North Pole: Irish team injured and evacuated - update: Norwegians also off
Posted: Mar 18, 2014 07:51 am EDT
(By Correne Coetzer, updated Mar 18, 16:30 EDT) Update: The Norwegians, Lars Flesland and Kristoffer Glestad, also aborted their expedition. They have been evacuated on the same plane as the Irish team, March 17, reported Lars Ebbesen from their home team to ExWeb. The two men started on March 15.
Mar 18, 2014 07:51 am EDT:
Mike O'Shea and Clare O’Leary flew off the ice yesterday and are now back in Resolute Bay, reported Cian from the Irish home team to ExplorersWeb. They both sustained injuries on Sunday, March 16, when lowering their sled over a large ice block. "The block slipped causing the sled to fall on them and Mike injured his back, Clare her knee. Kenn Borek were scheduled for a resupply flight yesterday and were able to land and pick up the team."
The Eric Larsen, Ryan Waters, Lars Flesland and Kristoffer Glestad have been thrown into the deep side of the Arctic Ocean, so to speak, with the start for their ski expedition to the North Pole. Waiting for them were the up-to-two-meter-high ice blocks and pressure ridges, and the extreme cold.
Solo Yasu Ogita measured -40ºC.
Canada to Geographic North Pole
Unsupported, Unassisted:
Yasu Ogita, Japan solo
The Japanese home team sent over the following reports to ExplorersWeb:
March 15th
location: N83º 22.717, W077º44.176
Distance covered: 5.1km
Weather: Clear
Temperature: -35ºC
His physical condition is very good says Yasu. "My soar molar is getting better. I am still struggling with accumulated snow and rough ice but my mental condition is getting more stable and feeling better."
March 16th:
Location: N83º26.005, W077º48.881
Distance: 6.2km
Weather: Clear
Temperature: -40ºC
Yasu reported, his "soar molar is gone" and physical condition is very good. "Found a big water sky on the West of current position. A big lead should be opened expect SW – NE direction.”
Lars Flesland and Kristoffer Glestad, Norway
The guys were struggling with the cold, and in the tent their feet were giving them problems, reported Lars Ebbesen from their home team on their website. "It is very difficult to balance this in the beginning as you acclimatize, gain experience and have to move on to get over the very crushed areas of rubble ice."
Distances reported: 6 km, 9 km.
Eric Larsen and Ryan Waters, USA
Eric, who has done this route successfully twice before, writes he always forgets how brutal of a transition it is from normal life to being on an expedition.
Day 2, March 16, they spent the day "quagmired in older pack ice. Huge chunks of various shapes and sizes all drifted in. I was skeptical when I heard about two meter high rafted ice and pressure ridges. The reports were accurate. This is bad ice. So bad that we had to relay the sleds all day - Ryan and I together each pulling one sled then going back for the second.
Day 3 started with grey, overcast, snowy weather. The men managed to work their way through "a huge mess of slabs, rubble, ridges and who knows what else for most of the morning. It was difficult to say the least,” said Eric. They were wearing snow shoes on this terrain.
Distances covered:
Day 2: 1.18 nautical miles / 2.19 km
Day 3: 1.6 nm / 2.96 km
Canada to Geographic North Pole
Unsupported, Unassisted:
Clare O’Leary and Mike O’Shea (Ierland)
Their last available position was March 16th (the day they were injured):
N83.669066, W077.012133
Distance covered: 7.77Km
The team had already covered a total distance of 60 km. This was Clare’s forth attempt and Mike’s third.
A note on the distances: They are calculated in a straight line from where the skiers start in the mornings and end in the evenings. What is not added, are all the detours around high ridges, ice blocks, rubble or leads (open water). Also not added are the negative drift and relaying sleds.
A North Pole expedition covers the full distance between land and the Pole (90ºN).
The Cape Discovery route (Canada) to the Geographic North Pole is 780 km.
Ward Hunt Island (Canada) start point calculates at 775 km.
Geographic North Pole is at 90ºN
1996 position of the Magnetic North Pole:
78° 35'42.00"N, 104° 11’54.00”W
Resolute Bay: 74° 41.808N, 094° 49.402W
Follow the teams' blogs (those with RSS feeds) in the live News Stream on Explorersweb.
Previous/Related
North Pole Norwegians and Americans flying to Cape Discovery - updated landed and skiing
NASA: Warm Rivers Play Role in Arctic Sea Ice Melt
Norwegian North Pole team talking to ExWeb from the high Canadian Arctic
North Pole 2014: first skiers flying to their start point
Dmitry Shparo's Top 5 North Pole Tips
Irish North Pole team checking in at ExWeb from Resolute Bay
The cost of Arctic travel: Jerry Kobalenko talks to ExWeb
Yasunaga Ogita talking to ExWeb from the high Canadian Arctic
North Pole 2014 full route ski expedition list
ExWeb interview with Ryan Waters, "an unwritten and unexplainable mental edge”
ExWeb interview with Eric Larsen, "a mix of poetry and hell to the North Pole”
ExWeb interview with Bernice Notenboom, the Arctic and the world’s climate
Ray Zahab and team Baffin Island run 2014
Vincent Cochin to sledge-haul 2300km Canada to Greenland
Teams starting from Cape Discovery, Ellesmere Island, to the Geographic North Pole (90ºN)
Unassisted, Unsupported:
Yasu Ogita, Japan, solo
(start March 7)
YouTube
Team Eric Larsen and Ryan Waters
Last North Expedition:
(start March 15)
Eric Larsen, USA
Ryan Waters, USA
Mountain Professionals Facebook
Team Kristoffer Glestad (24), Norway and
Lars Mangerud Flesland (25), Norway
(start March 15)
Assisted, Unsupported:
Irish team Clare O'Leary and Mike O’Shea
The Ice Project Expedition
(start March 7)
Starting from Geographic North Pole (90N) to Canada
Assisted, Unsupported
'Arctic March' team:
Eric Philips, Australia
Bernice Notenboom, The Netherlands / Canada
Martin Hartley, UK
1996 Magnetic North Pole
Matt Stowers and Kev O’Brien
(Aborted)
Northern Exposure live tracker
Canada to Greenland (Kugaaruk and Qaanaaq)
Vincent Cochin
(start March 3, aborted March 12)
Blog (personal)
Blog (Nanook expedition)
Follow blog posts in the live News Stream on ExplorersWeb.
Weather links:
The Arctic Weather products link on the Canadian Ice Service IPY Legacy page
Two-day sea ice drifts for the whole Arctic Ocean on the Danish DMI website
ENVISAT ASAR images on the Polarview website
Canada Weather Office satellite image
NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory
University of Illinois cryosphere images
Wayne Davidson’s Extremely High Horizon Refraction
#polar #northpole2014
courtesy Eric Larsen, SOURCE
courtesy Eric Larsen, SOURCE
courtesy Lars Flesland and Kristoffer Glestad, SOURCE
courtesy Arctic Ice Drift Maps 2013 : Image from http://www.arctic.noaa.gov / Mike O Shea and Clare O Leary, SOURCE