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The heli has flown! The North Pole skiers are headed north!
13:37 p.m. EST Mar 4, 2004
Dominick appears to have called in from the helicopter, whilst flying north. Her support team reports that the connection was noisy and poor, but they managed to hear this, “..halfway through,” and something to the effect that only a storm could stop them now. That and about 70 kms of open ice that awaits them.
After a week of worrying, they finally are on their way. Unfortunately, as you can see from the picture to the left, there is a huge amount of open water around Cape Arkticheskiy. From the Cape teams head to the upper left of the picture to reach the Pole. Between them and the ice is about 70 kms of open water. What are they to do? First off, unless they start from land, their expeditions won’t count as a full North Pole expedition. That aside, they have several options to continue their expeditions.
The first and most simple way is to have the helicopter fly North enough until they reach ice. This is the easiest, but also means they don’t get a full NP expedition credit.
The second choice is to start east, but this will increase the distance to Pole, and the teams are already a week past their intended start time.
The third choice, which has been recommended, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, by our weatherman up North, is to charter a plane and fly to Canada to start. Wayne “The Weatherman” Davidson, who’s up in Resolute, Canada confirmed the rumor that there is over 70 kms of open water outside of the Cape.
He says that if there isn't too much ice it's because Russia’s had a warm winter itself. The Arctic ice is affected by mainland Russia’s climate, not so much the arctic climate. Warm winds from Russia come north and the pressure ridges on the ice can act like sails, carrying the ice north. Chartering a plane won’t be especially cheap, however. Follow the link to the left to see a map of how the seasonal forces of wind and ice drift can effect the skiers.
The fourth alternative is perhaps the most creative. Find a way to get across the water – build a raft, find a boat, something. Hey, the Cubans have been doing it for years and they have to cover 90 miles to reach US land, with Customs agents chasing them in helicopters and speedboats. Just a couple of weeks ago they caught a bunch trying to drive a modified Buick to Florida – it even had pontoons and a propeller.
Though this seems a bit outlandish, desperate times call for desperate measures. This could be the beginning of the most exciting and innovative North Pole season ever! With the skiers drive and some possible Russian parts and ingenuity, who knows what they’ll figure out!
All the North Pole expeditions this year are from the Russian side. Ben Saunders plans to ski unsupported and solo across the Arctic Ocean. Wave Vidmar will ski unsupported and solo to the North Pole.
Frédéric Chamard-Boudet will try to become the first French solo to the North Pole without resupplies. Dominick Arduin will embark for a solo expedition to the North Pole with one re-supply. Couple Jean-Gabriel and Bettina Aller are going for the Pole on a supported expedition.
Satellite image courtesy of Weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca
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