Russian Teens Skied to the North Pole in Just 5 Days

The 2016 Arctic Season may be over, but there are still a few interesting stories to share. For instance, ExWeb has posted an article about a team of Russian teens who skied to the North Pole (last degree) in just 5 days following a host of delays that cut into their planned time out on the ice.

The group of seven teens had planned to make a last-degree ski expedition to the North Pole via the Barneo Ice Camp. Their original schedule gave them 7-10 days to complete the journey, which covered roughly 125 km (77.6 miles) over the frozen Arctic Ocean. That means they were able to sustain a pace of about 25 km (15.5 miles) per day, which is an excellent pace considering the conditions they encountered on the ice.

The challenges of the Barneo Ice Camp have been well documented on this blog, and elsewhere, this year. The ice flows that the temporary base is built on were being buffeted by ocean currents throughout the season, causing the blue ice runway there to crack multiple times. That caused a lot of delays, causing the Russian teens, and a number of other teams, to back up while they waited for their chance to fly out to the camp. Eventually the runway was completed, and the flights started arriving, but it took awhile to catch up on the backlog of people who were waiting to arrive in the Arctic. This cut into the time that the skiers had to reach the Pole.

According to ExWeb, when the team was retrieved from their finish line at 90ºN, they did not look tired or exhausted. In fact, they still had a lot of energy and were so excited to have reached the North Pole. It was quite a journey for these young adventurers, many of whom have wanted to ski through the Arctic for the better part of their lives.

I know that this is "only" a last degree ski expedition, but it is still an impressive feat to see these teenagers make that journey in such a quick pace. Five days to cover a degree of latitude is quite a short time frame, and I know a few polar explorers who would be hard pressed to maintain that same pace themselves. Also, how cool is it to be a teenager and get to go to the North Pole. I clearly went to the wrong high school.

North Pole 2016: Race Against Time Team Faces Big Challenges

After overcoming a series of challenges just to get to the starting line, the Race Against Time team is now out on the Arctic ice and making their way towards the North Pole. But as expected, this journey to the top of the world hasn't been an easy one so far as a number of natural obstacles force the team to earn every mile.

Last week, the team of Mark Wood, Paul Vicary, and Mark Langridge were finally dropped off on the ice after facing unprecedented delays to the start of their expedition due to issues with the runway at the Barneo Ice Camp that serves as the gateway to the Arctic each season from the Russian side of the ice. That caused the trio of explorers to rethink their journey for a second time, switching from the original plan of a full-distance ski journey to the North Pole to an expedition that actually began at 90ºN and would head south to Ward Hunt Island in Canada, before finally settling in on their current route, a two-degree ski expedition back to the Pole.

The squad has now been out on the ice for five days, and they've discovered that the Arctic is everything they had expected and more. In the first few days they faced rubble fields of disrupted ice, with many blocks the size of cars and even a few larger than a house. As they inched north however, other obstacles have begun to appear. For instance, yesterday the team only gained 4 nautical miles of distance thanks to a large lead of open water that they had to cross. The only way to do so is to don drysuits, enter the water and swim across while pulling their gear in inflatable rafts.

As if that wasn't enough, the men have also come across a set of footprints left behind by a polar bear. That means that one of these big carnivores is in the area, and they have been known to stalk polar explorers that pass through their domain. So far, no sight of the creature but they will remain wary and vigilant on the trail.

The hope is that the team can reach the North Pole sometime next week. When they originally set out, they thought it would take 12-15 days, and they are still on track to reach their goal. What else they'll find on the way north remains to be seen.

Climber Sets New Speed Record for Climbing Seven Summits

Climbing the Seven Summits remains quite a milestone in the world of outdoor adventure, but those hoping to do so in record time now have an impressive new mark to try to beat. American climber and endurance athlete Colin O'Brady reached the summit of Denali in Alaska this past weekend, wrapping up his quest to climb the highest peaks on each of the seven continents, a feat he accomplished in just 132 days.

