I'm back on Pangaea after a 2 day trip from Resolute bay. I'm already missing the calm, wide open space, silence, cold and 24 hour daylight of the arctic ocean but being on the boat is like arriving back home. It is always great to meet up with Tristan and Jacek sharing our story's of the past 3 weeks. The boat is ready to head back into the Arctic. It's going to be a great adventure.
We all arrived safely back in Ottawa after an amazing expedition in the Arctic. We have learned so much that it will take some time to understand and digest it all. I would like to thank the expedition team, the back office and all the sponsors for this life changing experience. There is nothing like nature to make you understand the true value of the word living!
It was an exciting adventure for everybody that joined the Magnetic North pole Expedition and one that will never be forgotten.
Today is the day they all head home back to their families and start telling their friends and family of their incredible journey on ski to the Magnetic North Pole.
We are back in Resolute Bay after our last trip out on the ice. It was a tough one with winds up to 50 knots and temperatures down to -25C. We covered over 52 Km the last day with only 3 hours sleep sitting upright in the tent. I'm proud of all the YEP's, I can now say they know how to survive in these hostile conditions.
I feel like walking sideways a hill always falling to the right side. I try to avoid it by putting all my weight on the right ski poll. Nevertheless I’m struggling and fall several times, my sense of orientation and balance has gone. The only thing I can do is following the tracks in front of me through the very small window of my fur around the hood. What is happening?
After heading out on the ice again this morning at 8am in perfect conditions the weather has changed and we really experience how fast strong winds can appear in the Arctic. From one moment to the other the blue sky has turned grey, big clouds at the horizon and very chilly winds are blowing. Luckily not into our faces and causing frostbites but into our backs helping us to go ahead. So we continue our way to the flow edge were we hope to see the symbol of the Arctic: the polar bear. Where the ice is breaking up and open water is around polar bears go hunting seals. That’s why the chance to see those majestic animals there is very high.
The further we go away from Resolute and the closer we come to the open water the more often we now see their tracks. Everybody gets excited about our three day excursion in the area of Resolute. For those who had to stay at the hotel for the last couple of days it is a pleasure to move their bodies again. For those who just came back from the ice it’s like continuing what they’ve now already done for two weeks.
But never before the wind has blown that strong. Just after having the first break the weather changes. In the beginning we continue walking but after a while Mike is worried about the ice underneath our feet starting to move due to those strong winds. If we continue going into the direction of the flow edge and going away from the safe land we might get into trouble because the ice will break for sure. So there’s no other option than turning back to Cornwallis Island – but this means going sideways to the wind in an angle of about eighty degrees pushing me and my sled to the right. That’s why I fall several times and really have to lean against the wind hitting me from the left side. I try to reduce my body’s surface but it’s still difficult to cope with these conditions which cool down the temperature of my face and fingers. But what I’ve learnt during this expedition is that you mustn’t give up. Never. There’s always a way to go through difficult situations. When you fall – get up again and keep on going. That’s what makes you stronger.
The weather conditions force us to pitch up our big tent and having a break at a wind protected spot between two huge blocks of ice. As the wind drops a little bit we’re ready to continue. We keep on walking next to the beach because the further away you’re from the land the stronger the wind gets. So Mike decides to change our destination: We’re not heading to the flow edge anymore but to an iceberg the locals have told us about. As quick as the wind has appeared it drops. After an afternoon of walking we finally reach the most stunning structure I’ve ever seen in my life, built by mother nature: the iceberg with it’s beautiful colors which vary from bright blue to turquoise and dark blue which is almost black. After pitching up the tents we climb this mountain in the middle of the arctic ocean without falling in one of the deep crevasses where the sun is playing with the different colors.
During the night the weather changes again and our tent breaks several times so that Felix has to go outside and fix it again. When I put my head out of the tent the next morning blue sky and the bright arctic sun welcomes me and wishes me a good morning. This day is going to be the longest of our entire expedition because we decided to try to reach Griffith Island which is about 25km away from our local position. Another day of constant walking on the Arctic ocean starts and won’t end until we will have gone to Griffith Island and back to Resolute which is another 28km. This means we’re going to cover 53km on one day. That’s good in the Arctic, you can make your day as long as you want because it’s 24 hours of daylight. The last 6km to Griffith we walk through enormous pack ice leaving out sleds on flat terrain to pick them up when changing the direction back to Resolute 3 hours later. Without the sled you feel like flying. Everything is so easy, you can run with your skis and climb the next ice block in some seconds without having to look after your sled. But the pack ice becomes bigger and narrower. I can’t imagine how one can go through those small bridges with a heavy sled full of equipment behind pulling you back when you go up and crashing into your legs when you go down.
Slowly but surely my stomach sends me a message. For the next two hours it’s difficult to think about anything else than this tasty Trek ‘n Eat food we always have for dinner. But on the Arctic ocean you have concentrate the whole time. One second of distraction can make you fall on a hard block of ice and your body will be covered with bruises. After about 12 hours of walking it gets more and more difficult to keep this concentration. But finally we set up camp for eating, get some new energy and three hours of sleep which has to be enough to bring us back to Resolute.
