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North Pole Dominick: Tracks end in section of new ice
11:33 a.m. EST Mar 12, 2004
This is a latest, full update from Cerpolex:
"Polar Circle/Cerpolex, the company in charge of air logistics in the polar regions has dropped off five expeditions wanting to reach the North Pole from the northern parts of Siberia (Cape Arktichevsky). After reaching Khatanga the five expeditions boarded two helicopters on March 4th for the advanced base at Sredny.
At 5 in the morning, the two helicopters arrived at Cape Arktichevsky and decided to fly towards the North Pole to investigate the ice conditions.
After a few kilometers of "glace fixée" (fast - solid ice, fixed at the coast) was a zone of about 2-3 kilometers of open water with vast plates of ice.
After that 50 kilometers of young ice (thickness of about 20-30cm) perfectly flat, without any open water; this is the ideal surface for expedition progress.
However, in these conditions there is no ice to make water from (due to the salt content) and the ice is very fragile. If a storm arrives in the area the situation can become very dangerous.
Faced with these conditions, three of the expeditions decided to begin on the far side of this sensitive zone and were deposited at 81°47’N-95°50’E. For the record expeditions want to leave from solid ground when leaving for the North Pole in order to make the journey official.
The purists, Dominick Arduin and Frederic Chamard-Boudet, decided to return to cape Arktichevsky (81°10’N-96°03’E) to start on solid ground. They were deposited there on March 5 at 19h and an hour later they departed, as independent expeditions, towards the North.
Dominique pulled in her sled all the necessary equipment for her progression and survival; she brought food to last her 17 days, a kayak to cross open water, an Argos beacon with spare battery, two Iridium telephones with 10 charged batteries, everything packed in tight bags.
On the evening of March 5th she put up camp at 81°14’N-95°59’E on firm ice. We know her exact position that night thanks to the Iridium Company who is capable of locating their equipment at the time of communication. That night she communicated with her home base in Finland and with a journalist.
This last report said that Dominick was fine, and that she had traversed 8.5km in 2 hours and 30 minutes (that is a fairly constant speed for her) and that she thought of crossing an open channel the following day 2-3 kilometers to the north.
After this communication no news has come from Dominick. Iridium has not registered any calls from their two telephones after the last two calls and Argos has only registered five signals from her beacon on March 5 and two signals on March 6 at 6h38, they were all too weak and difficult to localize.
Frederic Chamard-Boudet who had been deposited the same day as Dominick and at the same spot moved in the same direction. Contrary to Dominick who had re-supplies planned, Frédéric was going unsupported and had a sled more than twice as heavy.
Slowed down by the weight, he reached 81°15’N-96°00N on the evening of March 6, that is a position close (less than 2 kilometers) to that of Dominick the day before. The following day Frédéric did not find any open water where Dominick was supposed to encounter some. Had the temperature of -38°C and no wind closed the channel?
In the morning (5h) on March 8th Frederic Chamard-Boudet fell into water while skiing on thin ice. It took him more than four minutes to get out of the icy water. He put up his tent, tried to dry himself and activated the evacuation signal on his Argos beacon.
Argos immediately informed Cerpolex of the emergency alarm from Frédéric and announced at the same time that Dominick Arduin's Argos beacon is emitting very weak signals.
Argos asked us to transmit to her to verify the antenna connection, and direct the device towards the sky to reset the beacon. A reset was also required on the beacon of one of the expeditions more North, who are also using the Argos system and not GPS.
Cerpolex has communicated to different bases with the advice from Argos and noted that Dominick's support team in Finland has not had any news from her for three days.
Mrs. Chamard-Boudet, who had stayed in telephone contact with her husband, Frédéric, asked for him to be evacuated immediately. Dominick's home base wanted to benefit from this situation to locate Dominick, tell her that her beacon is not working and to ask her to phone.
Two helicopters went up from Khatanga but could not pick up Frédéric on the 8th because of the bad weather (south winds at 80km/h, with very poor visibility). He was finally evacuated on March 9 in the morning; the pilot flew over the zone where Dominick was likely to be but gave up at night fall. Because of the growing anxiety, he decided to keep the helicopters at the base in Sredny in order to continue the search the next day.
On March 10 the helicopters were not able to fly due to bad weather. On March 11 the two helicopters went up to the zone where Dominick was calculated to be, a rectangle of 100 km of latidude and about 20 km of longitude, without locating Dominick or her equipment.
The search zone had been defined by taking into account the drift caused by the storm.
They have found evidence of her camp from the evening of March 5 and when following the traces of skis you eventually reach the point where she disappeared; at the border between the fast-ice and the new ice (new ice without traces so probably less than five days old). After that no more traces. The helicopters have gone down again to Khatanga in order to get Frederic medical attention and to send him towards France.
Five expeditions have set out for a North Pole expedition this year, all from the Russian side. Wave Vidmar to be the first American to ski solo and unsupported to the North Pole. Frédéric Chamard-Boudet to do the same for France. British Ben Saunders attempts a first solo, unsupported crossing. Danish/French duo Bettina Aller and Jean Gabriel Leynaud ski to the pole with support and French/Finnish woman Dominick Arduin attempts the first solo, female North Pole trek with support.
The global warming of the recent years have posed increasingly harsher conditions for North Pole expeditions. The skiers have faced more and more water, even taking to swim the Arctic ocean to reach their goal. Some have brought canoes to paddle, especially when going from the Russian side.
Last Friday, a big open water lead just off the starting point posed the first immediate problem for this years expeditions. Two solo skiers, French/Finnish woman Dominick and Frenchman Frederic decided to ski/paddle across the huge, 55 km semi open water area, in an attempt for a clean North Pole expedition (which must start from land).
Dominick estimated that her crossing to solid ice would take at least 2 days. An avid canoeist living in Arctic Finland, she is used to cold and water. She brought 10 kg of snow with her for fresh water, a canoe and a dry suit.
Several North Pole teams reported issues with their ARGOS positioning beacon. Dominick's beacon transmitted only faint signals.
Monday night a storm hit the area. The temperature was -40C/F, with strong winds. for 24 hours. Expeditions reported a drift of 1km/hour (15 miles/day) NorthWest, with a visibility of around 40 ft. There are large patches of thin ice and dangerous ice walls like the one that consumed the Russian Research station. In addition a full moon Saturday caused tidal changes weakening the ice.
Frederic Chamard-Boudet, fell in the water and was rescued. Fres is in Norissk (Siberia). Tomorrow (13/03/2004), he will fly to Moscow. Then to Geneva and Chamonix (Alpes - France) to be in an hospital specialized in frostbites.
Dominick is missing since last Friday.
Image of Dominick taken the day before she set off, courtesy and full copyright Martin Hartley.
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