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Arctic wrap-up: "We already had a polar bear jump on our tent”
May 16, 2005 13: 56 EST
Polar bears have been ruling the Arctic this year. If you recall, bears charged the Finnish Svalbard team, the Cable and Wireless Polar Race 2005 team were forced to kill a bear that refused to back down, and the Polar Challenge checkpoints were continually harassed by a persistent chocolate-coated polar bear. Well, on only their fifth day of travel, it seems the One World expedition has had its first encounter with the Arctic’s top predator. Luckily, they were able to scare off the curious carnivore.
In other Arctic news, the Baffin Island ladies continue to shred the powder in virgin couloirs. Meanwhile, the Ice Queens are exhausted and soaked to the bone in whiteout-prone Greenland, but at least they got their first glimpse of the horizon in five days.
One World expedition – Summer Arctic crossing
First dance with a polar bear
It only took five days before Eric and Lonnie's first run-in with the world’s largest land predator. In an audio dispatch on May 14th, Lonnie describes how a young polar bear “got very curious” with the adventurers. It took two flares to scare the bear off. Eric set up a fence made out of gear around their tent, hoping that if the bear returned, it would knock something over and awaken the guys. Of course, after their close encounter, neither of them expected to sleep much.
In their latest dispatch, the team jokes, “Given the choice, we'd much rather have a polar bear jump on our tent than get pushed backwards by a strong south- easterly ice drift. Of course, we already had a polar bear jump on the front end of our tent. And for the past four days we have been drifting on a huge counterclockwise gyro of sea ice. So, as you can see, we don't always have a full vote.”
Further south than when they started
”Even at the end of seven exhausting hours of travel and our best distance to date (over five miles of distance covered) we still ended up further behind in the evening than where we started in the morning. Add to that another four miles of backwards movement while we slept last night and you can see why we're a bit frustrated. In fact, where we are now is further south than Cape Arctichesky, where we started.
A new plan
So we've taken the afternoon to formulate a new plan. Instead of traveling due north, we will travel northeast until we reach the 105 longitude where the ice should start swinging north.
North Face Baffin Island expedition
Lucky Friday the 13th
“Friday the 13th proved to be a very lucky day for us girls here in Sam Ford Fjord,” team member Meg reports. “Although battered from our 9 hour epic the day before, we couldn't resist tackling another couloir. After resting and relaxing for most of the day, we went for a short 1 hour ski to the base of a coolie named Polar Sun. After booting midway up, we started to post-hole to our knees, making the ascent slow and grueling. On the other hand, our excitement and motivation began to rise, knowing of the pow-pow we were about to enjoy!”
Perfect powder on a 3740 foot couloir
“We reached the summit shortly before midnight to see a spectacular view of glacier seracs on the other side and a stunning sunset in the distance. There was a perfect little cup/notch at the top with just enough room for the 4 of us. It was approximately midnight on Friday the 13th when we skied the most perfect powder on a 3740 foot couloir, with the moon peering down on us, a stunning sunset in the distance, and huge rock walls on either side. It was an incredible moment.”
Greenland Ice Queens
First sight of horizon in five days
On Saturday, Anne-mette and Danna pushed hard for eight straight hours, walking 17 km. Six hours into their march, the whiteout finally lifted, and the ladies caught a glimpse of the horizon for the first time in five days. Exhausted and wet (remember, the snow had turned to rain) they were happy to collapse into their tent.
One World Expedition | NF Baffin Island expedition | Ice Queens Greenland expedition
Image of Lonnie and Eric courtesy of www.oneworldexpedition.com, image of polar bear courtesy of www.polar-challenge.com.
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| OneWorld expedition: It's over Jun 3, 2005 | | Vancouver to Moscow - 1 year anniversary! Jun 2, 2005 | | Arctic wrap-up: The Single ski Weight Watchers Greenland program Jun 1, 2005 | | Arctic wrap-up: Rain and world record May 31, 2005 | | ExplorersWeb Week in Review May 30, 2005 | | 12 year old doing well on Greenland ice cap crossing May 27, 2005 | | Vagabond update - Polar bears, 200 candles and ice melting in Inglefieldbukta May 26, 2005 | | Arctic wrap-up: Polar hygiene, and Napoleon on ice May 26, 2005 | | Contact GEO hits Greenland May 25, 2005 | | Iridium: "Invalid battery - matches found, 0" May 24, 2005 |
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