When I wake up because the others are laughing about one of Mike’s stories I don’t feel tired but excited and “ready to roll” again. Without any other break we ski the eleven kilometers which are still left back to Resolute. We find our way through the pack ice and slide elegantly on flat terrain.
Again I feel hungry and push myself by thinking of a warm breakfast waiting for me in Resolute. I already can see the town and it seems to be very close like you could reach it in half an hour. But actually it takes us two more hours until we finally put our feet on the frozen and extremely slippery pond we have to cross to get back to the hotel. To my own surprise I didn’t fall a single time since we left Griffith Island. And this really is a miracle when I think back how it felt like when I tried to walk with my skis for the very first time. But I’ve not only learnt how to cross country ski during the last three weeks. This expedition taught me so many lessons I can’t attend in school. You have to experience on your own to broaden your horizon and gain new opinions. And you always have to continue especially when giving up and turning back would be easier. Going through difficult situations can only make you stronger. That’s what I was thinking about the whole time walking through the storm hitting and pushing me down.
Mike Horn and the team are now back in Resolute, reunited with the rest of the team. Stunning photos and blogs are in. Enjoy finding out about their amazing experiences.
Blog written by Felix 12.05.2011
That sound of packing ice still echoes in my head. The sound of nature that would come along with Mike's voice: "Go back, fast!" The expression on my face would change as fast as the adrenaline could be pumped into my veins. We were standing in the middle of the spectacular show of a thin ice sheet packing, a show not at all meant for man to witness. The terrain would change from one moment to another, resulting in wide open water leads and stacks and stacks of ice sheets piled above each other. Never before have I felt this insignificant, this helpless, this completely wrong in place and time.
Little did I know about what I was going to live through back yesterday when we set off to tackle our last chance of reaching Latitude Eighty, the Magnetic North Pole. The day before, the first group of Young Explorers had already arrived safely back in Resolute, when a snowstorm approached and prevented the Twin Otter from returning to our position to lift the remaining six of us back to base as well. We were stuck in the tent and had the wait for the storm to pass. Soon it became clear that this is not how the end will be written. We've come here onto the Arctic sea ice to learn not how to accept failure, but how to fight for our goals in life. We had sufficient supply and fuel, and we had the ambition and desire to go. In unity we decided yesterday to head off north and to face the challenge of covering 95 kilometres in just three days. We had to give it a try.
We pulled off right away 34 kilometres in 12 hours of skiing, which made the longest day of the expedition. We have witnessed a great variety of terrain, from flat icy plains in the morning to pack ice to open water leads in the evening. The same morning Mike already knew about the possibility of meeting open water due to some scattered dark clouds that lay in front of us. All these details, including reading the snow drifts for navigation and analyzing cloud patterns, have an essential role for the Arctic explorer. I realized very quickly that experience in Arctic exploration is the ultimate key to survival and progress, which might be a reason for why Mike is the expedition leader, and not me.
We set up camp to call it the day just in front of the open water, hoping that during the night it will freeze over so that we could ski over it the next day. Just as we were talking about it, it was already happening! In total contrast to how we had arrived at the campsite, just two hours later an ice wall of two metres height has already formed next to our tents. Nature always holds the biggest surprises ready for us. That night, we slept with our outer shells, ready to move the tent at any time in case of packing ice beneath our tents.
The next day we woke up at 4 AM and set off just about an hour later. We were ready for another long day of skiing in order to reach the Pole within the scheduled time frame of the expedition. But mother nature always has her own plans. Not so long after we headed off north we ran into a big obstacle: Thin ice area, as far as the eye could see. This was exactly what we were afraid of. This was an obstacle that is very well able to force us to abort the expedition, once and for all.
At that stage we were standing on an island of solid ice surrounded by thin ice. Mike unhooked himself from his sled to go ahead to check the situation and me and Dmitry, our expedition photographer, followed him. I wanted to see for myself, and if not absolutely necessary I won't give up easily. The three of us left the island of solid ice and soon I found my skis on top of this sheet of thin ice. I was doing exactly what Mike was doing so I still felt safe and good, but when the moment came the ice beneath our skis started to move, accompanied by the sound of horror and Mike's expression changing instantly, my heart stopped beating. "Back! Back! Fast!"
It's not until this very moment that you realize the danger of the Arctic sea ice. It's the fear of having nothing at all to stand on. The whole packing process is just like the Earth's tectonic movement in a smaller and much faster scale. Any second the thin ice beneath my skis could split apart and welcome me to a deadly bath in the 4000 metres deep Arctic Ocean, or it could pack and crush everything that is in between. I can still hear Mike behind me shouting to get me go faster. If we split apart from the rest of the team at this stage, we would have had to swim back to the solid ice. And as if the situation wasn't intense enough, my left ski got stuck between the pack ice. Luckily that ice didn't pack and crush my ski, and I managed with Dima and Mike to all get back on safe ground. Looking behind us, the thin ice that carried our body weight just few seconds ago was no longer the same.
