There are very few “firsts left in the world, and now there is one less” said Ralph Mitchell, one of my tandem masters after the first Everest skydivers entered the world record books in October 2009. This had been my greatest adventure to date and created more news worldwide than any Himalayan expedition since Mt Everest was climbed in 1953.
As I left “my” dropzone, the highest in the world at 12,350ft there was already another world first adventure, nagging at me to be undertaken.
It began in the Arctic in April 2008, while in sub zero conditions (below 20 degrees) moving the reindeer herd of my great friend and Sami elder, Lars Matis. There was Lars Matis, his reindeer herding dog Esther, me, and Norwegian outdoorsman and professional cold climate diver and instructor, Lars Petter Ole at the time, corralled from a gentle Arctic katabatic wind as the reindeer rested. Lars Petter mentioned that he was the only Norwegian to have dived under the ice at the North Pole and only a few others had ever achieved this remarkable accolade.
I knew that people had parachuted onto the sea ice there too, and also knew that they were mainly solo skydivers, as tandem skydiving (parachuting with a passenger) had not began so many years back. Lars Petter and I agreed that with the changing conditions of the sea ice, we should plan sooner rather than later, a unique expedition that would take adventurers above, and below, the North Pole in a dual discipline expedition – experiencing this temporary world from both sides, and in three dimensions – above, in a short freefall and under canopy – living on – and diving below making a circumnavigation under the ice.
Another world first challenge was born with the participants being able to join the record and history books as modern peers of the arctic, pushing themselves and the boundaries of classic adventure yet again, if successful. During the last 10 months, since finalising the return of freight and equipment from Kathmandu used for skydiving in the death zone, I have made three visits to Norway, making plans for this new adventure and all the preparations are in place for it to be undertaken from 9th - 23rd April 2011.
THE MISSION
To be the first ever team of arctic adventurers to both skydive onto the North Pole and also make a circumnavigational dive under the moving ice in the same expedition.
WITH THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES
To participate in the “Above and Below “programme participants must arrive in Kirkenes with a PADI basic diving certificate. All ice dive training and further PADI certification will be undertaken at the Dive Resort by Lars Petter and Anton. We stay here during the training in the Resorts accommodation, eat well and catch king crab too.
There is no requirement for training for the tandem skydive but you must be in possession of a current medical certificate stating that you are fit to skydive.
When the ice dive training is complete, we fly to Longbardyen, Spitzbergen and consolidate all our equipment and logistics, and pick up our flight by twin engine Antonov AN-74 aircraft to Ice Station Borneo, 89º North, 100km south of the Geographic North Pole. We will spend some time here for a few hours.
Our supplies and equipment will need to be repacked onto our MI-17 helicopter before we move forward on the sea ice and leats to locate the Pole. On arrival we off load and help put up the tents and shelters. Once we are safe and secure on the ice, and have relaxed into our surroundings, the parachute programme begins along with preparations for the circumnavigational ice dive.
We have two nights and three days to complete our aim at “this place that is not a place”. Once the programme is complete, we help repack our equipment and remaining stores and fly by MI-17 to Ice Station Borneo before returning to Longybarden and flying home to our own countries as world record holders.
GEOGRAPHIC NORTH POLE
The northern most point on the earth's surface is the geographic North Pole, also known as true north.
It's located at 90° North latitude and all lines of longitude converge at the pole. The earth's axis connects the North and South poles, as it’s the line around which the earth rotates.
The North Pole is about 450 miles (725 km) north of Greenland in the middle of the Arctic Ocean - the sea there has a depth of 13,410 feet (4087 meters). Most of the time, sea ice covers the North Pole but recently, water has been sighted at the exact location of the pole.
If you're standing at the North Pole, all points are south of you (east and west have no bearing). Since the earth's rotation takes place once every 24 hours, if you're at the North Pole your speed of rotation is quite slow at almost no speed at all, compared to the speed at the equator at about 1,038 miles per hour.
