Arctic Arc 2007 : the entire crossing of the Arctic Ocean (part 2/6)

24 pictures posted on the 02.07.2009

April 6th : 87°04'36

April 6th : 87°04'36" N / 87°31'33": only three degrees to go to reach the Pole ! Alain sounded quite happy when he announced to us yesterday that they had just passed the 87th degree.

© IPF, Michel de Wouters & René Robert

  • The bad weather cyclonic activity, forecasted by the Russians, which was meant to take a hold on the area during the afternoon of the 2nd of March just touched them with the tail end on the 4th and 5th.
  • Michel de Wouters and René Robert, who filmed the departure and who are now with Victor Boyarsky in Golomiyanny (Cape Arktichewski) were not so lucky.
  • March 6th : Alain's stomache problems of the first few days are beginning to clear up as his body becomes accustomed to the high fat content of their food.
  • Overall, Alain and Dixie encountered a few leads, a couple of which were big ones. This is quite surprinsing considering they are walking on young ice. The temperature is still quite low (-36°C), but not unusual for this time of year.
  • Of course, Arctic landscapes and luminosity are as awesome as ever.
  • Batteries problem: ever since the beginning of the expedition, the sun was first too low to recharge the batteries and, now that it is rising higher in the sky, it is constantly covered up by a cloudy veil.
  • Although they have to cross open leads quite often, the progress of the team is quite good : on March 14th, for instance, team made 20 km in 7,5 hours.
  • Suspense was on yesterday's program given that the two men had chosen to walk along the edges of a wide lead, on ice only 10 cm thick!
  • Alain and Dixie realize that their progression is ok: they have indeed covered 308 km in 18 days, which averages an excellent 17,1 km a day.
  • At this pace, they will reach the North Pole in about three weeks. This is taking into account the fact that, soon, they won't only be skiing 7 hours a day anymore, but 9 or 10 hours a day.
  • Regularly, Hubert and Dansercoer take reading of the depth of the snow covering the pack-ice, part of a task assigned to them by the ESA for its forthcoming CryoSat-2 mission.
  • This European satellite is scheduled to be launched in 2009 and will provide extremely precise information concerning changes in ice thickness, on both the sea and land for the entire region around the North and South Poles.
  • For the first time since their departure, Alain and Dixie have had a full day of sunlight. That said, it was still not possible for the two men to charge their batteries.
  • Even though this sunshine comes with freezing temperatures (-35°C yesterday evening), it enabled the two men to somewhat charge their batteries.
  • Given that the solar panels have been damaged, Alain and Dixie do not want to run the risk of attaching them to their sledges during their progression like they would normally do.
  • March 26th : bad luck for the Arctic Arc pair. Due to an awful storm which hit them yesterday, Alain and Dixie have
  • After two days of bad weather, the Hubert-Dansercoer duo has resumed forward progress. Spirits are high.
  • April 2nd : the men are on top form. They have decided to get a move on these coming days. It is day 24 hours non-stop, the weather is a little better, it is a little warmer and the ice is good; they have therefore decided to stretch the amount of time they spend on their skis each day.
  • During the night of April 2nd, Dixie dreamt of an encounter with a bear. Dream or premonition ? Premonition! Becauwe when they got off the tent to check, they saw a female bear standing not far with her two cubs...
  • April 6th : 87°04'36
  • On Sunday evening, 8th April, the Arctic Arc expedition received fresh supplies in a successful operation carried out with impeccable timing by Victor Boyarski's logistics team.
  • One major problem during this resupply : Boyarsky has forgotten at Barneo the expedition's fuel. He thus has to fly back to the expedition and bring the right fuel. In the meantime Hubert and Danservoer received some helicopter's fuel.
  • We can now say with certainty that since the batteries have been recharged and the solar panels replaced, we will be able to publish photos from the Arctic pack-ice more often and perhaps even send some videos.