‘Rush-hour’ begins at the North Pole

The annual spring sprint to the North Pole is on, and last week trekkers were finally able to fly from Resolute Bay to Ward Hunt Island, the traditional jumping-off point for polar expeditions.

Matty McNair of Iqaluit was among those heading from Ward Hunt Island to the North Pole. McNair is guiding Mike Barry from Ireland and Daniel Keren from Israel to the geographic North Pole. Her team will get two resupplies along the way, and plans on spending 54 days to reach the pole.

McNair’s team and a Norwegian group, which includes Everest climber Cecilie Skog, joined Richard Weber, Conrad Dickinson and the Finnish Airborne Rangers on the ice.

These five teams are headed for the North Pole from the Canadian side.

Another trekker Jim McNeill, who calls himself the “Ice Warrior,” is also out on the ice. McNeill scrubbed his original plan to do a full, unsupported trip and now says he’s going to focus more on scientific work. McNeill is heading for the Arctic Pole, defined as the centre of the Arctic Ocean and the furthest point from land.

Norway’s Borge Ousland and partner Mike Horn started out for the North Pole on skis in the dark of winter from the Russian side. On Jan. 15, the two left Cape Artichesky, the northernmost point of Russia. Now, they have accelerated their daily skiing schedule in their race against the sun.

“We’ve started the final push for the North Pole, deciding to extend our walking time to 12 hours, but also sleeping 1.5 hours longer each night,” Borge reported last weekend on his web site. “This evening we came to a huge open lead that was impossible to cross, and we had to change our course and follow the edge of the ice. But we pressed on and are now within 87 degrees latitude and are starting the countdown with 311 km to go.”

Meanwhile, as they all head to the same destination, polar trekkers are bumping into each other on the ice.

“We are not alone. There seems to be bit of a rush-hour going on around here. Tonight, only 100 metres from our camp, is another camp: a three-man Norwegian expedition (Cecilie Skog, Per-Henry and Rolf Bae). Yesterday we bumped into Richard Weber. Some distance behind us is yet another three-man group lead by Matty McNair,” report the Finnish Airborne Rangers, who are traveling to the pole on skis.

Trekkers heading to the pole from the Russian side are also crossing paths, say Bettina Aller and Jean Gabriel Leynaud.

“It has been a very cold night and Bettina has been freezing all night,” reported the pair’s home team on a web site. “During the day it seemed impossible for her to regain warmth even though they walked faster.”

The two made ready for camp early as they wanted to try get warm. When they were making the camp, they suddenly heard dogs barking. It was the expedition of former Iqaluit resident Paul Landry, whose team is also heading to the pole from the Russian side. Landry’s group camped right next to the Aller and Leynaud and invited them over for dinner.