O'Brady's Seven Summits bid started this past January, when he traveled to Antarctica to climb Mt. Vinson. He followed that up with Aconcagua in South America, Kilimanjaro in Africa, Carstensz Pyramid in Oceania, Elbrus in Europe, Everest in Asia, and Denali in North America. Those last two mountains were summited just eight days apart. The previous record for climbing the Seven Summits was 134 days, set by Vern Tejas back in 2010.

The Seven Summits speed record isn't the only one that O'Brady is claiming. Between climbing all of those mountains, he also managed to ski to both the South and North Pole, reaching the former on January 10 and the latter on April 19. That has given him claims of completing the "Explorers Grand Slam" as well. But, both of those excursions were last degree ski expeditions and did not cover the full distances to either of the Poles. Colin is claiming a record of 139 days to finish his entire project, which beats the previous record of 192 days.

O'Brady wasn't just going after speed records in his adventurous start to 2016. He also was working to raise $1 million for the Alliance for a Healthier Generation as well. That organization is working to combat child obesity by inspiring kids to be more active and eat healthier too. Colin didn't quite hit that goal, raising about $15,772 instead, but for this important cause, every dollar counts.

Congrats to Colin on claiming the speed record for the Seven Summits. It seems like it will take a tremendous effort to by another climber to beat this mark.

North Pole 2016: British Trio Close in on 90ºN, Barneo in Transition

The 2016 North Pole season has been a strange one to say the least, and it appears that it is quickly coming to an end. It now looks like operations will begin to wrap up in the next week or so, with the final expeditions heading towards the finish line. But it is clear that the North Pole is a place that remains in transition, with new challenges to the logistics of getting there.

One of the teams that is nearing the completion of its journey is the Race Against Time squad. If all goes according to plan, polar explorers Mark Wood, Paul Vicary, and Mark Langridge should reach the North Pole sometime today. They've been closing in on the top of the world for the past few days, but the final miles haven't been easy ones. Just yesterday they faced their largest lead of open water yet, covering as many as 3 or 4 football pitches across. Those leads slow down their progress greatly, and can be dangerous to cross, but the real news here is that they are finding these areas of open water so close to the Pole. That should be one of the coldest places on Earth, and not a place where the ice is failing so quickly, but it is happening and it is going to make any future expeditions to the North Pole even more difficult, if not impossible. It won't be too long before these journeys could come to an end altogether.

Meanwhile, ExWeb is reporting that there will be no more flights to the Barneo Ice Camp from Svalbard, Norway. Instead, future flights will likely be conducted through Franz Josef Land, which is a remote Russian island. Barneo has had its share of issues being built this year thanks to the health of the ice and its movement atop the Arctic Ocean. But, it turns out there have been some political issues that also challenge the future of the temporary base, which has been in operation for 15 years.


A few weeks back, a team of Ukrainian commandos traveled to the Arctic to conduct a training exercise. Officials from Barneo say that those soldiers flew to the camp aboard a special flight that did not depart from Svalbard in Norway, which is where the majority of the commercial flights to Barneo originate. But the Norwegian government aren't convinced that that wast he case, so they revoked the flight permits citing national security. They then imposed a new set of rules that require the flights heading to Barneo to share the exact contents of its cargo, and all passengers, 48 hours before the flight. Due to the fluid nature of those flights however, Barneo officials say those requirements are impossible to meet, so future flights will no longer depart from Svalbard. That starts now, and seems likely to continue through all future operations in the Arctic as well.

This means that in addition to changing conditions in the Arctic, this shift in regulations it making it logistically more challenging to get there as well. These new flights could cost more as well, which could potentially sink some future expeditions. Traveling to the North Pole is already expensive enough, and sponsors seem more reluctant to back such a journey. This is all speculation at this point of course, and we'll have to see how this all shakes out.

Either way, its clear that operations in the Arctic for 2016 are starting to wind down now. It won't be long before Bareno is closed once again for the year.

