Reflections on Expeditions Past - 2

The second part of the Sky News documentary following the 2003 / 4 row across the Atlantic.  This part shows how quickly it can all go wrong.........but thats why you do these things.

Reflections on Expeditions Past

At times it is amazing to think that it is nearly 8 years since Jacko and I started our row across the Atlantic, and there is hardly a day when I do not think about the experience of that long trip.  The mind numbs the pain and fear and I look back on the entire experience with a degree of fondness which is hard to articulate.

So whilst the Arctic continues to beckon and is unfinished business, in many respects so is the Atlantic.  Although re-watching the documentary does make the hairs on the back of my neck stand-up, if the opportunity ever came up to row again - would I say yes or rather could I really ever say no......answers on a postcard please (or in the comments box below).

But as a reminder to some and an eyeopener to others enjoy part 1 of the Sky News mini documentary of the row - Endurance.

Part 2 will following shortly.

Remembering Exercise Atlantic Challenge - 2004

The last few minutes of the Sky News Documentary about the Atlantic Row in 2004 with Jacko; it always reminds me of the epic which we endured for over 78 days and leaves me questioning why would I be so happy to do it all over again.

Expedition News Coverage

Remembering moments from this years expedition.

Current Score - Arctic 2 Us 0

Unfortunately, it is with significant disappointment that we have to write another update detailing bad news so soon after our decision not to attempt to ski to the Geographic North Pole due to the rapidly decreasing time-window. Having re-planned and repacked we departed Resolute Bay on Tuesday 8^thMarch headed for the Magnetic North pole. Despite achieving good daily mileage in an unforgiving environment and feeling both confident and strong, it was with huge disappointment that yesterday morning we had to make the impalpable decision to be extracted from the ice.

 

This decision was not taken lightly and was made because Jules had sustained cold injuries to his thumb and a number of fingers on his right hand.  Although not severe at this stage, if they had refrozen the consequences would have been very different.  Medical advice has been sought since we arrived back in Resolute Bay and confirmed that our initial treatment and the decision, due to concerns over the injury worsening, not to continue was supported.

 

This decision clearly and unfortunately signifies the end of any further activities inNorthern Canada for us this year.  Although the correct decision was made, the disappointment and dissatisfaction with our circumstances is presently hard to describe.

 

Our intention is now to return to the UK and start the process of planning and rescheduling another expedition to attempt to ski to the Geographic North Pole either in 2012 or 2013. 

 

We would like to sincerely thank-you for your support to date and hope that this support will continue in the future.

 

Matt and Jules

Todays home

Starting at last!

1.Day / Date - 8 Mar 11
2.Position – 74 40 56.2N 95 04 31.2W
3.Hours of work - 4
4.Wind Direction - everywhere
5.Temp Celsius - -34C
6.Daily Log – Matt / Jules

So we have started, not to where we had planned but now to the Magnetic North Pole. We have given ourselves 32 days to ski the distance, and these first few days will see us ski away from oyr destination. Also having done nothing for nearly 2 weeks, we will take these firstbfew days steady.

Thank you for all the messages of support over the last few days they have been very apprecaited. So different journry but still a challenge - as I write this the tent is being battered by a strong wind. Just our luck!

Maps to mark and diary to write - another update tomorrow.

Update sent thanks to Iridium

New plans

Today we spent the day planning and preparing for our new objective. We had to collect our sleds from the hangar where they had been prepositioned for our insertion flight, obtain mapping and recalculate mileage, food and fuel for the journey to the Magnetic North Pole. We also had to discuss and obtain a quote for a new extraction flight.

The preparation and planning is going well and, despite still dealing with the disappointment of yesterday's decision, we are well on track for setting off on Tuesday..

Latest News

Not good news from here I am afraid; we have, as you will know, been waiting to be inserted onto the ice since the 25 Feb. Today's forecast indicated that we won't fly until Monday at the earliest - and that the best flying conditions are Wednesday / Thursday of next week (9, 10 Mar), some 12 days later than we had anticipated.  We are unsure of the ice conditions and given that we have to make the pick-up by the 26 Apr, the expedition this year is untenable.  We had allowed ourselves 60 days to complete the trip, and whilst we had intended to complete the journey as quickly as we could we still felt that we needed the breathing space that this time would allow given the vagaries and difficulties of Arctic expeditions 

 

Moreover, the other 2 expeditions (the Irish and Italian teams) planning on leaving from here are in the same position, and as we are sharing an insertion we needed to make a joint decision.  We have all taken advice and, based on the premise that we may be able to return in future years, we have decided to not attempt to ski to the Geographic North Pole this year.  This decision is based on the weight of risk vs possibility of success and we do not feel that the odds are stacked in our favour.  Furthermore we cannot justify spending the amounts of money we are talking about with an exceptionally slim chance of success.