The lines of longitude that establish our time zones are so close at the North Pole, the Arctic region uses UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) when local time is necessary at the North Pole. The North Pole experiences six months of daylight and six months of darkness.
In 1958, the United States nuclear submarine Nautilus was the first vessel to cross the North Pole, but it was aviation that took the “exact” laurels with the first undisputed sighting on 12th May 1926 by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his American sponsor Lincoln Ellsworth from the airship Norge. Norge, though Norwegian owned, was designed and piloted by Italian Umberto Nobile.
Nobile, along with several scientists and crew from the “Norge”, overflew the Pole a second time on 24th May 1928 in the airship “Italia”. The Italia crashed on its return from the Pole, with the loss of half the crew.
The Italia crash sparked the first massive airsea rescue operation in the Far North. Ultimately five countries sent planes, pilots, and ships to the Svalbard area to aid in the search. But in reality no one was in charge and there was little, if any, coordination of activities. The Italian ship Città di Milano, in the harbor at Kings Bay, served as the expedition's base ship and carried a small contingent of Alpini soldiers proficient in mountaineering; otherwise, there were no advance preparations for the possibility of a disaster. There were no airplanes in Spitsbergen at the time.
TIME AT THE POLE
In most places on Earth, local time is roughly synchronized to the position of the sun in the sky; so at midday the sun is roughly at its highest. This method fails at the North Pole where the sun is continuously in the sky for six months. As there is no permanent human presence at the North Pole, no particular time zone has been assigned. Polar expeditions may use any time zone that is convenient, such as Grenwich meantime (GMT) or the time zone of the country they departed from.
ARTIC SHRINKAGE
Arctic shrinkage is the decrease in size of the Arctic region (as defined by the 10 °C (50 °F) July isotherm). This is a change in the regional climate as a result of global warming. Recent projections of sea ice loss suggest that the Arctic ocean will likely be free of summer sea ice sometime between 2059 and 2078. Due to the rapid response of the Arctic to global warming, it is often seen as a high-sensitivity indicator of climate change. Scientists also worry about the potential release of methane from the arctic region, especially through the thawing of permafrost and methane clathrates which could be released to the atmosphere and accelerate global warming, as methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. 2007 saw a record low in summer sea ice. Most of the newly melted area refroze, and the iced area was near normal during the winter of 2007-2008. However the amount of thick perennial ice was below levels measured in the previous winter. The sea ice extent for 2008 was greater than that for 2007.
TEMPERATURES
The North Pole is significantly warmer than the South Pole because it lies at sea level in the middle of an ocean (which acts as a reservoir of heat), rather than at altitude in a continental land mass.
Winter (January) temperatures at the North Pole can range from about −43 °C (−45 °F) to −26 °C (−15 °F), perhaps averaging around −34 °C (−30 °F). Summer temperatures (June, July and August) average around the freezing point (0 °C, 32 °F).
The sea ice at the North Pole is typically around two or three meters thick, though there is considerable variation and occasionally the movement of floes exposes clear water, Studies have shown that the average ice thickness has decreased in recent years.
Many attribute this decrease to global warming, though this conclusion is disputed by some. Reports have also predicted that within a few decades the Arctic Ocean will be entirely free of ice in the summer months.
FLORA AND FAUNA
Polar bears are believed rarely to travel beyond about 82° North owing to the scarcity of food, though tracks have been seen in the vicinity of the North Pole, and a 2006 expedition reported sighting a polar bear just one mile (1.6 km) from the Pole. The ringed seal has also been seen at the Pole, and Arctic foxes have been observed less than 60 km away at 89°40′ N. Birds seen at or very near the Pole include the Snow Bunting, Northern Fulmar, and Black-legged Kittiwake, though some bird sightings may be distorted by the fact that birds tend to follow ships and expeditions. Fish have been seen in the waters at the North Pole, but these are probably few in number. A member of the Russian team that descended to the North Pole seabed in August 2007 reported seeing no sea creatures living there.
For further details contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it