North Pole 2017: Two Teams Prepare for the Challenge

The sun has still to set on the 2016-2017 Antarctic expedition season, and it is already time to begin looking north toward the Arctic. According to ExWeb, this year there are two teams preparing to make a full-distance attempt on the North Pole, despite the fact that such a journey is now more challenging than ever before. So much so, that while numerous people ski to the South Pole each year, no on has reached the North Pole in almost three seasons.

In an effort to change that this year, Sebastian Copeland and Mark George have joined forces to ski 480 miles (772 km) from Ellesmere Island on the Canadian side of the ice to the top of the world at 90ºN. The duo are looking to set out at the end of February or very early in March, with the exit start dictated by the weather of course. Copeland and George will be traveling unassisted and unsupported once they get underway. 

The other team that will be attempting the journey is Martin Murry, while will be joined by his dog Sky. They intend to travel in a supported fashion, receiving occasional resupplies along the way. They'll also set out from the Canadian side of the ice, although their exact departure point isn't know just yet, although ExWeb says that the two teams will share a pilot and departure window.

And of course, we're expecting Mike Horn to attempt a traverse of the Arctic ice cap too, once he wraps up in the Antarctic and sails north. His current plan is to meet his ship after finishing his crossing of the frozen continent, and then sail to Australia and New Zealand to complete a few side adventures. But, it is a long way to sail to the Arctic, and I'm not sure he'll have the time to do that if he intends to make another traverse this year. We'll be watching him closely, as he should rejoin his sailing ship the Pangaea in the next few days, provided the weather cooperates. 

As ExWeb points out, these expeditions face some serious challenges if they hope to be successful. For instance, Kenn Borek Air no long supports North Pole skiers, so the teams had to find an experienced pilot that they could pay to not only deliver them to the start of the expedition, be on standby for 60 days, and pick them up at the North Pole if they reach that point. They found such a man in Dave Mathieson, who will be stationed in Resolute Bay for the duration of the journey. 

These explores will also face a shifting landscape of snow and ice that has most certainly been impacted by climate change. The ice on the way to the North Pole is as unstable as ever, especially considering that 2016 is the warmest year on record. That makes challenge in the Arctic extremely difficult, because unlike in the Antarctic, there is no landmass under all of that ice. The skiers will have to cross open leads of water, traverse massive ice fields with rubble the size of a house, and even potentially face hungry polar bears along the way. Skiing to the South Pole is a relative walk in the woods compared to what it is like to head north. 

We'll be watching the progress of these teams closely once they get underway. As always, it will be interesting to see how they proceed. 

North Pole 2014: More Teams Heading To The Arctic

Yesterday I posted a story about Eric Larsen and Ryan Waters prepping to make an attempt on the speed record for skiing to the North Pole. But they aren't the only explorers heading north this spring. When the season gets underway at the start of March, there will be a number of other aspiring adventurers looking to make that grueling journey as well. But according to this report from ExWeb, a number of teams will be facing a condensed season this year, thanks to a narrow window of escape via the Barneo Ice Camp. Others, such as Eric and Ryan, will charter an expensive flight from Kenn Borek Air.

ExWeb is indicating that Norwegians, Kristoffer Glestad and Lars Mangerud Flesland will share a flight out to Cape Discovery with Larsen and Waters. These two young men hope to go even faster to the North Pole, covering the distance in 40 days. If they do make it, they'll also be the youngest to complete the full route to the top of the world, at the age of 24 and 25 respectively. They'll get started on March 7.

Also on his way to the North Pole will be Japanese skier Yasu Ogita, who is going solo and unsupported to 90ºN. He has also contracted with Kenn Borek and won't need to exit from the Barneo Camp. Similarly, Michele Pontrandolfo will attempt the same feat. He'll be in Resolute Bay next Monday, then set out for Cape Discovery on March 5, with an eye on reaching the North Pole by April 21. That would mean he'll complete the expedition in just 45 days.


