 14.06.2007: North Pole 2007After more than a year of training and preparation, Joe Levin, Pete Lowrie and I met our two guides – Al Chambers and Pete Goss, in Longyearbyen on the island of Spitsbergen on April 5th. Spitsbergen, latitude of 78O north, lies midway between Norway and the North Pole. From here, the logistics for our trip were provided by a Russian team headed by Victor Boyarsky. Victor was the Russian team member on the 1989-90 Trans-Antarctic expedition sponsored by GORE-TEX® fabrics.
Towards the end of March when the sun finally appears above the horizon ending the winter darkness, Victor and his team parachute tons of equipment to a carefully selected point very roughly one degree from the pole (one degree is 60 nautical miles. A nautical mile is 244meters (800 feet) longer than a statute mile). A base camp known as Barneo is built and a runway is leveled on the ice suitable for the Antonov 74 aircraft. This camp forms the base for expeditions such as our own, scientific research and wealthy tourists on champagne flights to the pole. The camp is removed again in mid-May as rising temperatures weaken the ice with the onset of summer.
The flight from Spitsbergen to camp Barneo is about 2 ½ hours and ends with the most spectacular landing on the prepared runway on the ice. Due to the drifting ice, Barneo was only 25 miles from the pole so we took a helicopter lift to our chosen starting point – a little over 40 nautical miles from the pole and our first experience of actually pulling our sledges which weighted about 60kg (132lbs). In April, there is normally a very large and stable high pressure system over the North Pole and the temperatures usually average around -25OC (-13OF). Our thermometer had a minimum range of -30OC(-22OF) and was insufficient for the temperatures we encountered at first. The only measure of the actual temperature was a solidly frozen bottle of whiskey suggesting it must have been less than -40OC (-40OF). Extreme care is needed at all times as skin can freeze in seconds. Early polar explorers such as Scott and Admundsen discovered that the structure of snow changes significantly at temperatures below -34OC (-30OF). The sled no longer glides but rather it feels as if you are dragging it through sand. Fortunately the temperature increased to about -25OC(-13OF) after a few days which felt incredibly warm in comparison and made progress much easier.
Pressure ridges and leads are two of the many challenges traveling in the arctic. Pressure ridges are formed when two ice masses are forced together by the wind and currents. The massive momentum breaks the edges of the ice into huge slabs and blocks and can form a ridge up to 15m (49 ft) high. It is not uncommon for there to be many ridges formed at different angles resulting in large ice boulder fields. We experienced the incredible and very scary noise of a pressure ridge forming which is easily confused with the sound of a helicopter. The forces and momentum involved are quite worrying when you are close to a forming ridge and it brings home the reality of our vulnerable foundation. The opposite case is a lead which opens up when the ice is put under tension by these same forces. One day we camped next to an impassable lead that was about 300m (984 feet) wide. During the course of the next 12 hours we watched it grow to more than a mile wide, close almost but not quite enough to allow us to cross and then re-open to more than a mile wide yet again. Another team on the ice at the same time as us had the ice break up on two sides and directly through their tent one night.
Unlike the Antarctic, the Arctic has no land mass. Only 1-2 meters of ice separates you from a mile deep ocean. The entire ice pack is moving continually and typically we’d watch the GPS from our tent indicating we were drifting at between 0.2 and 0.4 knots – typically not in a northerly direction. At one stage while were trapped in our tents by a storm for 60 hours during which our position varied more than 4 degrees of latitude and 72 degrees of longitude.
Only at the North and South poles is the sun at the same height in the sky 24 hours a day. It is a very strange feeling not having any clues to the time from your surroundings.
All of our protective clothing was made using GORE-TEX® and WINDSTOPPER® materials by BASK - a new customer based in Moscow. All of the team had the same two favorites – salopettes made with the newly launched GORE-TEX® PROSHELL material and a jacket made with WINDSTOPPER® fabric.
It was not possible to communicate with each other most of the time – either because we’d be in single file or because our heads would be in the highly insulated sleeping bag with only the minimum opening needed to breathe through which made hearing each other impossible. We all had lots of time for personal reflection and making resolutions.
It is said that no-one returns from such an experience the same person and I certainly feel I have a different perspective on life as a result. I am deeply grateful to our two guides for this fantastic experience and look forward to sharing it with as many of you as I can.
Prompted by very sad stories of friends who are currently fighting cancer, Pete Lowrie and I decided to raise funds for cancer charities. I have been overwhelmed with the generosity of associates and others. So far we have raised more than $46,000. Associates still wishing to donate can do so by following the links on our web-site
www.northpole2007.com
(c) Andrew Warrender, Vice-President WL Gore Associates, 2007 | 
