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Arctic wrap-up: Cheated!

Apr 1, 2005 11: 28 EST

Yesterday, the NP teams going from Russia were forced off the ice. Their home teams took the decision, after the safety of the expedition's could not be guaranteed anymore. "Completely unforeseen," writes Liv and Ann's home team, but was it really? A repeat of last year's problems, and this years reprimands from the Russian authorities were in fact early warning signs.

Already a few weeks back, the Border Guard Administration and FSS of Russia announced that Cerpolex did not conclude any agreements with Center Polius concerning the use of Borneo for monitoring and rescue (if necessary) of the expeditions. "This could potentially become hazardous for the teams who have started out from Arcticheskiy," the authorities warned.

Whilst ExplorersWeb has received continous detailed reports from the Russian authorities and operators, we have not yet received a single word of explanation from the ultimately responsible for the teams travel: The Cerpolex outfitters.

Yesterday we published Ann Daniel’s report. Here's from the other teams.

NP teams from Russia

Ann and Liv's website report

"Ann and Liv were caught in the middle of something completely unforeseen. A nasty business dispute between the competitive organizations which transport scientists, tourists and expedition teams to the Arctic region from Russia."

"The conflict, which delayed Ann and Liv earlier in the month, continued to mount and ultimately compromised the expedition’s safety plan. A full evacuation became the only safe option for all three expeditions traveling from Russia to the North Pole. Teams were notified today that this decision was made and helicopters were already on their way to pick them up."

“It’s an absolute sucker punch,” said Ann Bancroft. “We’re not sure how to respond but we’ll roll with it and handle it like we do everything else on the ice. We’ll try to keep our chin up and keep moving forward.”

Pole Track

“What was going to be a re-supply flight yesterday unexpectedly turned into a pickup flight. The safety of the expedition could no longer be guaranteed,” writes Marc Cornelissen in his last dispatch from the ice.

The team will wait until they are back in town to release further details. They had time though to take care of the weather stations they planned to deploy on the ice, according to their home team:

“Marc managed to place one of the three weather stations on the ice on this last day. Meanwhile we have a confirmation that the weather station is successfully transmitting data via a satellite connection. The team will look into alternative options of deploying the remaining two weather stations.”

Ann Daniels:

Read Ann Daniel’s complete report in a separate story published yesterday.

NP teams from Canada

Ultimate North

"The team is having problems charging one of the Iridium phones which is what they've been using to send dispatches to the site. Because of this, they have halted all non-essential communications from the ice until the problem is fixed. They hope to have this rectified soon, until then please stay tuned - we hope to at least keep their position updated until full communications are restored."

The team is expected to arrive at Marvin Camp (N86.5) in 10 days.

Other expeditions from Canada

Bering Strait crossing

"The wind is simply against us. We are on a southerly drift which we cannot fight," said Dixie earlier today.

“With the northerly wind, causing our southerly drift, it would be impossible to go west at the rate we are traveling south. So we worked with nature rather than against it: We decided to travel east. Much to our dismay though, (at the end of the day) we had made a complete 360 back to our starting point,!!” explained Troy.

“We figured out that we are at the southern tip of a large ice pack. We can't go west, south, or east because of open water mixed with slushy ice and new ice."

“Sensing the impossibility of the situation, both determined men decided to set up camp, rest, and begin again tomorrow morning,” reckoned their home team.

Team’s latest registered position: Longitude: 167 52 57, Latitude: 65 19 50 N

Siberia expeditions

Mikael and Johan

The guys are still in Kolymskaya getting ready to leave. Sunday they will be off again.

“It is -37°F, not a cloud on the sky, but a chilly northerly wind. We are leaving on Sunday, two days left now, and we are getting our act together. I really hope that this cold will be gone by the time we leave.”

Svalbard expedition

Finnish Svalbard expedition

Location: N79.00.10 E 17.15.20

“We have reached our first goal: Newtontoppen. We left our campsite at 10.40am, following GPS coordinates in the mist over the glaciers. The mountain itself had been there all the time, but we hadn't seen it yet. It wasn't long until we were climbing up the glaciers. Of course we were using skins in our skis and heel-lifters to make ascent easier. We were observing crevasses all the time, but didn't see any around of us.”

“At last, after slow progression, we reached the top at 3pm. We took a couple of photos and headed down almost immediately. When we got back to our "home-valley" of Trebrepasset, we noticed that there was 50 cm of new snow again and snowfall continues. There was snow up there too, but not this much. In the morning we might be buried in snow.”

Ann & Liv’s dispatches | Pole Track | Siberia Expedition’s dispatches | Vancouver to Moscow | Ann Daniels’ daily log| Ultimate North Tom Avery cybercast in Peary's footsteps | Bering Strait crossing | Finnish to Svalbard | Young Seok-Park NP (Korean)

File image of a helicopter landing on the ice, courtesy of Bancroft Arnesen Explore.

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