Also returning this season to give the North Pole another go is the Irish team of  Clare O’Leary and Mike O’Shea, who made an attempt last year as well. They were force to abandon that attempt however, so they feel like they have a bit of unfinished business in the Arctic. They'll set off in the first week of March too.

When the Barneo Ice Camp opens on April 2, it'll give adventure travelers a chance to ski to the North Pole as well. For those who aren't aware, Barneo is a temporary camp that is built in the Arctic each year that gives assess to the top of the world. The camp is usually built at about 89ºN, which is within a helicopter flight to the Pole. This year, the camp will remain open until the 22, which is plenty of time for the tourists, but may be a tight squeeze for the explorers who hope to exit that way.

It looks like it will be a very active season in the Arctic, but as in the past few years, looks can be deceiving. The past two years, strong storms have kept many of the North Pole skiers stranded in Resolute Bay, waiting for a chance to fly out to the Cape. As the weather continued to be dicey, they watched their very few days begin to disappear before they even hit the trail. Some did eventually make it out, only to find conditions too difficult to endure. I suspect we'll see some of that again this year, as the Arctic continues to become more demanding, forcing some teams to pull the plug. At this point, I'll actually be very pleasantly surprised if anyone actually completes the full route this year. It is becoming that difficult to accomplish.

North Pole 2016: Barneo Ice Camp Begins Regular Operations

It has been a challenging season in the Arctic so far with lots of delays for the explorers, researchers, and adventurers who planned to travel their this year. The Barneo Ice Camp, a temporary base built at roughly 89ºN each spring has experienced its share of issues, which resulted in some unprecedented delays to the start of the season. But now, things are finally back on track and regular flights have resumed, as support teams race to complete a busy schedule as quickly as possible.

ExWeb is reporting that the runway at Barneo is complete and stable at long last, which is allowing the Russian built Antonov AN-74 aircraft to safely land and deliver important supplies and people to the Arctic. You may recall that the team of engineers who build the Barneo camp experienced issues with the blue ice landing strip, which cracked on four separate occasions, even forcing it to be relocated twice.

Amongst the groups that have now flown to Barneo so far are guided last degree ski teams that will spend the next ten days or so traveling across the frozen Arctic Ocean on their way to 90ºN. Several research teams are also out on the ice, as were Arctic marathon runners who were able to complete their race after several delays.

Because of the long delays to the start of the season, it looks like Barneo could stay open later than normal. Typically it begins to wind down operations by late April, but it is now looking like it could stay open into early May due to the backlog of people waiting to reach the ice.

Meanwhile, the Race Against Time team reports that ice conditions are now improving dramatically. They have moved away from open water and are now skiing over solid ice, which is allowing them to make better time, covering 10 nautical miles yesterday. But the continue to see foot prints from polar bears and even arctic foxes, reminding them that they are not alone out on the ice. The team is on its way to the North Pole and should arrive there late this week or early next.

North Pole 2014: Eric Larsen And Ryan Waters Preparing For North Pole Expedition

We've barely put the Antarctic expedition season behind us and it is already time to start looking ahead to the North Pole season that will get underway in a few weeks. The past few years have proven that a journey to the top of the world is no walk in the park, as no one has completed the full length journey since 2011. But that hasn't stopped anyone from trying, and this year will be no exception.

Veteran polar explorers Eric Larsen and Ryan Waters will be amongst those attempting to complete this very difficult and dangerous journey this year. The two men are preparing to set out from Ellesmere Island on March 1 for what they estimate will be a 500+ mile (800 km) crossing of the Arctic Ocean. As is typical for a polar journey, they'll travel unassisted, on skis, while dragging 350 pound (158 kg) sleds filled with all of their gear and supplies behind them as they go.

