Position: 90 Degrees North!

Howard arrived at the North Pole at approximately 1500 GMT today, 14 April 2010! Probably the first South African and the oldest ever (at 52 years, 364 days) on this route.

The journey over the last 24 hours has not been easy, and perhaps the MOST challenging. In the last 24 hours Howard fell, fully clothed and without drysuit, through the thin ice and was more or less fully submerged. With some difficulty extracting himself over the thin ice, he got out, rolled in the snow to dry himself as much as possible, put on all his spare clothes and got moving to warm himself. He eventually got comfortable, but when they stopped to put up the tent, the very strong wind chilled him and has created frostbite damage on his toes. This was the condition he was in when after 2 hours sleep they set off for their final 10nm to bag the North Pole. As I talked to him when he called with the good news, he drifted off to sleep!

The team is now awaiting evacuation by helicopter to Barneo, the Russian ice base at around 89 Degrees North, expected in the morning (GMT time) where they will board an Antonov-74 for the 2.5 hour flight to Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen, Norway. There, Howard will have his frostbite seen to and begin the recovery process.

Happy Birthday Howard! I know all bloggers will join me in sending love, congratulations, fast recovery and thanks for sharing and taking us with you on yet another amazing and special journey.

RUTH

ps Howard will be updating the blog in his own words as soon as he's able, so stand by!