I have done quite a few trips where I have had to pack ‘only enough’ gear to carry say on a bicycle for 3 months, and unnecessary gear is not tolerated, but this is an extreme version: Like the bicycle, unnecessary weight is a severe burden, and although it’s tempting to treat the sled as an unlimited storage, ‘trailer’, it needs to be approached the same way as loading the bicycle…Only the essentials! That then puts a lot of focus on what are essentials? One rapidly concludes that ‘normal’ clothes and comforts for that ‘too scary to think about’, end of expedition period, before returning to London, don’t qualify as essentials! So, in leaving London today, I am leaving with that mindset and with a very light pack, as most of my expedition gear is in Yellowknife. I have a few ‘non-essentials’, that will travel with me to Resolute and then get sent back to London, as we slim down to ‘only the essentials’.
In deciding what where essentials, I even surprised myself as to what sentimental, non-functional, items made it onto the ‘Essentials’ list:
The Arctic Giraffe: Rummaging though my gear from past adventures I came across a few pieces of ‘obviously’ essential gear for this North Pole expedition: The one being my sentimental teak Giraffe mask, that I bought in Malawi some years ago. It has traveled with me on most of my solo cycling and sailing trips, and had a prominent place in Solone´s my yacht, Solone´s saloon. It has been my ‘African companion’ for many ‘lonely’, and very memorable miles, both a symbol of my heritage and destiny. As my eyes found ‘her’ again, my heart started racing, and I became filled with emotion, as wonderful memories of my adventures flashed before me, and I knew the ‘Arctic Giraffe’ was born…She has to accompany me to the North Pole, and be the first giraffe there, and also the most traveled one in the world! What better way to give this most northerly point, a highly unlikely, African flavour!
The newly named 'Arctic Giraffe', pictured here on Christmas day 2007, onboard Solone in the middle of the Atlantic. Padkos: The second sentimental, ‘non-essential, essential' item that I found to take with me, is my very tired and weather beaten, Australian flag that flew proudly from Solone’s stern from the day I bought her in Greece, to the day I sold her in the Caribbean . This flag will accompany me to the Pole as reminder of my Australian connections and citizenship, which were instrumental in me being able to break free and live this adventure life.
The third sentimental, which definitely can ‘squeeze’ into the ‘Essentials’ definition, are some South African, food and drink items. They are shown together with the Arctic Giraffe in the photo below.
Starting at the bottom right is a bottle of Van der Hum, Orange brandy liqueur, then moving anti-clockwise there are four servings and different flavours of Safari dried fruit roll, and finally some premium Biltong (Dried meat).There will be six, Degree Latitude, line crossings, from 84 to 89 degrees North, on the way to reaching the Pole, the ‘Spot Latitude’ endpoint, and the 'Big Party'. On achievement of each there will be a milestone ‘party’, and these items will form the basis of an African Arctic ‘celebration’. I just hope my fellow team members find the cultural experience a reward!
Other items of 'Essential gear' that may bring a smile to your face are:
My Toiletry Bag: In the context of my North Pole expedition, I found its product description, and intended use, “Quick Trip”, as very amusing. Yeah, that bag will hold all my toiletry needs plus personal supplements and medication for 50-60 days…Maybe that is a “Quick Trip”!
A Real Face Mask: After my experience in Yellowknife, I have been searching everywhere for a very heavy duty face mask, that will provide physical protection against a combination of strong headwind and the ‘coldest cold’, while also not freezing up or restricting breathing. A bit of cross sport searching, returned the ‘Paintball’ mask below.
This mask combined with the traditional soft fabric face mask should enable my face to deal with whatever the Arctic throws at us. Time will tell! What with the Giraffe mask and now this one, together with my sat phone in my hand luggage, airport security people could quite well treat me as ‘suspicious’! Oh no, now that takes me back a few years to when I was on Interpol’s ‘Suspected Drug Trafficker’ list! I definitely don’t want to go there again!