As if a North Pole expedition isn't challenging enough on its own, the duo hopes to break the record for skiing to that point on the globe. In order to do that, they'll have to reach 90ºN in under 49 days. Both men have plenty of experience in challenging environments however. They climbed Denali together in 2009, and both have summited Everest. Waters has bagged all of the Seven Summits and skied to the South Pole as well. Larsen has gone to the North Pole on two previous occasions and has been to the South Pole as well.


They'll need all of that experience if they hope to be successful this time out. Climate change is dramatically altering the Arctic and it is becoming increasingly more difficult to travel there. The ice is not as stable as it once was and large open areas of water are now common. Explorers need to ring a way to go around those obstacles or don a drysuit and swim across. Massive storms have also become more common in the Arctic, creating even more dangerous conditions for the skiers. Throw in the potential threat of polar bears and the constant battling against negative drift on the ice flows, and you being to understand the magnitude of the challenge ahead.

As the North Pole season gets underway, I'll be following Eric and Ryan's expedition closely. Expect to hear more about them and other expeditions that will be heading north soon. I am of the firm belief that soon, this type of journey will no longer be possible. Let's hope this year that isn't the case.

North Pole 2016: British Team Completes Expedition

As expected, the British Race Against Time team completed its journey yesterday, reaching the North Pole after 13 days out on the ice. The Pole marked the finish line for what was a demanding trek that began long before they ever set foot in the Arctic, and culminated at 90ºN early yesterday.

It took Mark Wood, Paul Vicary, and Mark Langridge just 4 hours to complete the final push to the Pole yesterday, facing more ice rubble and fields along the way. The squad saw plenty of that, plus plenty of other obstacles over their two weeks of skiing north, including open leads of water and blocks of ice the size of a house. They also witnessed the effects of climate change, with thinning ice, warming temperatures, and the Arctic Ocean uncovered in surpassingly large areas.

The 13-day expedition was far shorter than the trio of explorers originally envisioned. Initially the plan was to ski the full distance to the North Pole via the Russian side of the ice. Later, they decided to change directions, and travel from the Pole to Ward Hunt Island in Canada instead. But delays to the start of the expedition pushed back their start, making that much longer journey an impossibility. Instead, they elected to complete a journey that crossed two degrees of latitude instead. The shortened trip still allowed them to observe the environmental impact they had hoped to learn more about, but they had hoped to collect more data over a larger area of the Arctic.

The three men didn't spend much time at the Pole. They were picked up by helicopter last night, and flown back to the Barneo Ice Camp where they now are waiting for transportation back to Europe. It might take another day or two for that to happen, but soon they'll be on their way home.

The North Pole season will continue for another week or so as some "last degree" teams continue to ski to the Pole and some research teams wrap up their projects. Soon though, the Barneo camp will pick up for another year, and the Arctic will be abandoned once again. At this point, it is impossible not to wonder if the age of Arctic exploration is quickly coming to an end as climate change alters the landscape their forever.

The Last Great March Will Take Explorers Across Simpson Desert and to the North Pole

As the 2016 Arctic exploration season starts to wind down, we now get word of yet another attempt to ski the full distance to the North Pole. Adventurers Sebastian Copeland and Mark George are planning on making that journey in 2017 as part of what they call The Last Great March, a project that also includes a self-supported journey across Australia's Simpson Desert as well.

The two men – who has extensive exploration and adventure credits on their resume – first plan to set out from Ellesmere Island in Canada next February in an attempt to ski 775 km (481 miles) to the Geographic North Pole at 90ºN. They'll travel on skis over the ice, dragging their sleds filled with gear and equipment behind them as they go, with the hope of finishing the journey in under 49 days. Along the way, they'll face unpredictable weather, ice rubble fields, large open leads of water, and possibly even polar bears. If they can actually pull it off, they'll be the first team to complete the full journey to the North Pole since 2014, and quite possibly the last to do so.