 

In order to recover some training value from this trip, our plan is now to ski to the Magnetic North Pole (currently located some 400miles from Resolute Bay and about a 30 day trip which we intend to start on Tues 8 Mar).  It is not the same and is not what we came here to do and this has been one of the most disappointing decisions that we have had to make.  Obviously we now need to 're-cock' our equipment, sort ourselves out, complete the task ahead which has now changed and allow the dust to settle.  Our plan is then to launch a reattempt at the Geographic Pole.

 

We understand that this will be as disappointing for you given your support as it is for us.  Our aim is now to make the most out of the training time we have available and come back. 

 

Matt and Jules

 

 

And then the weather changes - again

Latest news from Resolute Bay, is that the weather window has collapsed and we are again sat waiting. The longer we sit and wait the harder the task ahead of us is. Our luck has to change soon..

Stand-by Stand-by

The weather is currently looking good for insertion by DC3 into Cape Discovery for 1800Z on the 4 March. This will give us about 53 days to reach the Pole. More to follow.

Still waiting

The waiting game continues, with a glimmer of hope for the weekend. Regardless the plan remains the same, an unsupported attempt to reach the pole. But the reality is that each passing day spent sat here at Resolute makes the journey ahead of us that much harder. But it is this challenge which we strive for.

Its good to read all the emails of support being sent and the inevitable banter that we are making our excuses early. Trust me guys, we just want to get on with it honest!!!

Once we get a confirmed departure date we will work out how much food / fuel we are going to take (but I will discuss with Jules before I make any radical changes to the food loading plan - as I can always ditch what we don't need while he's asleep!). The plan is still to reach the pickup by the 26 Apr, so it really will become a case of head down, arse up and go. All we have to do is hope for good ice and reasonably cold conditions. The local weatherman, Wayne, said to us yesterday that the weather is unseasonably 'chaotic' and a lot warmer than normal. If this is warm...

Yet until we hit the ice we have no idea of what to expect as every year is different. But as Oliver Shepard from the Transglobe Expedition emailed, the delay may work in our favour and we can always go without sleep if we have too. Until then its hurry up and wait!

Weather Window

The latest weather predictions have a possible break in the weather on Saturday 5 March. So until then its hurry up and wait.

The Arctic Photo

The photo which should have been attached to the last update.

The Arctic

The icy fang that bites and blows until I shrink with cold.

Shakespeare.

Waiting

The weather which had delayed todays flight continues to have a hold at the insertion point at Cape Discovery. Current predictions has us leaving on Wed or more probably Thurs. None of this is good news, but it means our pulks will be a few days worth of food lighter. Our pickup date remains no later than the 26 Apr, so we will have to work harder and hope for good ice.

Both Jules and I are now both sat just itching to go. But the waiting game continues..

Delays delays delays

Due to the weather at Cape Discovery we have been delayed another 24hrs. We are ready to go and now just sat waiting. However every days delay adds pressure on what we need to achieve and means that we need to increase our daily mileage and hours marching at a quicker rate than we planned.

All part of expedition life!

Food, Food, Food

Mule Bar - one a day every day and lots of flavours

9 Bars and Wholebake Flapjacks

Eat Natural bars

For Goodness Shakes - we will drink this every morning as soon as we get up

4 weeks of food about to be packed

57 days worth of food for 2 people

Testing the blogging software

Up to now I have struggled to understand and get the blogging software to work. I now seem to be managing and am also trying to send photos - this is a journey into the unknown which i know amuses Jules!

Another night out - belated blog post from 21 Feb

Jules and I are again sat out in the tent making sure that our admin is squared away before we depart. We are happy with fitness and know that its a long race rather than a sprint, so our biggest concern is making sure that we can live in the Arctic. The temperature at the moment outside is -37 and dropping, whilst inside its about 0; which we are happy with.

The other reason for the night out is to check our website update software which has been tempermental recently. So a short blog, which may or may not get posted..

ipadio: Northern Exposure - News from the ice - 6th phonecast

Preparing the daily food bags

As the hotel restaurant was shut today it was a perfect day for us to use the free floor space to unpack the boxes of food.  We broke out the various meals, cereal bars and drinks onto the free tables.  We then used the spreadsheet that Matt had prepared detailing the daily menus and the breakdown of calories to create lines of piles of our daily amount of food - on average one breakfast meal, an evening meal and an assortment of cereal bars, flapjacks, and energy bars to be used for lunch.

