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A slightly longer ski trip: The North Pole in winter!



 
 
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  #1  
Old March 23rd 06, 11:10 PM
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Default A slightly longer ski trip: The North Pole in winter!

http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=141951

Ousland framme på Nordpolen

Torsdag ankom Børge Ousland og Mike Horn Nordpolen. De er de første som
noen gang har gått distansen på ski i vintermørket.


- Nå er vi her. Det har vært vanskelig, men det har vært vanskelig på en
god måte fordi vi har overvunnet problemene og nådd målet, sa Ousland
til NRK på telefon fra Nordpolen.

Med sliten stemme fortalte Ousland at de to har kjempet seg fram meter
for meter.

- Vi har bevist at det går an å strekke seg litt lenger, sier han.

Turen har vært så hard at Ousland tror det blir lenge til noen prøver å
gjøre det samme. 20. januar forlot de Kapp Artichesky, det nordligste
punktet i Russland, og hadde da en tur på 1.000 kilometer foran seg.

Horn har slitt med «generell infeksjon i hele systemet» etter den enorme
påkjenningen turen har vært, men skal være på bedringens vei. Ousland
skal være i fin form. (©NTB)

My (beginning) translation:

Ousland at the North Pole

Børge Ousland and Mike Horn reached the North Pole on thursday. They are
the first to make the ski trip in winter darkness.

- We're here now. It has been difficult, but difficult in a good way
because we have mastered the problems and reached our target, Ousland
told NRK in a phone call from the North Pole.

Terje
--
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"
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  #2  
Old March 24th 06, 01:18 AM
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Congratulations to Ousland and Horn.

Not as long of a ski as the Weber-Malakov expedition of 1995 though.
They went from Canada (Ward Hunt) to the Pole and back self-supported
(left Feb 14, got to the North Pole May 12, and got back on June 15)

http://www.matthewhenson.com/attack.htm
http://home.earthlink.net/~cookpeary/photographs.html

Parham.

  #3  
Old March 24th 06, 10:10 PM
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Eddy Rapid wrote:
Congratulations to Ousland and Horn.

Not as long of a ski as the Weber-Malakov expedition of 1995 though.
They went from Canada (Ward Hunt) to the Pole and back self-supported
(left Feb 14, got to the North Pole May 12, and got back on June 15)

http://www.matthewhenson.com/attack.htm
http://home.earthlink.net/~cookpeary/photographs.html


Sure!

There have been several longer ski trips made over the years, among them
the recent "take the long way across" crossing of the South Pole.

The key to Ousland/Horn was that they did it all during the polar
winter, i.e. not a single day with visible sun.

On NRK he told about some serious problems the day (night?) they had to
cross (by swimming!) 6 or 7 stretches of open sea, while the air
temperature was -40 C/F, in pitch black darkness.

Ouch!

To me this is getting into the 'I want to be the first person to climb
Mt Everest while seated in a Lazy-Boy' territory.

Terje

--
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"
  #4  
Old March 25th 06, 12:00 AM
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Hey Terje. Very impressive in terms of the darkenss and cold challenges
Ousland-Horn have had to deal with. Each genuine adventure has its own
unique challenges that push the boundaries and inspire.

The interesting/controversial question is at what point are the
challenges of an expedition so self-defined as to be a gimick, just so
that a 'first' can be claimed for publicity and book writing reasons.
Did the Ousland-Horn expedition push the boundaries of winter travel in
the Northern Polar Region and inspire us towards tougher expeditions at
this time of the year? I don't know the details enough, but I'd say
probably.

I've also been up the South Col and the Hilllary Steps many a time
with a warm butt and a cold beer ;-) I'm still trying to figure out how
to claim a first sitting on my Lazy-Boy.

Parham

  #5  
Old March 26th 06, 05:42 AM
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Two years ago, I skied the last 100 km to the North Pole with Borge. He
is one of the most amazing individuals I've encountered. Incredibly
gifted athlete, amazing discipline, funny, wicked smart....

Congratulations, Borge! Another amazing achievement...

Stuart Stevens

  #6  
Old March 27th 06, 01:46 AM
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"Terje Mathisen" wrote in message
...
http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=141951

Ousland framme på Nordpolen

Torsdag ankom Børge Ousland og Mike Horn Nordpolen. De er de første som
noen gang har gått distansen på ski i vintermørket.


- Nå er vi her. Det har vært vanskelig, men det har vært vanskelig på en
god måte fordi vi har overvunnet problemene og nådd målet, sa Ousland
til NRK på telefon fra Nordpolen.

