YEP EXP Magnetic North Pole-Day 4
There's no stopping them now. After three days training and checking of material, Mike and his team are ready to leave on their expedition to the Magnetic North Pole. The twin otters will drop them off today near Isachen, the old North Pole base, and from there, they are on their own.
Good Luck team – we'll be watching your every move.
Blog written by Felix Hsu
“When I was young, my father taught me how to read the weather. The same methods don’t work today. The climate patterns have changed and I can’t teach my son anymore.” The Inuit people know the Arctic best. This hostile environment is their home as the urban is for me. They were raised to live in harmony with nature and to meet the challenges of survival in extreme climate, but this very environment is changing rapidly today, both environmentally and culturally. The Inuit youngsters grow up nowadays completely distinct to how the elders did.
The Inuit lady we met has lived here for 35 years and a lot has changed since her arrival. The environment is getting more and more unstable and the weather has become unpredictable, which makes the hunting more and more difficult. Eating, living and hunting habits have all transformed since the introduction of snow mobiles and junk food which destroyed the delicate balance of their traditional food. In fact a fist sized piece of beluga meat contains as much Vitamin C as five oranges, that’s why the Inuits can get all the physical nutrition their bodies need all year round without vegetables or fruits. It was not long ago that she had her first apple!
As for us during the expedition we have a complex set of supply that fuels our body with the energy needed for long days of skiing. Every gram of food that is taken with us has an essential function and the set of supply is specifically designed to meet the needs of our expedition. Everyday each of us will consume around 6000 calories, of which 2000 calories alone will be burnt during sleeping. The average person in everyday life needs around 1800 calories per day. It’s definitely not easy to survive in the Arctic.
Tomorrow we’ll hopefully head off to Ellesmere Island in Twin Otters to get onto the Arctic Ocean, if the weather up north allows. We have all our equipment packed, ready to go. We are ready for the Arctic Ocean, ready for the Magnetic North Pole.