”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
Latitude 89 is passed!
May 9, 2007 : Blue skies, whiteout, pressure ice and polar bears
On May 6, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland have left latitude 89 North behind them; in the meantime, after only nine days of walking, they have overcome more than 150 km. Thomas’ messages show that every single day can be completely different than the previous one: “7th of May. Today we’ve made 18,4 km; we now are at 88° 55’ 41’’ North and 51° 08’ 00’’ East. The weather was really nice, a bit foggy for a while, then nice again. Everything went very smoothly. After half of the day, we’ve discovered some strange tracks on a pressure ice mound: a mother polar bear with two cubs! The foot prints of the cubs were quite small, it would surely be nice to play around with them, but I wouldn’t like to meet the mother – especially not during night …”“8th of May, day eight. A good week and almost 140 km separate us from the North Pole behind us. We are a well adjusted team, each of us two knows what he has to do and where he has to store his things in the sledge in order to proceed the fastest possible. In the evening we build up the tent, then Børge carries out all the jobs outside around the tent whereas I see to the “decoration” of the interior. Then we cook dinner together and try to get to sleep towards midnight. The first week has served us to adjust several things. We aren’t wearing anymore the heavy shoes, for example, but a lighter model, a kind of cross country shoe which keeps warm till -20 degrees. We have the first aching spots and blisters on our feet; to pull the 170-kg-kayak over the ice, especially through bad pressure ice zones, means to make the heels suffer under a lot of pressure – but no worry, everything is okay! In difficult ice, the tip of my kayak quite often points in the wrong direction; when Børge laughed at me today, I answered him that I haven’t done 6000 km in the pack ice of the Arctic and another some thousands kilometers in Antarctica as he has, so I’m glad to learn more – he then said that yes, unfortunately in Antarctica he has ‘only’ covered 4500 km!” I guess, I will never reach 6000 km … But I still like it here, it’s thrilling, the landscape is fascinating. Today was a day with a crystal clear blue sky, -15 to -18 degrees cold, but in the evening in the tent it gets really warm with the sun always shining on the tent. We have done another 18,6 km and are on 88° 40’ 46’’ North and 53° 20’ 04’’ East.”
“9th of May. Today everything changed completely … When we woke up, we just saw into the whiteout, and the whole day we hardly saw further than the tip of our nose. The worst thing was that we finished in a very rough zone of young, broken up ice – we met huge pressure ice ridges, some were so high to allow us to ski down … It wasn’t easy to find a way through this labyrinth, sometimes we first had to explore the route without sledge. A really, really hard day – well, we have done our kilometers, 14,4 km for today, a little less than the last days. Let’s hope in a better day for tomorrow!”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
First polar bear into sight!
May 6, 2007 : The two adventurers get on well!
Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland proceed fast. That’s what Thomas has told us on the satellite phone: “3rd of May. Today we have covered 18,3 km; we are at a position of 89° 29’ 52’’ North and 44° 44’ 52’’ East. It again has been a super day! Since April 29th the sun has shone all the time and it doesn’t go down anymore. We had good ice conditions, sometimes some pressure ice, but no open water leads. During day, each of us has two liters of warm water with him. In the evening, we mix the rest of it with our dinner – potatoe mash with lots of dried meat and oil. The breakfast consists of a kind of porridge with sugar, milk powder and oil and during day we eat a similar blend of food with dried meat. Hopefully we keep on going smoothly!”“4th of May. We are just having dinner – potatoe mash with dried meat. I’ve also saved some chocolate from the day … The weather was still good, just once we had to cross a fog bank, afterwards it turned nice again. It’s comfortably warm in the tent, we even manage to dry our stuff, but outside it’s still -17/-18 degrees cold. The conditions were somewhat harder today, the ice was good and covered with snow, but we met a few spots with pressure ice which was hard to get over with the 170-kg-kayak. A few times we could even use our kites which helped us to walk with much less effort for a few kilometers. The schedule of the day looks like this: We get up at 9 AM (6 AM Swiss time), then it takes us three hours to boil water, get everything ready and to take down the tent. We start to walk at 12 AM and then go on till 9 PM with a rest every one to one and a half hour. Everything is working well, but I’ve already had to adjust some details of the gear – for example the harness with which I pull the kayak: It had worked perfectly during the ‘Last Degree’ expedition where I had to pull ‘only’ 80 kgs, but made some problems now with the 170 kg. We are fine and happy!”
