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Though high altitude mountaineering might be the most dangerous "sport"
around - skiing unsupported to the North Pole is probably the toughest!
While climbers flock in masses at Everest BC, there are currently two
lonely
expeditions out on the ice heading unsupported for the North Pole. Only 26
people have ever done this trip without assistance compared to 1500
Everest summits. Pen Hadow (UK) is doing very well on a solo attempt from
Canada, while no news have come out from the three person Russian team (
Karpienko, Larionienko and Bystrov) that started out from Siberia more
than a month ago.
Due to thinning ice today’s polar skiers encounter more open water, and in
2001 the Norwegian adventurer Borge Ousland for the first time brought a
dry suit and tried to swim the open leads. In 2002 the ExplorersWeb team,
Tom and Tina Sjogren picked up on Borges experience and swam several times
almost every day during their 67 day expedition.
Yesterday Pen Hadow put on his dry suit and swam
his first lead. The psychological barrier of jumping into 3000 meter deep water at -40
C is tremendous, with killer whales and sharks in the deep and polar bears
pacing the
edges in
search
of seals.
Pens move to go straight over the
open water instead of trying to find a
way around, have considerably raised
his chances of reaching the pole.
Images to the left from Tom and Tina’s unsupported NP trip in 2002.
The leads
were crossed by the means
of swimming, paddling, jumping and
also the use of sleds to
build bridges. April 9, 2003
Note: An unsupported expedition to the North Pole requires 60-70 days.
Sled weight at starting point is 150 kg per person. Skiing and hauling 8-12 hours
daily with a rest day every two weeks.
The ice moves constantly due to wind, tidal and currents, creating
open leads and up to 30 feet (10 m) high pressure ridges.
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Links
Polarstatistics
- unsupported expeditions
Polarstatistics
- the three poles (Everest+NP+SP)
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