Explorers prepare to sail around the North Pole

by Kraig Becker on

In a few weeks time, Norwegian explorers Borge Ousland and Thorleif Thorleifsson will set out on a daring expedition in an attempt to become the first people to sail around the North Pole, a feat that has only become possible in recent years thanks to global climate change. The two men will have to successfully navigate both the Northeast and Northwest Passages if they want to accomplish their goal.

Ousland is a well known polar explorer, who has visited both the North and South Pole by skis in his numerous cold weather adventures. Thorleifsson is more at home on the water, being a very experienced sailor, and will be the captain of the small sailing ship they will use on their voyage.

The plan is to set off on June 21st, and sail for the Northeast Passage, which fully opens up for navigation in August. That route runs through the ice filled waters of the Arctic Ocean north of Russia. Once they have completed that part of the journey, they’ll then take on the Northwest Passage, which runs across the northern region of Canada. At one time, both of these routes we considered unnavigable, but thanks to global warming, the ice now breaks up more fully, allowing ships to pass through.

There are a number of obstacles that Ousland and Thorleifsson will have to face on their journey. For instance, the ice flows will be very unpredictable, and they’ll need to rely on satellite imaging to help find their way. On top of that, they’re using a small ship that is quick and light, but won’t allow them to carry too many supplies with them, and although it has been retrofitted with Kevlar to help protect it against the ice, its hull is none too thick. The two men have also had to deal with Russian bureaucracy, which is never an enjoyable prospect, but a similar expedition was halted last year when the ship didn’t have the proper paperwork to pass through Russian waters.

The journey is expected to take four months to complete, and they’ll be covering roughly 10,000 miles in the process. Once they get underway, you’ll be able to follow along with their progress and adventures on Ousland’s blog, which can be found by clicking here.

[Photo Credit: http://www.ousland.no/]

Explorer claims second of “three poles”

by Kraig Becker on

We’ve mentioned Eric Larsen and his Save The Poles Expedition on more than one occasion here at Gadling. He’s the explorer who has set out to become the first person to visit the “three poles” in one calendar year, with the three poles being the North and South Geographic Poles and the summit of Mt. Everest.

Last week Larsen took another major step in his quest by reaching 90ºN, otherwise known as the North Pole. He, along with teammates Antony Jinman and Darcy St. Laurent, spent 51 days out on the ice, battling high winds, sub-zero temperatures, massive rubble fields, and ice flowing away from the Pole that made it seem like they were on a treadmill at times. But in the end, they reached the top of the world, putting Larsen two-thirds of the way toward his goal. Eric, and two different teammates reached the South Pole back on January 2nd.

The main objective of the project is to raise awareness of global warming and its impact on the Earth’s Poles, while promoting the use of new, clean energy sources and carbon offsets. In that light, it seems all the more fitting that the team arrived at the North Pole on Earth Day.

With the North and South Pole under his belt, Larsen will now turn his attention on Everest. It is too late to make the climb during the spring season, so he’ll be planning a fall ascent. If all goes as planned, he’ll be making history later this year.

Polar explorer sets out for second pole

by Kraig Becker on

We’ve mentioned Eric Larsen a couple of times in the past few months. First, when he set off on his Save the Poles expedition, and again when he reached the South Pole, the first of three extreme destinations he has planned for this year. During the course of 2010, Larsen expects to reach all three “poles”, which includes both the North and South Geographic Poles, as well as the summit of Mt. Everest, as he works to raise awareness for alternative clean energy sources and ways to reduce carbon emissions.

With the start of the 2010 season for arctic expeditions hitting last week, Larsen has now begun the second stage of his endeavor. Eric and his companions, Antony Jinman and Darcy St Laurent, set out from Cape Discovery in Northern Canada last week. Ahead of them is a 450 mile unsupported journey to the top of the world, which means that they are dragging all of their gear and supplies behind them in sleds, while they cover the distance on skis, battling the most extreme weather and terrain on the planet.