Once we had laid out the food we went about bagging and numbering each daily food bag, essentially ending up with a 6-day rotational menu (last day of the week we get a dessert!!!) and 10 bags full of food - a large bag of 12 meals for each of the 6-day periods we anticipate being on the ice for.

The 6 main meals we get to enjoy while on the ice are as follows:

Beef and Potato Hotpot

Fish in Parsley Sauce

Chicken Korma

Spaghetti Bolognese

Chicken Chassuer

Kung Po Chicken

Once our food had been put into some sort of order we continued to scrutinise equipment to best achieve the lightest load possible for the both of us - a continuing dichotomy of comfort and redundancy versus efficiency…..where do you draw the line and at what point do you say we’ll just have to make do?

The inevitable delay

Today’s only real news, other than we spent the afternoon chopping 14kg of butter into various 100g, 50g and 25g blocks (the racy world of expedition prep), is that following a visit this morning to meet with Steve at Kenn Borek Air (the guys who will fly us onto the ice) we have a delay.  Because of predicted weather conditions and hence levels of light (there is a lot less light at Cape Discovery than here), the pilots have said that they will now drop us off on the 28 Feb.  That’s a delay of 2 days - a whole extra 2 days and another crazy weekend in Resolute Bay!

So what - well it now means that we have 58 days to get to the pole.  It means that we have to take 2 days less food and fuel; it will also mean that we’ll be 2 days closer to sun up; that we only now have to endure getting up in the extreme cold another 59 times (another nights training and 58 times on the ice).  It would be very easy to sit here and come up with as many negatives points as positive.  But the simple fact is that we now have a new plan - we now have to get to the pole in less than 58 days - it removes any real possibility of full rest days (which was a tenuous idea anyway), and means when we hit the last 2 degrees we need to turn our thoughts to the expedition becoming a forced march as we will be looking forward to a warm bed and shower.

Tomorrow we plan to spend the day sorting and bagging our food.  Once this is complete we can then refine the packing plan for the pulks to ensure that we have equal weight and that the weight will decrease at a similar rate.  There is plenty to keep us busy, but Jules and I really now just want to get on with it - if we were offered a flight tonight onto the ice, I think we would both take it!  Time to stop the thinking and just get on with it!

The joys of expedition life!

Second Night Out

A blog we failed to post last night out on the ice.

So here we are again, sat in a tent out in the bay; you could argue that we are practising bleeding - but already our admin is a lot slicker (and that's something I never thought I would hear myself say!).

The march out today was better than previous, and although

we are only dragging about 100kg its feels good.  More importantly we are learning not to rush as that only makes us sweat, which isn't good in the long run plus we will need to dry our clothing which uses more fuel. 

Our routine tonight worked well and we had the tent up and stove on in about 30mins.  The temperature outside is mid -30 and dropping and in the tent with a single stove going its a nice 16 (that’s at the tent apex) but both Jules and I think that the Richard Weber Arctic Special tent is gleaming and will be instant morale on the ice (highly recommended for Arctic travel).

That's enough for now and the blogs will be more structured

on the ice, covering what we are doing, our routines, our equipment, communications  and food.  But if you have any questions please email us using the link on our websites.  Please also excuse grammar and spelling mistakes, as it isn't easy typing with a stylus.

Also if you enjoy reading this please visit our Just Giving

page and help us support some very worthwhile charities.

Finally for Alexandra and Jonty the Berry Bear and the pom

poms you made are in the top pocket of my bag!

Update sent thanks to Iridium.

The 'borrowed' Daybreak mug out on the ice

The other 'borrowed' Daybreak mug - promise we will bring them back

ipadio: Northern Exposure - News from the ice - 5th phonecast

Learning not to sweat

We continued to sort clothing and equipment this morning.  The amount of tinkering, altering, cleaning and adjusting to do is unbelievable.  We also spent time working through the communications to ensure we were both completely happy with the system and general communication routine.  We also made sure that the pager now works - which is does thanks to the help of Reece Pitts from Iridium and AST.

We had lunch and then headed out to pick-up a pair of skis being loaned to us by Richard Weber until the new bindings arrive.  We confirmed today that the new bindings were passed to Fedex in Southern Quebec and so should be with us in 2 days.  So again its thanks to Richard Weber for his help - his continued support has been outstanding.

This afternoon we headed out and walked up the large hill (which the locals called the mountain) that overlooks Resolute Bay.  Our aim was to take in the view from the top but also to pace ourselves, keeping the pace slow and steady, to ensure that we didn’t sweat, something Matt and I are yet to manage whilst training here.  By walking really slowly, and constantly checking ourselves, and by using the vents in our jackets we managed to generate enough heat to stay warm but not sweat, now all we need to do is the same while pulling the sleds.