“5th of May. We have seen the first polar bear! It was quite distant from us and then went away, but it’s still astonishing to see a bear so far north. Therefore we have now put up the fence which protects us from polar bear visits during night. Today, we have again covered 17 km, we are at 89° 10’ 11’’ North and 48° 02’ 33’’ East. It was a very rough day in a whiteout and with hard snow drifts. It was extremely tiring to get over those pressure ice zones with the heavy kayaks, yes, sometimes it’s just a botch-up … We would have loved to use the kites, but the wind blew from the wrong (SE) direction. Today was really hard. We navigate with the sun, but if it doesn’t shine – like today – we have to check our position from time to time on the GPS and put a little windflag on the skipole and try to hold the direction watching it. Børge and me are already a well adjusted team. During day, I have time to give myself up to my thoughts – like making plans for the house which I’ve bought back home just before coming up here …”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
On the move!
May 3rd, 2007 : Thomas and Børge start their next adventure! On May 1st 2007, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland have started their next adventure from the North Pole, after having been flown out by helicopter to the Pole and having passed one day with last preparations for the trip. The first goal of their big expedition to the South: reach by ski and with kayaks and sleds 86° 4' of northern latitude – the point most to the north which had been touched by Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen on March 14th 1895 during their legendary expedition to the Arctic. The new adventure of Ulrich and Ousland in fact doesn't only have sportsmen' goals – to reach, if possible, by ski and kayaks the archipelago of Franz Josef Land, traverse it and then travel on by sail boat to Norway – but is also deeply inspired by the mentioned historical expedition of Nansen. The two adventurers would like to pay tribute to that expedition. But let’s hear Thomas Ulrich’s account about the first two days: “Today, on May 1st, we have started our adventure. The kayaks and sleds were quite heavy, but slided well. Each of us is pulling about 170 kg. We have atached a smaller sled loaded with fuel at the end of the kayaks, in order not to have to pull all the load in one attempt over the rough ice. We have passed a few water leads, one was covered with quite thin ice, so we put on our swim suit. On the first day we made about 17 km and reached 89°48’ 57’’ North and 34° 20’ 04’’ East. The sun is shining, it’s quite warm, and we have lovely big even surfaces to walk on.” And his voicemail message of May 2nd says: “Today we have covered another distance of 16,4 km in 9 hours of walking. It was quite a fight, we didn’t only found nice flat ice, but also pressure ice which was hard to pass with the heavy kayaks. Everything is going on nicely, but I’m sure we will meet other situations too! The weather is just incredibly nice, during the day it’s about -10 to -15 degrees ‘warm’ and inside the tent it’s really cozy. Spring seems to have reached this place too, although there are no trees flowering up here ...”
Christine Kopp, Galbiate, Italy
FRANZ JOSEF LAND 2007
April 27, 2007To follow in the footsteps of Fridtjof Nansen from the North Pole to Norway. That is the motto Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland, his Norwegian friend, have chosen for this year’s expedition. They pursue two goals with it: one historical the other athletic:
On the one hand they plan to cross the Siberian group of islands of Franz-Josef-Land in the footsteps of Nansen in the International Polar Year (2007) in memory of the achievement of the legendary Norwegian
The route they’ve planned starts at the North Pole in early May and takes the two adventurers on skis to the archipelago of Franz-Josef-Land (at a distance of 900km). They will cross the group of islands scattered about 350km with skis, kayaks and kites following Nansen’s historical route. At the southern edge, at Cape Flora, Thomas and Børge will be met by Thorleif Thorleifsson in a sailing-boat and taken back to Norway. The arrival at the northern coast of Norway is scheduled for the end of August.
On this website we will inform you about the course of the expedition regularly.
