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!’