Neil Wightwick.com
Explorer & Adventurer
Current project.
North Pole Centenary Expedition 2009
In March 2009 Neil will lead a team of 5 in an attempt to cross the Artic Ocean from Canada to the Geographic North Pole. A total distance of 800km.
The journey can take in excess of 70 days depending on ice flow, temperature and team performance. The expedition will be completely unsupported. This means pulling all their food and equipment needed for up to 70 days on sleds behind them. The GB Polar team is hoping to reach the North Pole on the 6th April 2009 exactly 100 years on from the pioneering adventures Robert Peary.
The explorers will be negotiating pressure ridges where two ice plates push together creating a jumbled mess of ice blocks; these pressure ridges make progress at times painfully slow and arduous. In addition, the team will have to negotiate open water where the ice sheet has separated. These open water stretches will require the team to put on immersion suits and swim across the open ocean pulling their sleds. Both of these natural hazards will have to be carefully negotiated whilst all the time on the look out for polar bears. The team will carry a gun to be used as the final option against polar bear attacks.
The route follows a similar course to that taken by Robert Peary in 1909 starting as he did in Elsmere Island and heading North to the Pole. The team will mimic Pearys journey as close as possible, setting off from Elsmere Island as close to the 1st March as weather will permit, with the aim of reaching the pole on or before the 6th April 2006. By doing so the team will add lacking certainty to Pearys disputed journey.
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There have been over under 26 expeditions to set off on this route to the North Pole, most have been unsuccessful. Lately global warming has influenced the amount of ice available and adds a new dimension and obstacles for Artic Adventure.
Much of the next year will be taken up in preparation for the event including equipment tests and strength and fitness preparations to ensure that our bodies will cope with the relentless strain of pulling heavy loads across the ice hour after hour day after day.
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