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North Pole update: Balmy weather?
13:23 p.m. EST Mar 27, 2004
Yesterday’s rest/storm day saw Ben and Wave lose about 3 NM. Bettina and JG, trudging forward after a night of drifting south, made 3.2NM. Visibility is still low, yet the skiers moved a bit north today. Ben and Wave are now across the 83rd and much farther east than expected, at nearly 99 degrees. Bettina’s camp estimates that they are about 30NM in front of the other two expeditions, but Bettina and JG are now in fact 80 km in front.
Ben’s boots are still in a state of disrepair, despite the work he has done on them. They were given to him by the Belgian adventurer Alain Hubert, who helped develop them. The pair Ben is using has a modified sole - the part that failed. They're based on the Millet Everest high altitude mountaineering boot. Alain and Dixie Dansercoer used the same model for their Antarctic crossing.
The ice is breaking open, creating leads on a daily basis for the expeditions, an event the expeditions are relating to an earthquake's aftermath. Also, the weather is unusually warm, with reports ranging from -20C to -16C! Expeditions from previous years have reported temperatures of -34C to -45C for the same time period. Or is it Argos tucked away in sleds transmitting those tropical reports?
Five expeditions set out for a North Pole expedition this year, all from the Russian side. A big open water lead just off the starting point posed the first immediate problem for this year's 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). The other teams opted for an air drop onto thick ice.
Frederic Chamard-Boudet, fell in the water and was rescued. He is treated for severe frostbite. Dominick is missing since March 5th. Her tracks were found disappearing in an open water section, which she had planned to paddle over. No traces of Dominick, her kayak, sleds or other gear have been found.
Live image of Wave's Sledges provided by Contact 2.0. Courtesy of Wave Vidmar
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