Celebrations at the top of the World

Friday, 90°North: So, the Pole is theirs. They arrived just after 20:00 after a stunner of a day. The ice conditions were good with few difficult obstacles, and the weather turned to it’s very best. It was Easter skiing and the warmest they have experienced till now. So much so that they could feel the difference in the tent later on!
They celebrated the arrival by doing a team moonwalk. Thomas have been drilling them and they did probably the most northerly Michael Jackson imitation ever. – Though, imitation – Bengt got quite some stick for his performance.
The team was in great mood and enjoyed both themselves and their great goal tremendously. After the celebration they camped and waited for the helicopter that took them back to the Barneo Base where we believe the party continued with other explorers awaiting their flight back to Longyearbyen.

Thursday, Camp 5: The day has been a bit rougher today as they came into a part with quite wild ice. Lots and lots of pressure ridges made for exciting but strenuous going. The ice drift, that had been northerly and very favourable until now, swung westerly and made them work harder for every kilometre.
Naomi also had a slight altercation with her food, decorating the ice. But she soon regained her composure and carried on. Friday morning she was fighting fit again. – This is not unusual for debutants who have not pulled a lot of sledges. Having you ‘whole life’ hanging behind you and the belt hammering your stomach constantly as you negotiate the terrain in a raw deal . On top of that, it would have been inhuman not to get a reaction on her swim yesterday. She will have taken a lot of strength from having reacted and done everything right, - but in -30°C, in a split second, to crash through the thin layer of ice and knowing you have 4.000 meters of water under your feet, will stay with you quite a while…
Whatever. The day started in white-out but soon turned great. The worked hard and Friday morning they had some 18 kilometres left. Will they make it during Friday? Hard to say, but surely possible - if the Mother Nature refrains herself from playing more tricks on them.
Stay tuned!

A Polar pedestrian negotiating a zebra, - sorry ice crossing

Wednesday, Camp 4: Never a dull moment! Apart from being a truly beautiful day with exciting ice, blue sky, very little wind and the temperature almost reaching -30°C it was Naomi who did the song & dance.
After having impressed the team up there, having taken on her new world of Polar Ocean craziness like a duck to water – she did just that. A slight miss calculation saw her plunge into a lead and ended up soaking wet all the way to her chest! –
Amazingly, it did not ruffle her a bit, she stayed calm and sharp and was soon back on the right side of the ice. But it meant getting the tent up and fire up the stove and start drying – everything.
Still, they did another 20km and are now some 40km from the pole. Last Camp was set at: 89°39,1’N / 142°44,4’East.
Stay tuned, we are getting into the weekend, but will do our best to update the blog!

We are not so sure about the waiving as Polar Exploration is not really a spectator sport...

Tuesday, Camp 3: The day started in great conditions. They soon ran (?) into a brutal area of old pressure ridges. It was the Polar Sea at it’s ‘best’.
Through the day Noami was trying out tons of things and making a lot of breakthroughs. But from what we understand, the best was probably that she got control over her fingers. For being totally new to this, the craziest of all environments, she was doing great. Bengt was impressed.
Again they put some 20 kilometres behind them and the camp was logged at 89°26,57’ North / 142°26,96’ East. Stay tuned!

Here they fight pack ice and crossing very thin ice by use of sledges.

Monday, Camp 2: A beautiful and fun day in the Icy Ocean. It we the first full day and a steep learning curve. Not easy to handle, wind, a lot of cold, e sledge that dances to a tune you are not familiar to, a surface that is as wild as an endless park of demolished cars.
But they did very good distance and camp was just 87km from the North Pole. – Food was great (greeting from Naomi…). Sleep was no problem. No problem!

Sunday, Camp 1: Everything has gone according to plan. The flight out to Barneo took off at 16:45. The journey north was smooth, though spectacular. To land with a jet on a sheet of floating ice sounds more like a plot for a disaster movie. – But all went well. And they marvelled at being in such a wild place.
The Russians operating the base did not hang about. After landing it was just a quick brief to coordinate things, they got some fuel and off they went to the helicopter which took them to the drop-off point. They hardly had time to catch their breath! But the low heli flight was a real eye opener to what is facing them over the next days.
After landing at 19:00, they put on the skis and started off. The first day was just a 1,5 hour test to see that all is ok, and get accustomed to pulling sledges etc. They came across several leads, some with open water but most newly frozen. The wind but dying down and the ice drift was westerly, so they were very happy with the conditions.
Now they are well in the tent, having just crossed into the 89th degree North, 89°19”N / 139°58”E to be precise. It is a good bunch of happy campers!

Boearding the Antonov 74 - and the not quite quite 'Business Class' - call it Expedition Class!

Saturday: Welcome to the 2011 North Pole Last Degree Expedition of Naomi, Birgit, Thomas and Bengt. Here we will follow the team on a daily basis. All the info is sent us by Satellite telephone.
Over the days leading up to the weekend all the participant have tricked into Longyearbyen at Svalbard. Preparations have been going on through out, and today the last packing of food, checking of equipment and last grasp shopping was on the agenda.
At 17:30 they drove the whole lot out to the cargo plane that will be readied tonight. The weather in the region is good, with scattered clouds and sunshine, so everything looks good for an on target departure tomorrow afternoon.
Before then, they will (try) to relax and have the last meal with table, chairs and warm surroundings…
Stay tuned!

Naomi, Thomas, Bengt and Birgit all set to head north