Voicemail from the Top of the World!

April 5


April 4


April 3

Day 6 - Day 3 on the Ice

Location - latitude 89.15.736 (i.e. 45 miles to go). Lost 2.1 nautical miles during sleep due to drift. Ugh.

Amazing day - not hard to imagine what it would have been like for the earliest explorers! -10 or so celsius (warm), but gusting winds 10 knots with snow flurries and white out conditions, visibility <>

The wind was from the northwest - so we continued to lose ground as we walked along, reminding me of a gerbel on a spinning wheel. The gusts were so strong that at times the sleds would run to the side of us. My goggles on the left side were completely frosted over due to wind and snow.

There were not as many obstacles today so we covered - 8 nautical miles. We set camp amidst the crazy wind - a bit like flying a kite - something we will do on a better weather day. Dale is doing great. Keith and Dirk are machines. Michel is providing the humor.

For dinner tonight is Pasta Primavera with chicken, appetizer is quesadilla with cheese - the menu has been brilliant. I have been doing the breakfast short order style - this morning we had bagels, bacon and cheese. We are getting better at setting up camp, though the weather adds its challenges, it makes it that more important to get the tent up and get out of the craziness out there.

Day 2 on the Ice

location: latitude 89 degree, 09.9 minutes, longitude east 123 degrees 04.1 minutes, elevation about 3 feetwe drifted overnight 1.25 nautical miles

OMG, we spent the first 90 minutes just catching up to where we were when we went to bed. What a day - overcast, windy and then snow - flat light - really hard to sort out where we are going! Some pretty big winds. We came across our first large open water. As we stood there the ice drifted, moaning loudly and slowly closed up one areas of the open water allowing us to cross the water. The sound was incredible. You could feel the ice move and rumble underneath us - and a crack open on our side of the ice while waiting to cross...

We pulled for 8.5 hours achieving about 8 miles - but as I sit here writing this note we are continuing to drift away from the pole....We had a huge number of obstacles that have required us to take off our skiis and walk everything through the spaces. So things really take a long time - and it isn't at all like the cross country skiing I've been used to. Spirits are good

Day 5

Well we are on the ice. It is about - 30 and windchill so tough to type. I think this will be par for the course for the next 10 days...highlights

Plane ride in was amazing - about 2.5 hours smooth ride - Had a chat with the pilots - great - let me sit up in the cockpit for a while - great view. Landed and had about 1.5 hours at Barneo - great soup, coffee and cookies - the best was the porta potty with sign reading next toilet 1500 km!!

Then we boarded the helicopter and took off to our starting point. landed at 89 on the nose - and all of a suddden we were completely alone - the helicopter took off and it was unbelievable - felt like I was on the moon.....landscape was amazing.

Now we are at 89 degrees 4.1 minutes - so we skied for 3 hours and covered only 4 miles - over typical terain. Gives you an idea what we have to do to cover 60 miles to pole, let alone drift and obstacles, open water.....wind howling as we set camp - almost lost one of the tents - now though we are inside - Keith has stove on - we have cocoa and dinner is getting fired up. Dale is so strong it is amazing.

Thanks Stacey for the great Easter Candies!!!! That's all for now - I will update temperature, longitude and latitude daily as well as some info on camp life!!

Day 4

Today was a day of organization! Keith and Dirk arrived at 9 am and went through all of our gear again - to make sure that we were taking what we need, no more, no less. So there were adjustments to be made, sacrifices, food (goodies) left behind........but we managed to make it fit.
We loaded our sledges - Dale - 36kg, Michel 37 kg, and me Yipee only 33.5 kg (prior to adding all my electronics - OMG).
We sorted food out rather frightening how many kilos we have - diet is very high in fat and carbohydrates.....not what I would recommend as heart healthy.
We went out to the airport and had orientation and weigh in....rules from the Russians....
Barneo was set up via parachute drop on March 20th, 9th year they have done it this way - the runway was ploughed in 24 hours - 1500m long (plane only needs 800). They have erected the tent city with common areas and sleeping areas, as well as private areas for research (its primary mission)
Tomorrow we fly out, dare I say, weather permitting, at 930 am - 2 hour 15 minute flight.

Day 3

What a day we had today - Easy start with wonderful breakfast at the Hostel where we are staying. Then we went down to the large uninsulated shed to look at the gear. We sorted the skiis and bindings and made sure we had what we needed.

The sleds have a smooth contoured bottom with heavy material screwed in for the top, kind of expandable, so we can take what we need and shrink down as we eat! - 109 lbs of food (that is before it is rehydrated - OMG). More on this later....
This afternoon we went up and met Tom - he has 17 husky sled dogs. We put two sleds together 11 dogs on one, and 5 on the other. The sled with 5 dogs was smaller and each of us had a chance to mush! It was exhilirating - no words can adequately describe it. The landscape all snow, rock and mountains, no trees. We took a circuitous path up and around the mountain working the sleds up the hills helping the dogs. Our destination was the ice cave.
we put on our helmets, and our headlamps and in we went. Wow. We were in the bowels of the glacier. Apparently we took the expert route, ladders, ropes, and 10 foot icewalls that we went down, ice slides. We went a long way down into the caves, beautiful untouched ice sculptures naturally made. The trip came to a halt when Tom went down a slide and coaxing me down I got wedged in the ice - a Norwegian WEDGIE! Well a bit unusual and quite stuck! Eventually we extricated me and figured that was far enough for us to go. We then had to haul ourselves out by rope, grunting and sliding along. Magic
We mushed back to Tom's place and had wonderful coffee and cookies. Back to the Hostel and a hot shower.

Day 2

We left Oslo this morning and arrived in Longyearbyen to about -15, though windchill makes it feel a lot colder. Dirk and Keith were at the airport to meet and greet! Short drive into the hotel, converted from miners lodging. Longyearbyen is known for coal mining and some commercial fishing. It also holds the world's seed repository. The seeds from the world's plant life are stored here underground, safe from permafrost up on one of the mountains. Noah's seed ark.

After we checked in we wandered around town. The houses are built up on wood stilts so that the frost doesnt' cause them to break. The road's are sheet of ice so all the cars have studded tires. We wandered past the church and into town. Stopping for dinner at Svarbar. The highlight of today was the sighting of real reindeer, followed by NO sighting of polar bears!Team is in great spirits though a bit tired from all of the travel. It will be great to have a day to recoup.