Sunday 17th March (day 21): is the terrain really improving at last? Possibly...

Sunday, 11 am, satellite telephone / Good news today : first of all, the chaotically bumpy ground of the previous days seems to be less dreadful than it was - the men were able to take advantage of the covering of snow left overnight to enjoy a few hours of smooth progress; and second, a fresh attempt with the 21 sq.m. parafoil saw them scudding along, covering 5 km in under 50 minutes.

Since they left on 25th February, Alain and Dixie have covered a total of 180 km, but have only actually advanced 168 km to the North. Awful weather this evening, no visibility, 7 hours on the move, minus 30°C, a few tracks of a mother bear and her two cubs, morale is good...

Saturday 16 March (day 20) : An unexpected visitor

Excellent satellite (Iridum) link today, which enabled us to make the acquaintance of Dixie and Alain's new travelling companion - an enormous and superb walrus.
This magnificent animal used his tusks to break the ice that the two men had just crossed (this episode took place just a few hours ago, so you can see that we are tracking our two adventurers closely). The beast then decided to come and lie down about thirty metres from the tent, taking his ease in the evening on a patch of young ice, where he took great pleasure in breaking the ice again. Chilly and scary... Let's hope that this polar mammal does not come too close or disturb the walkers while they are sleeping...

We use the word "walkers" with some justification : because apart from a few rare moments of good conditions for gliding over the ice, the two men are still very much making their way on foot. The ice is still as chaotic and bumpy as ever - and still just as bad for skis and sledge runners alike. The men are still suffering physically and their muscles are taking a battering. And Alain is still as unbelieving as ever about the dreadful condition of the pack ice. "We have reached the shallows," he explained an hour ago, "so I expect the ice will start to get better. But at the moment, I am afraid of the high equinox tides. We don't know where we're going. It's very, very tough..."

Wednesday 13th March, 3 pm. All adventurers or explorers worthy of the name are unanimous on this point: when you undertake an assignment like this, and especially over such difficult terrain, there is always a moment - generally at the beginning of the expedition - when the players make a breakthrough. This 'frontier' is usually determined by a significant event of some sort. For some it might be adapting to the climate after struggling to do so for a number of days, while for others it could be a geographic area conquered or a specific problem overcome. Or it might be going through a new level of achievement in which the criteria of the adventure all come together in perfect harmony.
As far as Alain and Dixie are concerned, without them actually having said anything about it during their satellite (Iridium) slot - so this is only pure interpretation on our part, but we have got to know them a little by now - we are certain that some sort of breakthrough was made today. During their crossing of the Antarctic, Alain wrote to us after reaching the polar plateau and experiencing the most dreadful blizzards - so a couple of weeks or so of being underway - that he felt the 7th continent had just accepted them into its inner sanctum.

It's a bit like that this time. They have in fact just come through the toughest of all the 17 first days. It has been a day worthy of the more difficult moments the men experienced in 1994 during their trek to the North Pole. "I said to Dixie," explained Alain two hours ago, in a rather subdued voice, "that we have now really entered the real Arctic." He means that have reached the stage where a man's strength is just about at its outer limits, where the real struggle begins, where the dialogue between man and the elements comes into play. Thus far, they have experienced some difficult days. But this time, they have entered another world. We are sure that in a few days from now, Hubert will say, "The Arctic, my dear Michel, has finally let us in..."
So what have these particular difficulties been? The ice and the ability to 'glide' over it, which is worse than ever; the two men have been obliged to progress virtually on the tips of their boots and their crampons, puffing and panting like beasts of burden that have to go through hell just to get their sledges moving forwards. If they don't, nothing moves. The whole kit and caboodle stays where it is. When they finally manage to get into some sort of rhythm, they either stumble across a crack in the ice which slows them down, or they come up against an ice mound that requires them to adjust to a new set of movements, hence losing the benefit of the automatic actions that had enabled them to move forward for the previous few minutes...
So that's it: their entire day has been set against this uncomfortable backdrop. Our men can see no end to the hell before them. But it can't be said that they are demoralised or discouraged. Far from it. But they have before them a question that no-one can answer : how much longer will they have to labour against the odds?.