Med sliten stemme fortalte Ousland at de to har kjempet seg fram meter
for meter.

- Vi har bevist at det går an å strekke seg litt lenger, sier han.

Turen har vært så hard at Ousland tror det blir lenge til noen prøver å
gjøre det samme. 20. januar forlot de Kapp Artichesky, det nordligste
punktet i Russland, og hadde da en tur på 1.000 kilometer foran seg.

Horn har slitt med «generell infeksjon i hele systemet» etter den enorme
påkjenningen turen har vært, men skal være på bedringens vei. Ousland
skal være i fin form. (©NTB)

My (beginning) translation:

Ousland at the North Pole

Børge Ousland and Mike Horn reached the North Pole on thursday. They are
the first to make the ski trip in winter darkness.

- We're here now. It has been difficult, but difficult in a good way
because we have mastered the problems and reached our target, Ousland
told NRK in a phone call from the North Pole.

Terje
--
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"



Amazing!!!



  #7  
Old March 27th 06, 02:05 AM
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Stuart wrote:
Two years ago, I skied the last 100 km to the North Pole with Borge. He
is one of the most amazing individuals I've encountered. Incredibly
gifted athlete, amazing discipline, funny, wicked smart....

Congratulations, Borge! Another amazing achievement...

Stuart Stevens


Neat.

BTW Stuart, how'd you enjoy the CSM this year?

Parham.

  #8  
Old March 27th 06, 04:09 PM
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Re. the amazing Ousland/Horn trip:

After the end of the season, starting April 22, Ole Einar Bjørndalen
will ski the last degree to the North Pole, i.e from 89N to 90N, a
distance of 111 km.

This trip is partly to collect money for cancer-stricken children and
their families, to put up two cabins at either Geilo or Beitostølen.

Ole Einar notes that they will carry somewhat heavier caliber rifles
than what he usually wields, but even with a 7.62 mm gun, I'd feel
pretty certain that Ole Einar would stay cool enough to hit an attacking
polar bear if he had to. :-)

Terje

--
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"
  #9  
Old March 27th 06, 05:01 PM
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"Terje Mathisen" schreef in bericht
...
Re. the amazing Ousland/Horn trip:


Ole Einar notes that they will carry somewhat heavier caliber rifles
than what he usually wields, but even with a 7.62 mm gun, I'd feel
pretty certain that Ole Einar would stay cool enough to hit an attacking
polar bear if he had to. :-)


Please let it be a tranquilizer gun, or I'm one hero shorter. If you can't
take up a trip without the need to possibly kill an animal you could not
handle with your bare hands, the trip is a bad idea to begin with.
Better let him hunt for poachers. I hear seal clubbing is still legal in
some parts of the world?

Now, how to wax for such a trip?

Glad to hear he's at least using his popularity for charity, let that be
clear.


  #10  
Old March 27th 06, 09:14 PM
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Jan Gerrit Klok wrote:
"Terje Mathisen" schreef in bericht
...
Re. the amazing Ousland/Horn trip:


Ole Einar notes that they will carry somewhat heavier caliber rifles
than what he usually wields, but even with a 7.62 mm gun, I'd feel
pretty certain that Ole Einar would stay cool enough to hit an attacking
polar bear if he had to. :-)


Please let it be a tranquilizer gun, or I'm one hero shorter. If you can't
take up a trip without the need to possibly kill an animal you could not
handle with your bare hands, the trip is a bad idea to begin with.


Any travel at all in Svalbard or parts north of that requires you to
carry a gun (rifle or very heavy caliber handgun).

I have close friends who have lived on Svalbard for the last three
years, and I've been up there once on a confluence hunt/snowmobile trip:

http://confluence.org/confluence.php?visitid=8138

Standard procedure is to shoot several shots in the air first, which
almost always is enough to frighten the bear away, then most people will
then try stuff like firing off a hand flare into the bears face.

Only as an absolutely last resort can you actually kill a bear, and
there will always be a legal inquest afterwards.

One of the problems with a trank gun is that they don't make much noise,
so you can't use them to frighten the bear away, and if the bear drops
into one of the (due to polar warming) far too common breaks in the ice,
it would probably drown when falling asleep. :-(

Better let him hunt for poachers. I hear seal clubbing is still legal in
some parts of the world?


Mostly by native polar people afaik, i.e. like the inuits in
Alaska/northern Canada.

Now, how to wax for such a trip?


Easy: Blue Extra of course!

Terje

--
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"
 




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