Thirsday April 12th : The first rushes of the film...

Si vous ne parvenez pas à visionner la vidéo (886k), procédez comme suit : 1/ En cliquant ici, ou sur le logo, charger le QuickTime Player et son plugin. 2/ Une fois cette opération terminée, cliquer ici pour charger le fichier vidéo Les fichiers vidéo étant très lourds, leur chargement peut prendre quelques minutes

Here are the first rushes of the video taken by the The Wall Expedition.

As and when they arrive, we will publish on this page some mini-cuts (made by our team) so that visitors can get a clearer, and especially a more vivid, idea of the extreme conditions in which the ascents of this expedition unfolded.

While waiting for the film to be made, we already have an outline from the Production Company that is making the film, as sent to us by Michel from Wouters Production.

 

 

IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS NOTHING...

With the Antarctic as its point of departure, the subject of the film is a contemplation of the great issues for the future of humanity and of the planet.
The film is structured along three lines:

Hubert and Dansercoer are hard at work finalising the choice of and the material for the sledges (they could also be called projectiles in view of their technical capabilities) that they are going to use for their great crossing next year. (See map below).

The task is exceedingly delicate. And here's why.

Hubert had been impressed by the know-how of a German firm called Akapulka ; it was they who had manufactured the sledge for the Norwegian explorer, Borge Ousland, for his solo crossing of the Arctic pack. So he got in touch with this SME and the decisions were more or less made: it would be Akapulka who would be responsible for next year's sledges - Ousland of course being a cast-iron reference.

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Only whoops: nobody had expected Ousland's sledge to crack at the beginning of the expedition, obliging the Norwegian to change sledges and soon thereafter to abandon the "unassisted" aspect of his adventure (see our following of Ousland). A huge disappointment for him.

On the other hand, one can well imagine the fall-out of this incident on the Hubert clan! Something absolutely had to be done. All the more so as the sledge delivered by Akapulka for Alain's and Dixie's training in Siberia (which should be starting as early as next week) was not much of a success.

Sur At this juncture, a crackpot glider and a wizard of composite materials, Bernard Bleeckx (in the middle of the photograph with Marc Dumont of Famenne Plastics, on the left) came to join the group. The owner of an SME (Aeriane) with an international reputation for constructing ultra-light gliders, Bleeckx had been researching composite materials for more than three months; it was a matter of finding the best possible compromise between rigidity and flexibility.

So that is now the crucial choice facing Hubert and Dansercoer. Depending on the results of the comparative tests that are to be made after Easter - for a fortnight - in the Great Siberian North, they should effectively be choosing a rigid sledge (à la Borge and Akapulka) and a flexible sledge as preferred by Bleeckx and Dumont. Both types of projectile will effectively be part of the journey; it will not be a question of handling them carefully, and the future expedition's success will depend on them…