The remainder of the evening was spent tinkering and packing kit and trying to find something to watch on the local TV.

The view across the Resolute Bay

After our first night out

Everything had gone relatively according to plan in respect to our first night out until about 3 o'clock in the morning.  I awoke to some sounds outside, what sounded like foot-steps….or were they paw-steps?  I ignored it for a bit but my curiosity and fear grew as the sounds continued around the outside of the tent.  At the same time there were some creaks and cracking sounds of the ice, which put me firmly in the "I'm now scared" zone.  Matt woke up and looked over to me asking "how goes the war?" and I promptly told him "shush".  He quickly got what I meant and asked where the shot-gun was, "outside!!" I replied.  We listened some more before eventually determining that the noises were actually just the breeze against the tent - over active imagination you might say, but considering we had crossed a number of bear tracks on route to our campsite, the animals were in the forefront of our minds.

 

As you would imagine we quickly grabbed the shot-gun from outside, loaded it and had it to hand should we have needed it.  The rest of night passed without a hitch, both of us awakening every few hours from either the noise of the Vapour Barrier Liners (like big plastic bags) we were sleeping in which lined our sleeping bags or from the occasional shower of snow/frost that had built-up from our breath.

 

In the morning we put the sleeping bags away, had breakfast, collapsed the tent and started to head back to the Resolute.  The conditions were near white-out and so navigation and sense of direction were fairly difficult.  We were soon passing the husky packs and the boats, frozen in the bay, before getting back to the town.  As we approached one of my bindings all of a sudden felt very loose, a few seconds later my foot came away from my ski and I realised the binding had actually broken - not ideal!!!  Our first training night-out was over and with it we had established a number of lessons….and have now ordered some new bindings, which will hopefully be here in the next few days!!!

The first night out

Jules and I are currently sat out on the ice in the tent on our first overnighter. This will allow us to check our admin, work out if the communication system works and generally start getting used to life in the tent.

Our morning was spent discussing the merits of various bits of clothing and what we should pack (but it looks like I am not going to take my down jacket and rely on the synthetic jacket and fleece). But sat here now chilling off, that decision may be revisited.

We packed all our pulks, using black waterproof bags full of frozen water as weight and set out across the bay again. The pulks moved easily considering we were pulling over 100kg, but we still need to slow down and sweat less, but this may be a hard lesson to learn. As we skied along we came across a scene of utter devistation, we assume that a polar bear had caught a seal - the bear prints were a lot largerthan those we saw yesterdayand there appeared to be cub prints tagging alongside.

We are now sat in the tent about to eat, the temperature outside is about -35, whilst inside its -15; oh what fun! Well that was a rushed meal, and looking around the tent all I can see is steam and drying gloves, hats and neck ruffs. The best bit is that we are goung to operate a cold tent which means that we won't bring in our sleeping bags until the tent has cooled down - this helps keep condensation out of the bags. But it means we have to get uncomfortable first! But our sleeping system will be the subject of another blog.

Oh well, things to do! And time to get cold.

Update sent thanks to Iridium..

All of a sudden it feels warmer?

After a leisurely breakfast, it was back to sorting out kit; its amazing how long it takes to move kit from pile to pile; the piles remain the same but in another location.  But today we managed to sort out the repair kit, and I fixed the skins to the skis with epoxy and screws (sorry Jim) whilst Jules was busy sealing the seams on our Vapour Barrier Liner (VBL) sleeping bags.  But we are slowly getting to the point where we will know exactly what we are taking (or maybe not!).

Having sorted the skis we decided that it was time to take them out for a spin.  The training objective today was to ski out to the broken ice on the bay about 2.5 miles away, practice putting up the tent (again) and then test fire the shotgun.  Jules is referring to the shotgun as the ‘bank job gun’, as it is a short barrelled pump action with a pistol grip rather than a standard butt.

As we skied out across the bay, we came across what appeared to be a series of melting ponds; these ponds seemed to steam and when prodded (fairly hard) with a ski pole, we were able to break the ice.  We decided to ski around these pools rather than risk crossing them!  But as we skied out across the bay we came across a some polar bear tracks - which surprised as we had been told that the huskies which were tethered in the bay would stop the bears coming into town (these tracks were between the huskies and the town) - so there goes that theory!

The ski out was enjoyable, but we worked too hard and we were starting to sweat - this is not a good thing, as we must learn to slow down and not push the pace, not matter how good we feel.  This lesson could take some time!  We eventually found a large piece of exposed ice and decided that it would make an outstanding range; so the shotgun was quickly out and off we went.  We quickly went through a couple of birdshot and solid shot slugs, and then remembered that there was potentially a polar bear in the area and we were ‘rounds complete’.  Oh well, not a great deal we could do about that, so it was back into routine and the tent went up a lot quicker and easier than yesterday and Jules got the stove on fairly rapidly.  What is good about the new tent is that it heats up very quickly which means that out on the ice we will have something to look forward to in the evenings!

