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North Pole Dominick update: Planning the search
20:08 p.m. EST Apr 18, 2004
Published March 26, 04.
Out of a situation where the search was aborted and all hope was lost for Dominick, a new search is now under way. Her friends in Finland are working round the clock to meet with officials, raise money and work with the media.
The general public is mailing authorities and newspapers. The International polar community are calling their resources and local search professionals are pouring over maps together with veteran polar skiers to estimate a likely search area for Dominick.
Some readers were unable to find the link for the contributions towards her search in yesterday's story. The link is found when clicking back to the homepage, but here is the info as well:
Please donate to the Finish Search and Rescue effort based in Dominick's home town. Wire to: SAMPO BANK
Routing No: 800019
Account No: 70561362
American polar explorers are currently in negotiations with a radar satellite image company for close up satellite images. The images cover an area of 50 km square, and 8 meter standard resolution, in the right conditions showing objects down to 60 cm.
Local weathermen are counting on the drift. This information is compared with current expeditions positions. Local rescue professionals and pilots are next determining a search area together with International polar skier veterans, combining local area knowledge with veteran skiers knowledge of ice travel and possible speed. Northern Canadian resources are also consulted continuously for their input.
One by one, the daily positions since their start of the current expeditions are examined, excluding travel time from rest time, to determine actual drift. The current expeditions are located more towards East than normal and we are also checking with them if they are carried by the drift or aiming East when they travel.
This is all a tedious but diligent work aimed to gather as much valuable information as possible for next weeks search.
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 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). 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.
Image of Arctic Ocean map, ExplorersWeb files.
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