March 5, 2014
Almost
Almost done packing, almost ready to go, almost done being overwhelmed by one monumental task (packing) and ready to become overwhelmed by another (skiing to the North Pole).
There are only three things left on Ryan's 'to do' list after we spent another entire day completely engulfed in expedition preparations. When it was all said and done, we had all of our Sony camera's rigged for the ice, a custom camera case made, half our our dry suits seam sealed (again), the rest of Ryan's lunch butter cut into squares, additional grips (lower on the pole) added to our MSR poles, velocro sewn on Ryan's bivy bags, Iridium satellite phones charged, DeLorme inReach charged, Nokia Lumia Windows phone charged and ready, Sony camera straps made, Sony action cam accessories sorted... I could go on but I won't.
There were three other North Pole expedition teams here although one, Michael from Italy, left to go back home this morning, leaving an Irish team and a solo Japanese skier. Both will hopefully be flying out tomorrow if the weather is good. A Norwegian team will potentially arrive tomorrow and we will share our flight to the start with them.
Just getting to the starting point on Ellesmere Island is a complicated, and very expensive affair. You see a flight to Cape Discovery or Ward Hunt Island (the traditional 'jumping off points for North Pole expeditions) costs $42,000. That's right you read correctly. Getting picked up at the Pole by the same remote logistics operator, costs over $100,000. It's an expensive endeavor to say the least and one that creates a substantial amount of stress. To make matters worse, the full bill must be paid prior to departure. In the past, it's been a slightly different arrangement and there has only been a requirement to pay a partial sum at the start.
Needless to get this far in the process is a monumental task and I don't really want to go into the all-consuming effort that raising that kind of money brings - especially when you consider that no one has even completed a North Pole expedition since 2010.
Sounds like fun, right? And we haven't even gotten to the 55 below icy madness of our start.
Today, Ryan asked me what I thought the ice conditions might be like at the start. It's hard to say exactly. We've gotten a few reports from the Canadian Ice Survey, but I haven't spent much time looking at them. First and foremost, our internet connection is terrible. And secondly, there is so much that can happen between now and are start that everything could change. Additionally, and more realistically, it's all bad ice. Understanding (and accepting) that conditions will never improve is the first step to successfully reaching the pole.
Throughout all this, Ryan and I have managed to stay focused and positive. We seem have had more than our fair share of long hearty laughs at the preposterous nature of our situation. Still, it's not all peaches and cream. Making decision after decision after decision together together is not always easy, but we seem to have found a cadence that allows for give and take and collaboration.
Image: A nicely pimped out Komatik.
There are only three things left on Ryan's 'to do' list after we spent another entire day completely engulfed in expedition preparations. When it was all said and done, we had all of our Sony camera's rigged for the ice, a custom camera case made, half our our dry suits seam sealed (again), the rest of Ryan's lunch butter cut into squares, additional grips (lower on the pole) added to our MSR poles, velocro sewn on Ryan's bivy bags, Iridium satellite phones charged, DeLorme inReach charged, Nokia Lumia Windows phone charged and ready, Sony camera straps made, Sony action cam accessories sorted... I could go on but I won't.
There were three other North Pole expedition teams here although one, Michael from Italy, left to go back home this morning, leaving an Irish team and a solo Japanese skier. Both will hopefully be flying out tomorrow if the weather is good. A Norwegian team will potentially arrive tomorrow and we will share our flight to the start with them.
Just getting to the starting point on Ellesmere Island is a complicated, and very expensive affair. You see a flight to Cape Discovery or Ward Hunt Island (the traditional 'jumping off points for North Pole expeditions) costs $42,000. That's right you read correctly. Getting picked up at the Pole by the same remote logistics operator, costs over $100,000. It's an expensive endeavor to say the least and one that creates a substantial amount of stress. To make matters worse, the full bill must be paid prior to departure. In the past, it's been a slightly different arrangement and there has only been a requirement to pay a partial sum at the start.
Needless to get this far in the process is a monumental task and I don't really want to go into the all-consuming effort that raising that kind of money brings - especially when you consider that no one has even completed a North Pole expedition since 2010.
Sounds like fun, right? And we haven't even gotten to the 55 below icy madness of our start.
Today, Ryan asked me what I thought the ice conditions might be like at the start. It's hard to say exactly. We've gotten a few reports from the Canadian Ice Survey, but I haven't spent much time looking at them. First and foremost, our internet connection is terrible. And secondly, there is so much that can happen between now and are start that everything could change. Additionally, and more realistically, it's all bad ice. Understanding (and accepting) that conditions will never improve is the first step to successfully reaching the pole.
Throughout all this, Ryan and I have managed to stay focused and positive. We seem have had more than our fair share of long hearty laughs at the preposterous nature of our situation. Still, it's not all peaches and cream. Making decision after decision after decision together together is not always easy, but we seem to have found a cadence that allows for give and take and collaboration.
Image: A nicely pimped out Komatik.