Tuesday 12 March (Day 16) : The effort required is inhuman, but they are making progress...

This evening, the two men are sleeping on an ice sheet the size of a basketball court. With hummocked ice all round them and, just for a change, not a bear track in sight. While we are on the subject of bears, we learnt this morning from the people at Cerpolex (logistics) that there is a tiny island situated a few hundred meters from Cape Arnisiy (from where the men set out) which is renowned as a real polar bear reserve. So it is hardly surprising that they met some during the first few days.

This evening, Alain and Dixie are extremely happy with their day's work because, despite the difficult ice and the horrible gliding conditions for the sleds, they covered 14.3 km including a drift of 3.3 km. That means 11 km traveled by the effort of their hips, pelvis and arms. Another encouraging sign is that fact that, for the second day in succession, they have not had to cross leads of open water; even if the ice where they are is still young and fragile, it seems that the ice-floe is less disjointed and in a few days, they should be crossing flatter terrain.
The temperature remains a "mild" - 20°C, the equipment is OK, their morale is high, their strength is unshakeable. They have traveled 138.6 km since the start, at a daily average of about 9.5 km.

Monday 11 March (Day 15) : First day without open water, but not without chaos...

Monday 2 pm. "It's hard to imagine," explained Dixie on the telephone, "that while we haven't had to deal with any more open water since this morning, we are still faced with an indescribable chaos of ice that we have to negotiate with sledges that seem to weigh a ton... It's hard work..."

Setting out at 10 am, Alain and Dixie marched for 6 and a half hours today. No question of getting their skis out. Underneath the snow covering the ice (it snowed last week), there is a morass of seawater that prevents any ski or sledge runner from sliding over the surface. It's like white mud... And it is sapping the strength of our adventurers.
"We really can't do any more than we are," explained Alain, as if to justify himself. "By the evening we're absolutely shattered and in any event, we couldn't go any faster without taking too many risks. At first glance, the terrain doesn't promise to be any better tomorrow... We just have to wait, we're fit and healthy, but this initial part of the expedition has been exhausting. Having said that, we've been filming quite a lot because the Northern Lights are still as extraordinary as they were on the first few days, and we've been taking plenty of photos, too. Still not possible to send any because we have a few battery problems. Dixie has been taking good care of me, nursing my fingers, and in the morning he smokes a pipe before starting the day, which smells good... Morale is excellent. We just have to wait for the better days..."
Departure at 10 am, nearly 7 hours on the move, temperature less harsh: minus 20° C...

Sunday 10th March (day 14) : Coo-ee, they're back!

It wasn't the batteries that were showing signs of weakness, as we intimated yesterday; the reason why the men had not called for the previous two days was simply because communication with the satellite (Iridium) wasn't getting through. Having said that, the battery recharge tests carried out have proved positive, so there is nothing more to worry about in that direction.

Not a lot of news to report under the Northern Lights of the Arctic since the previous call (7th March); the surface of the pack ice is still as bad as before and poor for skis and sledge runners, but the compression zones (where the edges of the ice floes are forced upwards as they jostle against one another) are already less high and the ground is more stable. This leads us to believe that the condition of the terrain should improve soon. On the other hand, the day before yesterday, it snowed out on the pack ice (10 -> 40 cm), which has not made it any easier for the two men to make progress.

Alain and Dixie are coming across polar bear tracks everywhere (a mother and her cubs, an old solitary male), they have sighted their first seal and, as can be heard from the sound clip of the day, they have become expert at crossing the areas of open water ('leads'). They are also in excellent spirits and the big boss's frostbite appears to be healing slowly. Which has given Dixie the chance to play duty nurse...
Today, bad weather, 7 hours on the go, another short but very positive trial with the parafoils, light northerly wind..

