Late last night an excited Børge Ousland called us from Sredny. We could hear the wind howling in the background, as he stood exposed to the Siberian winter; his satellite phone had no coverage in the warmth of the weather station.
“We hope to leave tomorrow. Cape Arktichesky is waiting.”
According to plan, the helicopter will lift off at 10am, flying the intrepid Norwegian and his South African partner Mike Horn to Russia’s northernmost point. If we know these extreme adventurers right, they did not sleep much last night. Most likely they were making a final evaluation of their equipment, fine-tuning their packing. This was the duo’s last chance to do so.
The next four or five days will truly be some of the most challenging of the entire two-month expedition, with dangerously shifting ice and open leads. It may take 100 km before they have “firm ice” under their feet.
* * *
This evening (16.45 local time) Børge called us with a new, brief message:
“Visibility was too poor for takeoff today, so we’re still in Sredny, where it’s snowing and relatively mild. But the problem was the cloud cover. Our departure is delayed until tomorrow, and we’re hoping that we can really leave then.”
