Monday June 17th : About Training Periods.

In a few days, after having visited St Petersburg in order to prepare the press conference of Compaq Pole II, Alain Hubert is travelling to the Himalayas. Together with a large Belgian Alpine Club's Expedition, he is going to climb both Gasherbrum I and II (in Karakoram, Pakistan), respectively 8 068 et 8 035 metres. For more details concerning this belgian expedition, go to this url : http://users.swing.be/gasherbrum/fr/indexfr.htm (unfortunately not available in English).

Hubert is going to climb with his old friend, swiss alpinist André Georges who was one of the 5 climbers of The Wall Expedition in Antarctica last winter. André Georges is in the process of climbing the 14 8 000 meters summits. He has conquered 9 so far ; should he succeed, he would thus total 11 summits.

An other member of this belgian expedition is portugese alpinist Joao Garcia. He was at the Everest in 1999 when his friend Belgian Pascal Debrouwer died. One recalls that Joao came back to the base camp with frozen toes and fingers (see our Expedition 99 report, see also our Everest Gallery).

Antarctica.org is not going to cover "Live" this expedition, only we'll publish updates once or twice a week.

As far as Dixie Dansercoer is concerned, we can read on his website (circles.cc)

Let the countdown begin... After our successful training on and around the North Pole in April, where Alain and myself again found ourselves very much in tune with the Polar habitat, we went back to work.
With all of the major characters in place for the cast of the "Compaq Pole II" expedition, "The Ultimate Arctic Crossing", only details need to be taken care of.
Most of the phases of pre-expedition labor has become known terrain, but that does not mean that we can allow ourselves to just copy the work of our previous expeditions. We have to rethink everything, fine-tune the minutest details and start our "weight-watching " program (weight down for equipment, weight up for the body!).
The sledge, for example, still has to pass the final tests, the new waterproof suit is carefully being designed, the power kites are upped in size, the food is aspiring a Michelin-star.... The list of things to do is as always endless, but fun!

On the physical level I started a rigorous training program about a year ago now, on June 21, 2000, guided by Frank Dewitte, affiliated with the Belgian International Olympic Committee.

Cardio-vascular Training : running, biking, pulling tires.
Power Training : a back correction program and all-round strength increasing weight training.
Technical Training : Wind- and kite surfing, skiing, weather conditions allowing.
Mental Training : Reading expedition accounts and acquiring information on the Arctic / Yoga and meditation / Simulation of difficulties / Listening to and learning from people in need / Practicing visualization.

 

By the end of the month of September ALL of our equipment should be ready for the final tests in the field. Greenland will be the testing grounds in November and by the month of December, every little detail should be in place.

The departure of their next expedition Compaq Pole II, the Ultimate Arctic Traverse is foreseen for early February 2002 The Press Conference of this Expedition will be held in St Petersburg during the last week of January