Thursday 7 March (day 11) : 16,8 km, first good day

Wednesday 6 March (day 10) : A big, big fright yesterday...

6 March 2 pm / 6th March 2 pm / The men are still experiencing great difficulty in making progress over terrain that couldn't be worse. For example: they arrive at a compression zone, which they more or less manage to negotiate - it takes an hour or more of very hard work. Then suddenly, without them realising it of course, they reach a small dip in the ice, perhaps five or six metres deep. In the bottom of the dip is a stretch of twenty to thirty metres of frozen water, but the ice is not thick enough for them to get across. On the other side is the same sort of steep bank, flanked by enormous sliding blocks of ice complete with sharp, cutting edges. Then, when they finally climb out after negotiating this particular difficulty, they find more hummocks... More icy quagmire. Hmm, water... Do we go through it, over it? Do we turn back to try and find a way round it? Don't be silly! Not after all that hard work of the past hour. OK, let's try and get through...They have to get through. And they do... Yesterday, they crossed a channel over 500 metres wide. Today, as Alain jumped on his sledge, which was already in the water, he sank up to his knees in the water. "We've become like real cowboys," explained Dixie...

When you realise that this scenario presents itself two, three or four times a day, you can better understand why it is they are having such a problem making any fast progress.
This evening the temperature is not so bad: minus 25°C. Overcast. Gentle wind from the south-south-east. Dixie has a small gift for Alain: some dried seaweed, luxury... 7 hours on the move.

6 March 9 am / Yesterday was a very scary day, as we gathered from the news over the satellite (Iridium) slot for the day; at around two in the afternoon, a large polar bear became very threatening and twice approached to within 20 metres of the two men.While Dixie was filming what was going on, Hubert tried to frighten the animal as much as possible. On the first occasion, he waited until the bear was quite close to them (20 metres) before firing a first shot, which did not frighten the bear particularly. It simply recoiled a few steps, that's all, 4 or 5 metres at the most. When it "charged" for the second time, the animal zigzagged towards them and Hubert waited until it came even closer - around fifteen metres away, he tells us - before firing a second shot. This time the penny dropped and the huge polar mammal seemed to get the message, because it left the spot where the men were and didn't come back.
But their adventures with polar bears are not over yet, because having barely left the water after navigating with difficulty for 500 m across some misty and highly mysterious water (on the surface of which floated a two-centimetre layer of ice which the men had to break with each stroke of their paddles - spades - to propel the sledges forward), and looking for somewhere to pitch their tent of the night, Alain and Dixie again spotted fresh bear tracks... As they called us in the middle of the night, which was the early morning where they are, we know that last night at least, they were not disturbed by these majestic white-haired intruders...

Monday 4th March (day 8) : It's real Hell...

Yesterday, morale was high with the two men; today, they seemed rather overwhelmed with the enormity of what they are doing. The surface they are having to cross looks very much like a minefield over which skis and runners - them again - are finding the going very tough. Not to say impossible; Dixie and Alain have to manhandle the sledges together over the difficult parts, which of course makes three trips instead of one.

Sure, there is some flat terrain from time to time, which has also allowed them to test their parafoils again and to reassure themselves that when the ground finally lets them, they'll be able to fly like the wind. And the wind is ideal, too: 30km/h from the right direction, south-south-east. "Hell doesn't even come close..." were Alain's first words during today's satellite slot (as a reminder they are using the Iridium system). "An animal wouldn't do what we're doing. It's as though someone has filled our sledges with bricks and we're hauling them along country tracks to try them out... It's inhuman...OK, we shouldn't complain too much - but all the same, we didn't expect to have to work so hard... Having said that, my frostbite is a little better, but I did have 7 fingers affected." Dixie has had some problems with his feet, but they're also on the mend..."
This is the first day on which the men have been on the move for 7 hours. In view of the fact that where they are it gets dark at 4 pm and they need three hours to pack up their camp in the morning, they could hardly be doing any better at the moment...