But the expedition to the North Pole is only one phase of the Last Great March project. Sebastian and Mark are also planning of trekking for 520 km (323 miles) across the Simpson Desert, the driest place on the Australian continent. To do so, they'll need to pull specially built carts carrying 400 pounds (181 kg) of gear and equipment, much of which will consist of the water they'll need to survive in this inhospitable place. While out in the desert they'll face intense heat, dehydration, massive sand dunes, and a variety of poisonous snakes.

The goal of The Last Great March is to not only push the boundaries of human endurance in remote and difficult settings but also to record the impact of climate change on these places. It will be interesting to see how these expeditions play out, particularly in the Arctic. We had one team announce a full-distance expedition to the North Pole this year, and that didn't end so well. Will this team have more success next year? We'll have to wait to see.

Trio of British Polar Explorers to Attempt North Pole Expedition in 2016

For some time now I've been saying that the most difficult expedition in the world of outdoor adventure and exploration is a journey on skis to the North Pole. Anyone who undertakes that challenge faces an incredibly hostile environment that includes harsh weather, subzero temperatures, and surface conditions that are nearly impassable. Throw in the occasional encounter with polar bears, and a phenomenon called negative drift that actually causes skiers to lose ground while they rest, and you start to see why it is such a difficult undertaking.

In recent years climate change has made that journey even more perilous, causing the ice to become more unstable, and opening large sections of open water in the Arctic Ocean that must be swam across or skied around. Additionally, those same climate forces have created storms that are more dangerous than ever.

The last team to complete a full expedition to the North Pole was Eric Larsen and Ryan Waters, who did so back in the early months of 2014. Their struggles have been well documented, and have prompted some to say that they might be the last two men to make the trek to the North Pole. But this year a team of three British adventurers will attempt to replicate that feat, albeit from the opposite side of the ice.

In February of 2016, Mark Wood, Paul Vicary and Mark Langridge will set out from Cape Arktichesky in Russia in an attempt to cross the Arctic Ocean and ski to the North Pole without resupply. The journey is expected to take 60 days to complete, covering more than 600 nautical miles (690 miles/1111 km). They're calling this expedition the Race Against Time, and their website can be found at NorthPole16.com.


The goals that the team has set for itself are many. In addition to attempting to raise funds for the Hire a Hero program in the U.K., the three men also hope to raise awareness and educate the public on the growing threat of climate change. To that end, they'll also be working with researchers at Warwick and Exeter Universities, as they collect data on their journey north. The trio also hopes to inspire a new generation of explorers to continue to search the planet for new discoveries as well.

All three of the members of this team have already completed full distance ski expeditions to the South Pole, but they'll find that the Arctic Ocean is a far different place than the Antarctic. For reasons already mentioned above, a ski journey to 90ºN is far more difficult and dangerous than one heading to 90ºS.

The expedition has picked up a couple of prominent patrons from the polar exploration world. Sir Ranulph Fiennes has given them his stamp of approval, as has Henry Worsley, who even now is working to complete his solo and unsupported traverse of Antarctica. The team also received some much needed support from British businessman Mark Tweddle, who stepped in to provide funds when it looked like the project could fall apart before it even got started. Without his aid, the explorers would have been forced to abandon their efforts altogether.

I was certainly amongst those who thought that a full-distance North Pole expedition probably wouldn't happen again in my lifetime. It remains to be seen if Wood, Vicary, and Langridge will be able to ski all the way to the Pole, but I definitely applaud their efforts. It will be interesting to follow their progress when they get underway on February 20. It could be history in the making for sure.

North Pole 2016: Race Against Time Team Changes Direction Again, Delays at Barneo Continue

After a number of false starts and delays, the North Pole season is underway at long last. But while the first team has now hit the ice, challenges remain at the Barneo Ice Camp, where regular flights are just now starting after bureaucratic issues caused even more issues.

First, an update on the Race Against Time team, which was finally dropped off on the ice yesterday, although they have once against changed direction due to their shortened window for skiing across the Arctic. Originally the plan was for British explorers Mark Wood, Paul Vicary, and Mark Langridge to ski from the Russian side of the Arctic Ocean to the North Pole. When that route started look tenuous, they elected to change their plans and fly to the North Pole to ski south to Ward Hunt Island in Canada instead.