Thermometers: Measuring outdoor temperatures of -60 degrees and below is not an ‘everyday’ activity for normal life, and finding a suitable thermometer to do this provided quite a challenge. Most recreational / domestic thermometers at best go down to – 30 degrees C, and digital thermometers are not suitable as they need a remote battery power supply that can somehow be kept warm close to the body. I finally sourced two traditional glass and alcohol, precision laboratory thermometers that go down to -80 degrees, which should hopefully be low enough! The challenge with these is that they are quite fragile, and secondly their maximum limit is +20 degrees C so to ensure not to ‘overheat’ and ‘pop’ them! If only they could talk, it would be interesting to hear their complete ‘temperature story’ at the conclusion of the expedition! (I’ll try and capture part of ‘their story’ for you, along the way)
A Book to Read: Each one of us is taking one book along on the basis that we can share if the weather and conditions are so favourable that we spend our time reading! I found it quite challenging trying to decide on ‘that single book’, but eventually chose The first and Last Freedom, by Jiddhu Krishnamurti because I believe the expedition will provide a fertile mind for absorbing and debating the simple yet fairly radical philosophies of this Indian author. This line on the back cover finally did it for me: “Krishnamurti takes the reader on a wide ranging quest exploring society’s common concerns, such as suffering and fear, love and sex, the meaning of life, and personal transformation, always relating them to the essential search for pure truth and perfect freedom.” I must thank, Richard Ross at Empire Books Cape Town, for linking this book to my ideological pursuits and suggesting I get hold of it.
Diary and Pencils: I plan to record every day on a fairly rigorous basis, including the expedition statistics, the external stimulants and importantly, the inner soul journey of the experience. Interestingly, normal ballpoint pens are unsuitable for this cold environment, and I am taking along artists mechanical pencils which have thick lead cartridges.
So much for the `not so obvious’, Essential items……..Some of ‘obviously essential’ items that surprisingly found themselves on the ´Non Essentials´ list are:
- Shaving gear
- Towel
- 3rd pair of underpants (Yeah, I’ll use just 2 pairs for the 50+ days)
- Deodorant
- Hairbrush
- Cosmetic mirror
- Soap
- ‘Casual’ shoes (Arctic Boots will be my only footwear)
- ‘Casual’ shirt and pants
The lack of need for normal hygiene gear, is mainly due to the cold environment not facilitating bacterial growth...we shall see, or maybe that should be smell!
Moving away from ‘The Essentials’ theme, to a special meeting I had last week. I had the pleasure of meeting up with Dan Darley and Amelia Russell, who are setting out a few days before us on a totally unsupported expedition along the same route as us. Dan is close to my heart, as through our friendship and his contact with Richard Weber, he connected me to this rare North Pole expedition opportunity. So thanks again Dan! The expedition Dan and Amelia are embarking on is has only ever been successfully completed by less than 30 people, and differs from ours in that it is totally unsupported and without the experience of a seasoned explorer like Richard Weber. They are both novice Arctic adventurers. Besides their inexperience, what they are attempting to do is considered one of the ‘hardest things in the world to do’, ‘beaten’ only by an, Unsupported Return Trip, and a, One Way Solo trip. Should they be successful, Amelia would be the first British woman to do this. You can follow their progress on http://www.northpolechallenge.co.uk/.
I could sense that catching up with them both was mutually beneficial and motivating as we discussed the progress on preparations, our fears and anxieties, and strategies for coping and conquering! We will meet again in Resolute as like us, they plan on doing their pre-expedition training there.
And finally as I prepare to leave, the last part of testing of my Satellite phone / PDA communications systems exposes a gremlin fault that at this last minute has left me bewildered. While working perfectly last week the PDA now does not recognise when the phone is connected to it, so I can’t dial out to get send emails and data. The bad news, this prevented me doing the last bit of testing, but I guess somehow next week will resolve the issue, albeit with more stress! Oh well, that’s technology and I’ll have to wait till I get to Yellowknife to sort it out.
Next Posting from Yellowknife!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.