Howard Fairbank Canada to the North Pole: 20 Miles to go. What a day!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

20 Miles to go. What a day!

When I wrote my last Post, I didn't think it could get more difficult, but today was VERY challenging. It's now 1am 13th April as I write this: We are just having a well deserved dinner and relaxation after a tough 14 marching day, which wasn't as productive as we would have liked… only 12 miles north achieved, but a lot of work done!
The lead we had to cross 1st thing this morning turned out to almost be the easiest thing of the day! The Arctic decided to help and did it's work for us overnight....In 8 hours a 200 metre wide and 'endless east / west extent 100% open water lead froze over, and then wind forced the two sides together just near our tent, creating a nature made bridge for us of smashed up ice blocks. So all our planning on how we would wake up and swim the 200m was not needed, and we were back in the hunt for the record. The wind continued to blow west / south west at 20 - 30 knots the whole day...not fun! Within 2 hours of starting we hit another wider open water lead....hmmm, now I know why I can't see that pole at The Pole I mentioned in yesterday's Post, it's a buoy too low in tye water! Gee, we saw lo6s of cracks and water today! We had to don drysuits once for an 80 metre real swim. Fortunately my sled has no cracks and is the only one still watertight and usable for water crossings. We shuttled all the stuff with the one, which took time and we all got really cold in the process, but at least made the only 'escape' crossing.'

An hour later produced another big lead, which forced a large detour and another 'swim'.....well we used the now named 'H' bridge....after me, as I designed it the day before. Basically we used the insulating mattresses laid out on very thin ice, and we 'leopard crawl' across the mattresses which spread our weight. This saved using the dreaded drysuits, which take lots of time. Needless to say the designer had to bee the first to cross, in case it didn't work! All went safely, but it was like crawling on a dry liquid screen!

Rest of the day was whiteout and wind until the last hour when a midnight sun appeared....directly ahead 30 degrees up from the horizon and directly north.

Gee, I am exhausted....'

Pole by Wednesday, and probably no Record, but we get up in 3 hours and march 'till we drop'....

1 comment:

Loren MitchellApril 15, 2010 at 4:03 PM
Congratulations Howard and Canada North Pole Team! Must feel great to have made it. Be sure to stay in touch if you are back in Yellowknife or Alberta. Loren Mitchell
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

The Expedition Goals

1. The Team of Four is to traverse the Arctic Ocean from the traditional, last land point in Canada, Ward Hunt Island, to the Geographic North Pole (90 degrees North) some 762 kilometeres away, as the 'tern' flies!

2. The Team will be self sufficient, save for one flown in, food re-supply, at around 22 days into the roughly 50 day expedition.

3. The team will each haul their own sleds, expecting to take between 48 and 55 days, to cover the tortuous course, dodging natural obstacles, on the ocean ice, to the Pole.

4. The Expedition is planned to start 1 March 2010, from Ward Hunt Island, Nunavut, Canada. Notoriously unpredictable weather conditions may affect this start date.

5. The Expedition finishes at the North Pole, which MUST be reached before 28 April 2010. This is the day when the temporary, ice based, Russian logistics base, 'Barneo', closes and the expedition will be relying on them for airlift back to civilisation. This base closure is due to the fact that, with the onslaught of summer, the ocean ice conditions deteriorate to the point where sustaining a base is no longer possible.

The Expedition Route

The expedition will follow a very traditional North Pole conquest route: From Ward Hunt Island, Nunavut Canada to The Pole, 90 Degrees North.

(The other traditional route was from Russia / Siberia, which was considered slightly longer, but with easier terrain. With the onset of global warming, this route is no longer considered on option, as there is too much water at the start.)

Ward Hunt Island is a small island, off the NW corner of Ellesmere Island, which are both part of the Canadian Arctic Islands (More specifically the Queen Elizabeth Islands part of the broader group.) It's Northern cape is one of the northernmost elements of land in Canada, hence its starting point for the expedition. It is located at: 83°05′55″N and 074°10′00″

In total the expedition will cover just under 7 degrees of latitude, and a 'straight line' distance of some 760 kilometres.

Due to the dynamic nature of the arctic, open ocean leads, wind, and ocean currents will have an impact on the actual route travelled. It is not unknown, for southern drift to carry an ice floe, with an expedition tent and its sleeping inhabitants, back to the latitude they started at the previous day! The wind and the currents are variable, and tidal flows add to the largely unpredictable drift, however we are expecting to have a net southerly and easterly drift over the total trip. Historically, an expedition on this route, could traverse up to 20% more than the straight line distance.

The path will attempt to roughly follow the 74 degree longitude line, while including a westerly offset to counter the expected net easterly drift.

The Expedition Team

Team Leader: Richard Weber

(50, Ottawa, Canada. One of the world's top Polar Explorers. 6 traverses, including the 'probably never t0 be repeated' 1995, 108 day expedition from Canada to NP and back, unsupported.)

Team Member 2: Tessum Weber

(20, Ottawa, Canada, Richard's son, and an experienced cold environment adventurer.)

Team Member 3: David Jones

(45 Geneva, Switzerland, Experienced mountain climber, including Everest summiter.)

Team Member 4: Howard Fairbank

(52, South African, A Wanderer: Solo Sailor, Trans- continental Cycling and Sea Kayaking adventurer.)

The Next Pre-Expedition Training

Our team, Pre-expedition training, will continue through most of February, with the team meeting 11 February in Yellowknife.

11 February to 24th February 2010, we will be based in Yellowknife, with training being once again focused on excurions around Great Slave Lake. These will vary from multi day, sleeping out sessions, to day only trips. Much of the focus will be on testing new equipment, and checking whether adjustments made to some of the equipment we used in December have had the desired result. (One of these pieces of equipment will be the dry suits, which will involve open water training again.)

Much time will also be spent sorting out the food and designing sled packing solutions and daily routines. (There will be a separate blog post on the food, calorie philosophy, and daily rations.) Around all of this, the critical human side will be at work with significant team building, role establishment, and final re-inforcement of the expedition goals and values.

On the 24th of February we plan to fly further north to Resolute, (Resolute Bay), on Cornwallis Island 75N, 95W. This is another traditional stopover point for expeditions attempting to do this same Canada to Noth Pole route. It is also one of the coldest inhabited places in the world, with an average yearly temperature of −16.4 °C (2.5 °F) Resolute's average HIGH for the year is −13.3 °C (8.1 °F) while the average LOW for the year is −19.5 °C (−3.1 °F). At Resolute, we will use the more northerly location and it's colder conditions to further aclimatise, and do final testing of team / personal systems and equipment. No doubt much of this time wil be used subconciously for individual mind focusing and other mental preparation.

On the 1st March, we are then scheduled to fly the last stage to Ward Hunt Island, for the start of the expedition. This is a small plane charter flight and is notorious for being affected by adverse weather conditions.

Canada to the North Pole

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

20 Miles to go. What a day!

1 comment:

New Post Email Alerts

The Expedition Goals

The Expedition Route

The Expedition Team

The Next Pre-Expedition Training

Useful Links

About Howard

Check out 'Other Howard Adventures'

Search This Blog