Now, thanks to all of the delays in flights and at the Barneo camp, the team has roughly two weeks to conduct their expedition. This has caused them to switch their plans once again, now skiing the final two degrees to the North Pole instead. The trio were dropped at 88ºN yesterday, and will now spend the next 12-15 days skiing to the top of the world. Along the way they'll conduct research on the impact of climate change on the Arctic while documenting current conditions there.


Meanwhile, the team of engineers at Barneo have now completed their fourth runway made of blue ice. The previous landing strips suffered cracks due to the movement of the ice, making them unsafe for incoming flights. The team was in desperate need of resupply, and immediately called for a large aircraft to bring them food and fuel.

But after that flight, the first aircraft carrying skiers, explorers, researchers, and other people was scheduled to take off in an attempt to get things back on schedule in the Arctic. Unfortunately, the Norwegian government scrubbed that flight and required the Barneo team to fill out permits for all 11 flights that they had already scheduled. This paperwork has caused further delays, but the first five flights are now on the docket with the others to follow.

It seems highly likely that Barneo will stay in operation for longer than usual. Typically it begins to wrap up operations in late April, but with these long delays it seems the Arctic season will probably stretch into May. How this will impact travel there remains to be seen, but with the spring melt already underway, it seems likely that this will continue to be a very unusual year indeed.

Arctic 2016: North Pole Team Changes Direction, Now Heading South Instead

Back in January I told you about the Race Against Time team, a group of three polar explorers who were planning on skiing to the North Pole from the Russian side of the ice this season. They had originally planned to set out this month on what promised to be an arduous journey that has become increasingly more difficult in recent years due to climate change. But now, the objective of the expedition has changed, as has the direction they'll be traveling.

This past weekend, the team – which consists of Mark Wood, Paul Vicary and Mark Langridge – announced that instead of setting out from Russia in February, they will now fly to the North Pole in April, and ski south to Canada instead.

The expedition remains aptly named, as the trio of explorers will still be racing against time. If all goes according to plan, they'll set off from the Pole on April 1, and will have just 35 days to reach their pick-up point at Ward Hunt Island, which falls just along the Arctic Circle. Why they tight constraints on the travel? Because after May 5, the Canadian aircraft won't be able to land on the ice as the spring thaw begins. That leaves them no choice but to cover the 470 nautical miles (870 km/540 miles) in just 35 days, which would beat the current record for this route by 3 full days.


I've said for sometime now that the toughest challenge in exploration and adventure right now is a ski expedition to the North Pole. It has only been done once in recent years, and as the Earth's climate changes it is only becoming more difficult. So, when this expedition was originally announced, I was looking forward to seeing how this team would do. Now, their entire journey has changed dramatically, and as a result this will be a very different one than was originally proposed.

That isn't to say that traveling south will be any easier. The team will still face massive challenges on their expedition, including melting Arctic oceans, unpredictable weather, massive ice flows to overcome, and more. But heading south does allow them to use negative drift to their benefit, as they'll often continue to make up ground even while sleeping as the ice they camp on floats away from the North Pole.

As of right now, I'm unaware of any other teams that are planning expeditions to the Arctic this season. If more come forward, I'll be sure to share their stories and follow them as they make their journeys. But considering the costs, challenges, and dangers of such a trip, I don't anticipate too many others joining the party. We'll have to wait to see however, as there will certainly be "last degree" skiers and a few other unique expeditions.

In the meantime, we'll have to wait to see how things unfold.

Temperature at the North Pole Climbs 50º Higher Than Normal

It has been a record breaking year for temperatures all across the globe, as climate change seems to be wreaking havoc with our atmosphere. We got a reminder of this yesterday, when temperatures at the North Pole soared by as much as 50º above normal, reaching 0ºC/32ºF on the surface. That's the same temperature as the Arctic usually encounters during the summer months, but it is highly unusual for it get so warm at this time of year.