As I'm right now sitting in the warm and safe tent reflecting back upon the day, I am convinced that we did a wise decision by turning back south. We have reached 79 degrees and 30 minutes North, the furthest north reached by any expedition from Canada this year, and in fact the northernmost point of the entire Pangaea Expedition. We have had the full on Arctic experience in the past two weeks from pack ice and desert plains to open water and thin ice. I learned that when traveling on the Arctic Ocean, it's not only the will but furthermore it's the terrain that decides what distance you can cover. And if nature tells you to stop, you better stop. Just like Mike and Borge Ousland used to say: "The Arctic Ocean is dangerous."
We've got as far up north as we have possibly could, and we have no regrets left on the ice. We are ready to go back whenever the Twin Otter is.
After a short trip from Marina Del Rey where we reached the maximum time allowed to visiting boat, Pangaea arrived in the pretty Cabrillo Way Marina. Taking advantage of a few weeks of calm we are able to make sure that she will be ready for the coming trip around Northern Canada.
With the weather being too bad to get a Twin Otter pick up yesterday we decided to move closer towards the Magnetic North Pole – and boy did we move! We did 32kms following along the coastline of an island. We managed to cross over a zone of heavy pack ice and then came across rubble of older ice. As we progressed the ice slowly got thinner and thinner and we encountered more and more open water. With the ice literally moving under our feet we realised that it was time to move back. It was getting too dangerous to advance any further. The furtherest we got was 79°30'N and -105°40 W, thats somethwhere between the 2000 and 2001 Magnetic North Pole position.
Now we have retreated to more solid ground and will wait here for the twin otter to pick us up and take us back to Resolute. Looks possible for tomorrow morning. We''ll need to get up early and prepare the landing strip.
This'll be our last night sleeping out on the ice. I miss it already but will always remember this amazing trip with the Young Explorers. This is nature at it's best!
While the rest of our team is still on the Arctic Ocean’s ice, our group here in Resolute is trying to make the most out of our time. There are often moments in which we think why everything has turned out like this. Nevertheless, it doesn’t make sense to complain about the situation. Now we are in Resolute and we get in contact with all the people from the community which is pretty enriching.
Resolute offers many interesting possibilities and places that are waiting to be discovered. When we visited the local post office, we were surprised to find a cute and kind old man that looked like Santa. Ralph, that’s how he goes by, told us that package could take from 2 days to 2 weeks to get here. His bright blue eyes shone with pride when he told us that he first arrived in this community in 1976. What can bring a man in such isolated place when he holds the future in his hands, you must ask yourself. Well, for Ralph that was in university geomagnetism was really intriguing and after his first year contract done, he decided to stay up north and hasn’t left it ever since. During our little chat, Ralph had to leave us because he had just received the latest mail bags that contained some longed waited letters and packages.
So we continued our great adventure and went to the Health Center. Like the school, it’s well equipped and tidy. Cathy Rose, a devoted nurse, explained to us that there are rarely serious medical cases in Resolute and the problem makers are the Arctic explorers that get all kinds of cold-related diseases. Cathy is able to give first aid and the most important medication to patients. In case of serious illness, patients are flown to Iqaluit where doctors can look after them. Alike Ralph, Cathy is a passionate of the Arctic. She’s been working in northern communities for more than 26 years and told us about everything that has changed in that time period. Some years ago, she used to advise pregnant women to eat seal’s liver because if its high-iron properties. Today, because of the toxins and sea contamination from the South, this natural vitamin can’t be used anymore. This is only one of the various problems the Arctic needs to cope with. Another issue is the pollution and the lack of proper trash removal. But on the other hand, says Cathy, Nunavut has so many other problems that environment comes at the bottom of the list.
Although the Inuit people have a great connection to nature and have observed the changes in the climate, most of them are sceptical towards the scientists. For them, tagging whales or putting collars to polar bears is showing a lot of disrespect towards the animals. Scientists are keen on accusing the First Nations to decimate the polar bear population but these people live of sport hunting and fishing. Their only income comes from the land and before asking them to change their habits, we should, as westerners, rethink ours.
Resolute spends a massive amount of money on fuel to power the village although wind is constantly present. But, the Nunavut Government says that wind power isn’t a reliable energy source and that they have no money to pay for the infrastructure. It seems illogical to us that oil is being transferred into huge tanks which could cause a possible catastrophe. People from the South, says Cathy, “come to the North with a sense of superiority.” Let’s not forget that the machines of our economies from all over the planet are changing the biological life support systems, of the Inuit culture, faster than anything else before.
Mike and the team are still on the ice somewhere between Resolute and the Magnetic North Pole. The weather has turned bad and will remain so for the next few days so their is little chance of a pick up on the ice.
A little restless after spending the last four days in the tents, the team have decided to move on and continue their journey north, direction the Magnetic North Pole.
After a big storm last night there is plenty of fresh snow. Progress will be difficult but the team are impatient to move. The Magnetic North Pole may still be a possibility for the few that are left, depending on time and weather condtions.
Meanwhile back in Resolute 5 YEPs and cameraman, Javier are safely back at the lodge. They are keeping themselves busy with meetings with the local folk, the forestry department and local school. We can happpily report that in the meantime Saskia eyes are improving. We are looking forward to receiving their blogs and photos.