In his first updates from the ice, Eric says that so far, the journey north has been colder than the weather he experienced in Antarctica. The miles have been harder so far as well, with large areas of open water and giant ice fields impeding their progress. As a result, the team has not covered a lot of mileage so far, and negative drift has worked to deprive them of some of the miles they have achieved.

If successful in reaching the North Pole, Eric will be two-thirds of the way to his goal. He plans to head to Everest in the fall, and a successful summit there would make him the first person to ever reach the “three poles” in a single calendar year.

2010 North Pole expeditions season begins

by Kraig Becker on

The 2010 polar exploration season has begun with a number of solo explorers and teams setting off for the Geographic North Pole over the past couple of days. For most, the journey will take upwards of two months, during which time they’ll battle inclement weather, unrelenting terrain, and their own physical limitations, just to stand at the top of the world.

While it is possible for explorers to make the journey to the Pole from the Russian side of the planet, this year all of the major expeditions will be starting in Canada. The small town of Resolute Bay serves as the launching pad for most of these intrepid travelers. With a population of just over 200 people, Resolute Bay is one of the northernmost inhabited places on Earth. It is so far north in fact, that it has an annual average temperature of just 2.5ºF.

These adventurous men and women will make their way north on skies, all the while pulling their gear and supplies in a sled behind them. Some will go unsupported, which means they won’t receive supply drops along the way, electing instead to carry everything they need with them when the get underway. Others will have food and gear delivered to them, usually in the form of an airdrops, and considering they burn in the area of 6000-8000 calories per day, they are always in need of food.
On their way to the North Pole, the explorers will face a number of obstacles, including extreme cold, blizzard conditions, and days of solitude. The journey is also quite different then an expedition to the South Pole, as Antarctica is an actual continent, while the North Pole is located on a gigantic slab of ice. As a result, the explorers will have to face areas of open water on the Arctic Sea, which are growing larger and more common thanks to global climate change. If possible, they’ll navigate around those obstacles, but in some instances they’ll actually swim across the open water using dry suits, while their gear is pulled along in an inflatable raft.

There are other differences between travel to the North and South Pole as well. Unlike Antarctic skiers, who encounter little or no wildlife on their journey, Arctic explorers also have the real possibility of coming face to face with a polar bear. They also have to deal with a phenomenon known as negative drift, which is the process of the ice moving on its own, sometimes pushing the teams further away from their goal. It is not unheard of for a team to ski all day, cover a dozen miles in the process, and then wake up the next day to discover that they’ve moved 15 miles backwards while they camped thanks to negative drift. As you can imagine, this can be quite frustrating at times

There are a number of interesting expeditions to the Pole this year, but none as exciting as Christina Franco’s. The 43-year old Italian woman, who calls London home, will be making a solo journey to 90º North. If she is successful, she’ll become the first woman to accomplish that task, earning her way into the record books. You can follow Christina’s progress on her website by clicking here. According to her most recent updates, it looks like she’ll be departing Resolute Bay tomorrow.

Aussies find frozen plane in Antarctica

by Tom Johansmeyer on

We all complain about flight delays, but nothing tops the one that’s been waiting close to 100 years to be discovered. An Australian research team just discovered what’s left of the first plane ever to fly to Antarctica. It hit the ground in 1912 … and has been waiting ever since. The discovery wasn’t an accident. The guys from the Mawson’s Huts Foundation have been looking for it for the last three summers. In a sign that 2010 is going to kick ass for these folks, they found some metal pieces of the plane on New Year’s Day.

According to USA Today, Tony Stewart, a member of the team, wrote on his blog, “The biggest news of the day is that we’ve found the air tractor, or at least parts of it!”

Early last century, Australian explorer Douglas Mawson took the helm of two expeditions to Antarctica. On the first of the two, he brought a Vickers plane with him, but the wings were damaged in a crash before the team set out for Antarctica. Thought it would never take flight, Mawson hoped to use it as a motorized sled of sorts. The engine couldn’t handle the temperature extremes, though, so Mawson left it behind.

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