Departure Time for Arctic Expeditions Approaches
Published on 24.03.2008 - General Info
This spring 2008, for the new Arctic season, all of the professional expeditions are setting out from the Canadian Far North, leaving Cape Arktichevsky out of the loop this time around.
Our first look at the new season's programme begins with the expeditions that have not been able to depart for one reason or another. As first cab off the rank, the polar community's sympathies go out to Jean-Louis Etienne, whose dirigible crashed in the south of France on 22nd January. He had planned to fly over the pack-ice to measure its thickness, but it is now likely the project be abandoned altogether. Also worthy of note here is Jean-Louis's appointment as General Manager of the Albert I of Monaco Foundation Oceanographic Institute. As of 21st February 2008, the Institute is staging a major exhibition on the topic of "Polar Ice for Future Generations".
An other expedition has been cancelled: a previously untried trek between Point Barrow in Alaska and the North Pole which the trio of Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley had planned to undertake at the beginning of March 2008. This expedition has been postponed for a year, although no details have been provided so far at the Tiso TransGreenland Expedition website.
So, although expeditions are a bit thin on the ground for the 2008 season in terms of excursions on to the Arctic pack-ice, there are still a number of fine adventures for us to look forward to. Two solo efforts, starting first with British adventurer Hannah McKeand who will attempt to make the journey between Ward Hunt and the North Pole, unaided and without being re-supplied, and then there is her fellow countryman, Ben Saunders, who will attempt to do the same thing, taking the same route and also unaided. There is a small rider on Ben's effort, though: he is attempting to break a speed record at the same time. More details will be available in a week or so when his website has been updated. Hannah set out a few days ago on 7th March and we will be tracking her progress on our website. So far, the news is that she has had a good first week.
A third expedition has also caught our eye: the one involving the "Expé Arts et Métiers" association, which will be helping a handicapped person (Gérard Troadec, whose leg was amputated below the knee ten years ago) to achieve his dream. Of course, this particular project is one of smaller scale than the expeditions undertaken by professionals but is just as interesting. The aim is for all three men to climb Mount Newtontoppen (1717 m), the highest point on Spitsbergen.