The weather was calm with the temperature hovering about -34, but it felt warm; not sure if this is a good sign.  The ski back was enjoyable allowing us to take in the scenery as all we had to look forward to was more weighing and bagging of food.  Tonight was banana chips, nuts and we then started on the butter (quickly finding it was frozen solid).  Still lots more food to pack……….

My skis; looking down at Sharon, Alexandra and Jonty whilst I ski.

Polar Bear paw print and my hand.

Our makeshift range - Jules stood about 10m away from the pressure ridge (yes its a big lump of ice!).

Our tent pitched on the Arctic Ocean

Jules under the setting Arctic Sun

ipadio: Northern Exposure - News from the ice - 4th phonecast

Saturday - The coldest and harshest yet

After a wild Friday night in Res Bay (in bed by 10) we headed out this morning to conduct some more training with the stoves and new tent.  As we left the hotel we immediately felt the cutting wind, not on our torsos or hands as the clothing is proving to be excellent, but on our faces.  We soon had our hoods up with the fur ruffs providing a good level of protection.  It was around -35 with a wind-chill taking the temperature down to below -50.

We trekked out on to the frozen sea ice of the bay to find a spot to erect the tent.  The wind was howling and we could hear a whining husky pack tethered in the snow near-by.  Our inexperience with the new tent was soon highlighted in the demanding conditions.  We struggled a number of times to get the tent to stay up before eventually we managed to get the pegs and poles secure.  Once the tent was up I moved inside to start work on getting the stoves going while Matt finished off outside, having to put snow on the valances and then make sure all the poles and peg lines were secure.

Inside the tent I was quickly able to light a candle, which I used to warm the stove pumps.  In no time I had one of the stoves lit and the temperature in the tent immediately started to increase.  Matt soon joined me for a respite from the wind and cold.

The rest of the morning was spent doing more of the same, before we headed back to the hotel for lunch, more kit preparation and a trip to the local shop (the only shop) to pick up our pre-ordered butter (17kgs) and bacon (6kgs).

….And then on to another crazy weekend evening in Resolute Bay. The evening was spent decanting packets of fruit flakes and 50 grams of chocolate into 60 individual lunch bags, exciting!!!!

Resolute - the first 36 hours

We have now been in Resolute Bay (one of the highest communities in the Arctic with a population of about 240) for just over 36 hours having flown up from Trenton.  In this time we have managed to take over the communal areas of the hotel, unpack our 15 boxes of freight, break 2 ski pole baskets, do some training, post 2 podcasts (making sure that our Iridium phones work at -37) and start to plan the next 2 weeks.  Our planned departure is still scheduled for the 25 Feb.   But I think these photos sum up the last 36 hours slightly better.

Our hotel

Sunset at Resolute Bay

Our 15 boxes of freight, sent thanks to DHL

Jules at -37

Matt at about -37

Our new tent - a Richard Weber Arctic Special.  And yes it is a lot more robust than it looks (honest).

Arctic sunset mid afternoon with lumps of sea ice on the horizon

Jules with Resolute in the distance

ipadio: Northern Exposure - News from the ice - 3rd phonecast

ipadio: Northern Exposure - News from the ice - 2nd phonecast

The Long Journey North (but not as long as the next one!!!)

Yesterday was a day of packing and organising ourselves in preparation for our flight to Resolute Bay.  We started by heading to the air movements section on Trenton Airforce Base to get the final details.  They (like the rest of Canada it would seem) were very helpful and allowed us to drop off most of our bags to avoid unnecessary faff at 0400 this morning.

Once we had organised our bags, dropped them off at the terminal and handed the hire car back we found ourselves with some hours to kill before an early night so we headed to the cinema for some escapism.  The King’s Speech was excellent, although Matt and I were the youngest in the audience by about 20yrs and felt out of place without ‘blue-rinse’ in our hair - it must have been OAP offer night.

Before getting a cab back to the Travelodge we stopped for some dinner which was large but not as large as some of our previous eating exploits - to be honest we are both bored of the excessive eating and feel pretty lethargic for all the food and lack of exercise….this of course wont be the case in time.

The film and food certainly helped with our trepidation but it seems that for both of us the trip North today is another “bench mark” in our journey.  The reassuring thing is, we know once at Resolute Bay, we can start training and rehearsals again, which hopefully will allow some of the anxieties we have to be overcome, some routines to be established, and the sense of getting to grips with elements of the equipment and environment.

