The Last Degree / Years 2004, 2005 & 2008 (part 2/2)

24 pictures posted on the 14.05.2010

From this moment on, everyone will be feeling good and save safe inside the tent within 20 minutes. No more.

From this moment on, everyone will be feeling good and save safe inside the tent within 20 minutes. No more.

© Alain Hubert

  • From this moment on, everyone will be feeling good and save safe inside the tent within 20 minutes. No more.
  • A little training soon gets you used to repeating the same actions every day.
  • We usually prepare the meals in the highest part ofof the tent: for safety reasons, obviously.
  • The last two times I completed the last degree to North Pole, we only carried small tents with us. Lighter and easier.
  • We set up camp so that no one can come and bother us, except maybe a polar bear.
  • Every night and every morning, the same jobs and body movements have to be repeated before leaving the site, for an 8 to 9-hours trek across the ice.
  • At this time of the year (March and April), the sun is never very high above the horizon.
  • One thing is certain up there : you never know in advance how -– and if -– you will find a way through the hummocks.
  • Taking one problem at a time, we always find a solution to get past an obstacle.
  • The sledges are built with very high sides, so that the members of the expedition can use them as a catamaran for crossing wide leads.
  • Crossing open water (lead) is without any doubt the most dangerous thing you can do on a trip like this.
  • In fact, you never know whether the ice in front of you is thick enough to support the weight of your body and the sledge.
  • Of course, when you are travelling with other people, having everyone there to help makes it safer.
  • 8 or 9 hours on the move, then it’s time to set up camp. Quite a relief for all of us.
  • As a polar explorer, I have always been incredibly fascinated by the tracks you leave behind you in the snow when travelling over the pack-ice.
  • This is the moment that most of us always wait for: after a long day on the ice, when the visibility is very poor and the colours become glorious.
  • After a pressure ridge in the ice, you can always be sure that an other one is waiting for you. Endless Arctic ice pack-ice...
  • Sometimes, instead of trying desperately to cross open waters, it’s preferable to travel along the edge of the water to try and find an ice-bridge.
  • Gently, quietly progressing across the pack-ice : we’re in another world...
  • After completing the last degree, even though this trek is not particularly dangerous or difficult, everyone feels the same way and can say,
  • Sweet memories for all of us. An unique experience in of a lifetime...
  • We are here at Barneo and this is its famous bulldozer. A few years ago, it nearly fell into the ocean...
  • After six or seven days out on the ice, the MI-8 helicopter of the Russian logistics team in Barneo arrives to pick us up at the Pole.
  • The trip is over. Everyone’s head is full of great memories...