The frenchmen ; ready to leave but waiting for a good window
Published on 02.04.2012 - Expédition Pôle Nord 2012
Bad weather and extreme cold prevent the expedition to leave
© Expedition website
French adventurers Alan Le Tressoler and Julien Cabon, the two members of the expedition 'Expédition Pôle Nord 2012' have arrived Friday 23 March at Longyearbyen (2 000 inhabitants), the main town of the Svalbard Archipelago and Spitzberg island.
Actually, both men were readey to leave for the North Pole few days ago already. But bad weather conditions have prevent the Antonov russian plane to fly over the ice pack. So they are still waiting at Longyearbyen. Being one of the world's northernmost inhabited towns of the world, Longyearbyen is situated on the western coast of Spitzberg, the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago, on the southern edge of Adventfjorden, a fjord which continues inland to the beautiful valley of Adventdalen. Owing to its location far north of the Arctic Circle, Longyearbyen is in polar night from October 28th to February 14th, and in polar day from April 19th to August 23rd.
They should have been dropped at the North Pole this week end already, but according to the local meteorologists the cold is to intense for the Antonov to fly. Also the Russian people who has been hired to prepare a safe landing strip for the plane (the frenchman have a lot of scientific material with them) on the zone could not finish yet their work because of the cold.
Both french adventuers should live in total autonomy for a month near the Pole. They plan to make short excursions on the ice every three of four days while performing scientific observations.
For our french speaking visitors, we advice them to read this page : this is the day when Alan Le Tressoler had to shoot two polar bears who have been attacking him and his companion during their Greenland crossing on 17 april 2011.