The journey today should take about 7-8hrs and will see us fly North, with around 8 other passengers on a chartered 737 aircraft, firstly to Iqaluit (pronounced i-cal-uit), and then on to our stop, Resolute Bay, before the flight continues to a place called Alert.

Trenton - the slow decline in luxury

A colder day yesterday at around -16 with a wind-chill taking the temperature down, at times, to -27, which is still a long-way off the -40 we will experience in Resolute Bay and -60 on the ice.

We had one last job yesterday before leaving the city.  We had to pick up one final essential item - some diet supplements that would help us digest the vast amounts of calories, and specifically fat, we will be eating. Whilst Matt was off sorting the supplements, I brought some face-cream to help retain my youthful looks whilst on the ice.

With the supplements, the polar pate, truffles and a vehicle full of clothing and equipment we left Ottawa behind and headed to a place called Trenton (about a 3 hour drive).  On arrival we quickly realised that not only were we in a “one horse town” but we had also commenced the inevitable decline in luxury and comfort - we checked in to the local Travelodge, an even more basic, and rustic version of a UK Travelodge, although unlike in Ottawa at least it had free WiFi. 

Although basic, the Travelodge, is completely adequate for 2 nights - essentially our last 2 nights in civilisation before heading to Resolute Bay, which; has a population of about 230 people, is (as you might expect) currently in 24hrs of darkness, has no mobile phone reception, and no booze!!!  We have a full day here today meeting people on the base and getting ready for our very early flight North on tomorrow morning……..while the comforts decline, the anxiety builds.

Reflections on a week in Ottawa

One of the many ice sculptures currently in Ottawa and Jules!

This ice sculpture was about 4ft high and appeared to be made from a single block.

Skating on the frozen canal - many people ice skate to work.

The view which greeted us each morning from the Weber Arctic Polar Centre 

Richard Weber making a hole in the ice to prove the immersion suits (and yes he is using a chainsaw!)

Removing the ice blocks from the hole

Jules enjoying the moment

Richard's sage words in the front of his book which he kindly gave us on our departure

Other things we learnt from Richard Weber

This blog will be less prose but more simple bullet points of some of the key things we learnt from Richard:

-  No matter how good skiers WE think we are, we are not.  This means that we will walk to the pole on skis and will struggle skiing over the pressure ridges losing valuable time.  The answer is snowshoes.  Good job we have both!!!

-  It will take us about 2 weeks to ski the first degree (60 nautical miles); so all of you watching at home thinking that we need to work harder, we will be but it will just be slow going.

-  Its never going to get colder and every day gets warmer.  This is good to think about when we expect to experience temperatures as low as -60 when we start.  But as the sun starts to show itself we will start to be warm.  But we expect to be cold at -60 (which I am sure many of you reading this will think is an understatement).

-  Don’t sweat, don’t even glow.  The key is to work at an effort that means you don’t sweat, as it will just mean that our clothes will freeze!  Bonus!

-  That the ice is at its worse 2 days before a full moon and 1 day after.  We will experience 2 full moons, one in early March during the first degree and the other in early Apr.

-  You don’t need as much kit as you think or you wont use as much fuel as you expect.

-  It will take 6hrs to dry everything if we fall in the water.  This is one of the key reasons we have decided to take a Weber Arctic tent, as they are specific to the environment and proven.  This fact reinforces Richard’s view that most expeditions which fail do so as they attempt to turn the Pole into a mountain. 

-  Carry your sleeping mats attached to your bergan; it gives additional protection if you fall over and something to sit on when you stop.  But it makes you look like a ‘new guy’ and isn’t very ‘ali’, but as he said we need to rid ourselves of preconceptions and do what works.

-  A toilet brush is the best thing to get snow off clothing.  As we said preconceptions and do what works!

-  Always cross an obstacle before you stop for a break.

I would also recommend getting a copy of Richard’s book. ‘Polar Attack’ written by Richard and Mikhail Malakhov.  It is an excellent read from which many ‘top tips’ can be gleaned.  But as Richard so eloquently said ‘think carefully, don’t stop’ and my favourite ‘its not going to get any colder!’

Weekend of Training with Richard Weber

We are now sat back in Ottawa reflecting on an outstanding 2 days spent with Richard Weber, an extremely experienced and friendly Arctic guide, and his family.  We were made to feel welcome in his house and learnt a tremendous amount over the 2 days - and eaten extremely well, given that Josee (Richard’s wife) is fantastic cook.  I would recommend Richard to anybody with aspirations to the North Pole - his advice is considered, based on considerable experience and not forced on you.  Not only this, but we were extremely looked after and were very grateful for this.

