| Apr 17. The North Pole Challenge team | |
 | The North Pole Challenge team struggles on towards the North Pole. The ice yesterday was incredible, some patches were frozen so clear that they could almost see down into the ocean below. The terrain has been quite flat with some small pressure ridges. The ice drift is currently strong towards the south so they have to work very hard to counteract it. |
| Read more about the team.. |
| Apr 17. Open water around Ben | |
 | Not much fun... A far harder day today. Drifting west v. fast so headed north-east to counteract... Skiing into a bitterly cold headwind all day & worst of all - LOTS of open water - crossed maybe 20 small leads & one recently frozen *giant* one - 500 metres. Have awarded myself extra chocolate tonight... |
| Read more about Ben.. |
| April 16. The Messner of Asia going for the Poles | |
 | 84 degrees North off Siberia, one of the most experienced climbers in the world, Mr Park and his team, is on a very different challenge - skiing to the North Pole. |
| Read expedition story |
| Apr 16. Ben Saunder's second day on the ice - Pacing up | |
 | Covered 9 miles today in 7 hours of skiing. Definitely moving faster than in 2001 - it was -20 today yet I was fine trundling along in sunglasses & earband! I've decided I do feel lonely at times, but in a good way - I'm appreciating how much some people mean to me... |
| Check Ben's dispatch page |
| Apr 16. Pen Hadow makes progress | |
 | This weekend saw polar explorer Pen Hadow make some progress on his journey to the North Pole. His co-ordinates on Sunday when his latest dispatch came was 85 02’ N 73 57’W. By then he had spent 28 days on the ice having walked 116 nautical miles in that time. The great lead that was stopping him had by Friday closed to about 200 meters and was then fortunately frozen over with 20 centimeters of ice. |
| Read more about Pen.. |
| Apr. 16 More pictures from the Arctic | |
| Geoff and Dave sent some more pictures today through Contact 2.0 and their PDA. It has started to snow some, but the team reports they are well, happy, and in good shape. |
| Check out their latest dispatch.. |
| Apr 15. Ben Saunders has hit the ice | |
| Ben was dropped off on the night of the 13th and has been skiing for two days. Today he covered 9 miles in 7 hours. |
| Check out his Contact 2.0 dispatches from the arctic.. |
| Apr 15. Polar race update | |
 | The Polar Race is taking place right now as the four teams compete for the trophy. As things stand now the Initial Style Explorers and the Polar team are in the lead with the Extreme Steps and the ViP3 teams about 15 km behind. Very bad weather has put a stop to their progress though. A high wind, a wind chill of minus 46 degrees centigrade and white out conditions made the two latter teams decide to stay put in their tents. |
| Read more about the race.. |
| Apr 14. Caught in a storm | |
 | The North Pole Challenge team is heading towards the Pole but were caught in a storm over the weekend. The wind has been blowing strong from the North and they have not had much time to write dispatches as they had difficulties finding their way out of the maze of fractured ice in the white-out. By Sunday the storm had blown over and the three could gaze out once more upon the amazing frozen scene outside their tent. |
| Read more about them.. |
| Apr 13. ExplorersWeb week in review | |
| Check the past week's major events - Climbers are advancing up Everest, Simon Chalk is making steady progress on his solo Indian Ocean row, and more.. | |
| Read about the week's hottest events.. |
| Apr 12. The Polar race has begun | |
| On April 9 the Polar Race 2003 began in Resolute Bay. At 12:30 local time the four teams took off heading for the finish line 350 miles north on Ellef Ringnes Island. All the teams made good progress on the first day with Initial Style Explorers and Polar Team ahead of ViP3 and Extreme Steps. The teams are scheduled to call in daily to report on their progress. After the first day all four teams were reportedly in great spirits. | |
| Read more.. |
| Apr. 11 North Pole Challenge update | |
 | The North Pole Challenge team is pulling their sleds closer to the North Pole. Their latest update from last night tells us that they put in another 5 hour pull yesterday, heading slightly to the east to resist the current drift of the ice. They have not as yet been able to send video and their laptop is proving difficult to charge in the cold. |
| Read more about them.. |
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