To put things into perspective, that means that temperatures were warm enough to melt snow and ice, even as winter is arriving in the Northern Hemisphere. That should set off alarm bells about the state of the polar ice caps, which seem to be already retreating at an alarming rate. We've had a lot of somber news from the Antarctic recently as well, but this is just another indicator that our planet is definitely in a state of flux right now, and we're running out of time to do anything about it.

It also doesn't bode well for any explorers hoping to make an expedition to the North Pole. If it is this warm in December, what will the conditions be like in March and April, or even into the summer. I know that there are a couple of expeditions planned for the Arctic next spring, but they could be dealing with unprecedented ice break up, and the largest leads of open water that have ever been seen at the top of the world.

Of course, we do have a long winter to go, and temperatures are sure to return to normal at some point. But so far, November and December have been unseasonably warm, and have climbed up close to the 0ºC mark once before as well. Worse yet, the long-range predictions are saying that 2017 could be another very warm year, with further melting of the ice caps.

I'm not sure how much longer climate deniers are going to keep their head buried in the sand. The signs are there, and we're mostly ignoring them at this point. Still, it isn't too late to try to make a change. Hopefully that will be the New Year's Resolution for some important people who are in a position to have an impact on policy and reform. Time will tell.

Arctic Explorers Bring Bad News After Sailing Northwest and Northeast Passages

One of the most ambitious and interesting adventures of the summer has been the Polar Ocean Challenge. Led by famed explorer David Hempleman-Adams, the objective of the expedition was to sail both the Northeast and Northwest passages in a single year, circumnavigating the North Pole and taking stock of the arctic sea ice along the way. A few days back the crew of adventurers, sailors, and researchers completed a major milestone of their journey, and they brought back some sobering news about the state of ice in the Arctic Ocean.

The sailing ship Northabout set sail from Bristol, in the U.K. back June, making way for Norway before proceeding on to Russia to the start of the Northeast Passage. The ship ran into a delay at that point due to pack ice still blocking the route. That isn't too uncommon in the early part of summer, as it generally takes a few weeks before the passage clears. From there, they navigated on through the icy waters of the Arctic before exiting into the Northern Pacific and crossing over to Alaska. The next stage of the journey was through the Northwest Passage above Canada, which is the section that was just completed. Now, the plan is to sail on to Greenland, and then back home to Bristol.

By successfully navigating through the both the Northwest and Northeast passages, the crew proved that those once mythical routes are now fully open, and accessible. They also became the first ship to make such a journey in a single season, although they certainly won't be the last. Climatologists now predict that both passages will see increasing numbers of commercial traffic before the middle of the century, even by ships that are not hardened against ice.


On the Polar Ocean Challenge website the team posted a press release a few days back sharing the news of their successful completion of the Northwest Passage, which took just 14 days to finish. That's an incredibly fast time through that part of the world, but the team revealed that they had encountered almost no ice along the entire route. In fact, in the two weeks that they spent there, they came across ice only twice in 1800 nautical miles (3333 km/2071 miles).

This news is both astonishing and troubling at the same time. It now seems pretty clear that both the Northwest and Northeast Passages will soon be open for longer periods of time each year, and that they will be safer than ever to pass through. The Arctic sea ice is a bit like the canary in the coal mine, giving us an indicator of just how much impact climate change is having on our planet.

The crew of the Northabout is on the home stretch now, having completed the most difficult sections of their voyage. The team's website shares some important information about their expedition, which has now been at sea for more than 20 weeks and covered over 13,500 nautical miles (24,076 km /14,960 miles). Perhaps the most startling statistic of all however, is that researchers about the ship have recorded a 13.4% drop in the sea ice levels, which is a faster and higher rate than was expected.

I suspect these kinds of reports will become the norm moving forward. It is still troubling to read however.