Over the course of the weekend, we reinforced many of the lessons we had previously learnt, bought a new tent - a Weber Arctic special (which we now need to train with in Resoulte and re-learn some previous lessons) and also bought some extra food (now not only will we be using the Weber Polar Pate but also the Weber Truffle all made by Josee).  It also resulted in us going around the local outdoor stores today and buying those last minute things we need. 

The lessons we learnt will hold us in good stead for the coming months, and we will over the coming weeks slowly start to highlight the key lessons which Richard taught us.  It was an outstanding weekend, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with Richard.

Check out Richard’s website at http://www.arcticwatch.ca/ 

Testing The Gopro Camera In The Water

The video was put together by Tessum Weber.  Although filmed in HD it has lost some of it crisp quality with us having to reduce the file size to post it on blogger.  We will look to post the full quality video on Vimeo and post a link.

First Full Day - Jules

Having eaten our own body weight in cooked breakfast, we went on to visit the Defence Attache at the High Commission (potentially more media interviews to come!!!) to allow us to up date them on our plans and more importantly our safety protocols.  This was followed by some shopping as I needed to buy thermal pants, in an attempt to keep the really essential bits warm!!!  I also needed to purchase a lightweight knife and some lip-balm.  It was a beautifully crisp and clear day in Ottawa with a temperature of about -10 so wandering around was relaxing and pleasant.

The eat-a-thon/crashweightgain continues as a pace, although neither of us appear to be showing any real sign of any weight-gain.  That said we managed to eat the following each:

Full cooked breakfast including bagel, bacon, sausages, 2 x eggs, 2 x pieces of toast and a lot of coffee (Matt only) and a hot chocolate (Jules only)

French Vanilla Coffee, 2 x Tim Horton’s Doughnuts

Foot Long Subway Sandwich

Dinner - which was a large meal at a very good local resuranet which served local ‘First Nation’ specialities.

We were also very pleased to met up with 2 guys for dinner who have been essential in organising elements of the trip and in providing advice on how best to achieve certain things in Canada.  It was great to finally meet them as all contact until this evening had been through email and the occasional phone call.  The evening was simply outstanding and we learnt a tremendous amount from them both.

Everybody in Ottawa continues to be incredibly helpful; from restaurant, hotel and bar staff to bus drivers they seem to have incredible patience with what must look like 2 people who have just bought matching outfits from a charity shop, have funny accents and know absolutely nothing about Ottawa - yes, we’ve come across as complete villagers more than once today!!!

The Journey North Begins

After so many years planning, it seems strange to be sat in Lord Elgin Hotel in Ottawa knowing that the expedition will be starting soon.    The Lord Elgin is a large imposing building in central Ottawa, a few doors down the street from the British High Commission.  The hotel is outstanding, the staff could not be more helpful (the rooms are spacious and our kit is already spread across them), and for a caffeine addict such as myself, there is even a Starbucks in the lobby!!!  It is an incongruous place to start such an extreme expedition.  We also triggered our Yellowbrick tracker, so you can see where we are on Google Earth (our intention is to trigger the tracker every time we move location over the next few days).

The pressure and stresses of the last few weeks have all but disappeared and we are both looking both happier and more focused.  The journey over with Air Canada was easy and we were both hugely appreciative that Oliver Shepard, from the Transglobe Expedition Trust (one of our sponsors), came to see us of from Heathrow.  Oliver has been a source of both advice and a good sounding board over the past year.

So what are our plans over the next few days?  Today we plan to visit the High Commission, and then begin to sort out the media equipment and form a basic shot list.  The plan being to make sure that we have what we need to do written down so that when we are tired we don’t have to use a great deal of brain power (some may argue that this is the case much of the time) for the filming.  We will also start to formulate the key events which we will blog about, so please if you have any suggestions please leave a comment on the Blogspot blog.  We also need to chase down our freight today (which is being very kindly shipped by DHL) to ensure that it is where we need it to be. 

Later today we are meeting with 2 guys for dinner who have been extremely helpful in our preparations.  One of them, Richard Selleck (a local expedition outfitter), has been extremely helpful in ensuring that our logistics and ‘life-support’ for when we are at Resolute Bay is organised.  Without the help of people like Richard the preparations would have been made that much more difficult.

We are then off to spend a weekend with an Arctic guide, Richard Weber, for some last minute tips on polar bears, swimming and how to make your live more bearable on the ice cap.  We are both looking forward to absorbing as much information as we can from an extremely experienced and helpful individual.  Then, after a few days back in Ottawa it will be a drive over to Trenton to catch our flight up to Resolute Bay.

