“North Pole by the Sea”
Published on 16.04.2009 - General Info
Because more and more tourists are choosing the North Pole as their holiday destination these days, we thought we'd write an article for our readers and tell them about some of the more interesting aspects of being a tourist in the Arctic, as related in the blogs from the various commercial expeditions.
We don't yet have any statistics for the Arctic, but we are keeping a close eye on events both there and in the Antarctic and can tell you that the number of tourists wanting to go to one Pole or the other each year is constantly on the increase. The only stats we have are those produced by IAATO (International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators), which keeps accounts of the number of visitors to the Antarctic. Four figures taken more or less at random tell an interesting story: in 2001-02, 11 588 tourists paid a visit to some part or other of the Frozen Continent, while in 2003-04, there were 27 537. By 2006-07, the figure had climbed to 37 752 and last season, 2007-08, no fewer than 46 069 tourists set foot in Antarctica.
So, what do all these tourists do when they go to the North Pole? A quick look at the photo above will give you a good idea. This handsome couple from Arizona, for example, could think of no better place to get married than at the North Pole. They even asked Viktor Boyarsky (who is in charge of all logistical things at the Barneo base), to play the role of pastor for the time it took to be choppered in to the North Pole itself by MI 8 and perform a little religious ceremony to tie the knot. This unusual event took place on 9th April and the happy couple was Alexis Fredrick and Billy Browning. Imagine the scene. Victor Boyarsky: "Alexis, do you take this woman..." Champagne and dancing. No comment.
Unlike what happens on the other side of the globe, the Arctic sea-ice offers far fewer possibilities than the wide open expanses of Antarctica. What happens usually is that "Arctic" tourists go to the Barneo base to "Do" the Last Degree, as it is called. This means that they get kitted out virtually like any other professional adventurer -at least in terms of the shape and weight of the sledge they have to haul behind them- and walk the hundred or so kilometres from Barneo to the North Pole. Not on their own, of course, but guided by one of the aforementioned professional adventurers. The difference this year (as we have already said several times), is that Boyarsky had to take the decision to set up Barneo much closer to the Pole than in other years as the sea-ice is too fragmented this season (global warming?)... Which means that the MI 8 is putting in many more flying hours to carry the tourists who want to do the Last Degree in full back to departure point a hundred kilometres from the Pole.
This year, though, there have been a lot of pros at the Pole. In fact it has to be said that it's the only place where everyone -or nearly everyone- can get together to relax and listen to the gossip from the polar world.
Doug Stoup has taken nine people to the Pole (their trip is still not over yet for that matter). Called "Two Feet on the Table", the aim of this expedition is to raise funds for various humanitarian associations ("Aqualunt Trust", cancer research, "Motor Neurone Disease Association" to support people suffering from this dreadful brain disease, "Naomi House Children's Hospice", to help support a children's hospital). By 14th April, they still had 37 km left to do, with everything going well.
Borge Ousland has also been there with two groups of tourists. The first group of two (Salvatore Léonardi and Stephen Sherry) was dropped off 10 km from the Pole. Despite the short distance they had left to cover, Salvatore Léonardi still managed to pull a muscle in a compression zone. The second group is made up of ten travellers, including Max Ousland, Borge's son. They were dropped off 100 km from the Pole and the latest news we have says they are making steady progress at the rate of twenty or so kilometres a day.
Celebrities in the Arctic this year include Eric Philips. His first job was to act as guide for his client Michael Archer (a New Zealander), who wanted to do the Last Degree. They were dropped off by MI 8 on 2nd April, a hundred clicks from the Pole. Five days later, they reached their objective without any problem.
Finally, there's the trek by Keith Heger and Sebastian Copeland. Heger was a biologist before becoming involved in polar adventures and guiding tourists such as Copeland. In fact, Copeland is an internationally renowned photographer who wanted to do this trek to raise public awareness of global warming and the never-ending disappearance of the sea-ice. The two men were dropped off by the Resolute Bay logistics team on 26th March at 85 degrees North as Copeland had said that he wanted to tramp the final 400 miles to the North Pole. But he made a slight error in his calculations, because from 85 degrees North, there are only 5 x 111 km -555 km- left to reach the North Pole, not the 740 km initially stated.
But despite their error in the maths, the two men are having to cope with the same difficulties as the pros. On 14th April, they even bumped into the Fish/Huston expedition, although they didn't stay together for long. According to the latest news, a certain level of stress has crept into their adventure, because the Barneo base (from where the MI 8 was scheduled to take off from to collect them from the North Pole) closes on 27th April and they are not all that certain to reach their destination in time. If they don't get there, Copeland will have to call in a Twin Otter from Resolute Bay, which will add a significant expense to their trip that he hadn't planned for in his budget...
One thing that can be said about all of the tourists attempting to trek to the North Pole is that their safety is always paramount and the professionalism of both Boyarsky's team and polar guides such as B. Ousland or E. Philips is never in doubt.
