The Arctic Arc - Change in Direction!
The blocks can measure anything up to 3 or 4m (10-13ft) high
© International Polar Foundation
Since they left the North Pole, Alain Hubert and Dixie Dansercoer have been progressing through very difficult conditions, which has slowed them down. They are therefore late on the expedition's schedule. The technical support team which is following them has suggested that they change their direction if they still want to reach Greeenland.
On the 26th of April, Alain and Dixie reached the North Pole. Since then, they have been advancing in far tougher conditions than before: storms, days of complete white out, water and depression zones hidden by the fresh fallen snow, channels of open water, labyrinths of ice blocs several metres high to climb, etc. The fact that they had to haul their sledges on foot during 18 days without being able to put on their skis even once allows us to imagine the bad quality of the terrain. Alain described one of these dreadful days over the satphone : "[...] The blocks we are encountering can measure anything up to three or four metres (10-13ft) high! And Dixie, who was pushing from the back would begin to shout and coax with each effort, as though he were driving a beast of burden with me being the beast up in front who had to obey each injunction. We had a good laugh with that, despite the incredible effort we were having to deploy. Luckily, we can still laugh during times like this. If I hadn't already repeated this over and over again, I would say that today was one of the worst and most tiring days of the entire expedition, and we have had quite a few! But is there any point in repeating this...?".
Even if conditions have improved over the past few days, our two explorers are having to face up to reality : they have progressed more slowly than planned and they are late on their schedule. Now, the ice is already beginning to melt: remember that Alain and Dixie are on a frozen ocean, one which partly melts during summer...
To help them choose the right route to follow, a team is keeping a close eye on the "Arctic Arc" expedition. Thanks to satellite images supplied by the European Space Agency, they were able to see that the ice was already falling apart along the route our two explorers were planning to take. Alain and Dixie are therefore changing their direction and heading more to the east, in order to try and reach Greenland before the sea ice starts breaking up. This change in itinerary will allow them to shorten by 300 kilometres the remaining distance they still have to cover before they reach dry land!