The blogs will start to get more interesting and detailed as the days move on.  We will start to concentrate on specific aspects of equipment and planning over the next few days; this will allow us to give you a better idea of what we are doing, the equipment we are using and more importantly how we plan to use and why.

And on that note I am off for my first coffee of the morning, as I am blogging this at 6AM (the joys of jetlag!).

  

Departure Day

Well that's us about to leave. Air Canada have been extremely helpful not only with our additional baggage (we were suppose to have one bag each weighing no more that 23kg - we had 4 bags each!!!), but also with the filming. Although I do think that surprise at what we are leaving to go and do wears slightly thin when it's the third take. So thank-you Air Canada!

Sat in departures, about to eat breakfast and have a beer! At least we now have some time to think....but about what!

Can we please pass on our thanks to all of the sponsors, friends and family who have been so supportive during our preparations. Now all that is left is for us to go on a long walk in the cold...saying it like that (and quickly) doesn't make it seem so bad!

We hope you enjoy reading our trials and tribulations over the coming months.

Per Ardua

ipadio: Northern Exposure - News from the ice - 1st phonecast

Last Minute Media

With a matter of days to go before we leave for Canada, we seem to up a gear and have to pack more into our already busy days.  The amount of things to do continues to grow, but in the midst of it all there are moments of hilarity - and surreal entertainment.  The link below shows a clip of our interview this morning on ITV's Daybreak - and it was a an enjoyable morning albeit early.  Now stand-by for photos of our Daybreak mugs on a trip to the pole!

Northern Exposure On ITV Daybreak

Perspectives - Matt

In the second of a series of blogs before we leave Matt discusses his perspectives on what we are about to do and discusses if his pre-conceived ideas may help or hinder.

"In 2002 along with a fellow Regiment officer I attempted to row across the Atlantic; we were not rowers but approached the entire expedition with enthusiasm and the confidence that regardless of what situations we faced that we would, ultimately, be successful.  Whilst we did succeed in rowing the ocean unsupported, we failed to complete the race we had entered.  But over the course of 78 days 5 hours and 43 minutes at sea we had, what can only be described as, an epic.  But the experience was unforgettable, and one I want to repeat.  At the time I didn't want the experience to end, and I quickly forgot the pain and hardship we had endured on a daily and hourly basis.

Boat Admin

But why work to put yourself through the extreme physical and mental stress?  This is an extremely difficult question to answer.  During the course of the row we learnt to be hungry; we had taken only 55 days of food and I had foolishly thrown some over board early in the journey.  We simply could not replace the calories burned by the punishing routine at the oars, that combined with the constant fear made us feel even more hungry.   We learnt to deal with the pain, the physical discomfort and the seemingly monotonous view from our very small floating home.  We learnt to laugh at the fact that we always seemed to have waves drench us, just as we were about to get into the dry cabin.  We learnt that we actually enjoyed what we were doing and accept that all our days were going to be wet, in fact we learnt to accept that everything including the cabin was going to be wet!  No day was like the previous apart from that we were getting hungrier!  We learnt to appreciate what we were doing and to love the experience. 

We were seemingly alone with nothing to do but row, eat and sleep and not always in that order.  We became so comfortable with our surroundings that conversation wasn't necessary as we had learnt to understand what each was feeling, thinking and about to do.  Our intermittent communications kept us in contact with the outside world, but we started to enjoy the feeling of being alone, as although there were 2 of us on the boat, our punishing schedule meant that we were on our own for most of the time.  We had nothing to worry about, other than the lack of food, the temperamental power system and poor communications kit.  But we were happy in our little bubble, and all the difficulties we were facing were just accepted as being part of our world.  We had learnt to accept the environment we were in and it all seemed to fall into place.

The end of the row - hindsight is a wonderful thing

Or is this a romantic 'rose tinted' view of an experience we endured.  I don't know as it seems like it happened in another life, but what I do remember is the fear during the early days and the hunger in the latter days.  Does this make it any easier for me entering into this expedition?  I really don't know, but at times I wish I wasn't as aware of how the early days of the expedition might be, as my frame if reference is already set. 

What I cannot afford to do is start to write the narrative now of how we (or I) will find those first few weeks.  That narrative will be written by our actions on the ice.  The expedition is something to be enjoyed and not necessarily endured as we chose to be where we are and have worked extremely hard and have been extremely well supported.

I hope you all enjoy reading the narrative of our journey as it starts to emerge in the coming weeks.  And I leave this post with some wise words from John Steinbeck.....

“For I have always…drunk hugely, eaten too much or not at all, slept around the clock or missed two nights of sleeping, worked too hard and too long in glory, or slobbed for a time in utter laziness. I’ve lifted, pulled, chopped, climbed...and taken my hangovers as a consequence, not as a punishment.”