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Week from 24 Jan to 16 Feb
 



Saturday 16 February / Email from Khatanga : the team is stuck by bad weather conditions

"Khatanga... This morning, we were ready to go. Then, suddenly, a phone call from Tiksi : due to bad weather conditions, the Tiksi airport is closed. Despite the fact that the temperature was about - 43°C. But worst weather previsons were foreseen.
So we are sitting here, waiting for the fligth. In any case, I think we could have traveled yesterday afternoon. But one never knows... Our departure for Tiksi ? Tomorrow maybe. Weather conditions permitting, of course.
As far as the military permissions are concerned for the taking off of their fleet, these problems could be resolved Monday ; the army has the last word. Having said that, they can not hold to this aircraft grounding for long. Because the big crash I told about yesterday to our QG by phone happened above Tchechenia, a region located quite far from were we are here.

Summing up : if eveything is OK, we should fly on February 18th or 19th, then from Tiksi right away by helicopter to Kotelny (New Siberian Islands), weather permitting. Ther, I nee two days for filming and shooting before we set off. Departure is then scheduled for February 22nd, most probably. The ice should be close enough now to the archipelago shore.
Thats's the latest news. All our equipment is on bord the Antonov 12. We are ready to go. Satellite communications work perfect. I hope we won't leave too late. The road is quite long over there, especially because - with good ice conditions meaning no open waters near the archipelago - we will start our trek from degree 76° and 5 to10 min North. Actually further than previously decided. We will have to walk 14 degrees until North Pole...
Alain Hubert, Khatanga, February 16th, 1pm (7am, TU)




Friday 15th February / How the news updates will work
(See here two photos sent this morning by satellite from Khatanga)

Phonecall 15/02, 2pm

After having completed the final tests - which were conclusive - of the satellite links, the team is due to leave for Tiksi this morning, and fly directly towards the starting point. We will probably find out more about this during the day.

As far as the daily (or nearly) updates of the adventure will work, the duo has already told us that during the first weeks of progress, in other words during a period when there are only approximately three hours of light each day, the links with HQ will be kept to a minimum.

Part of Compaq Pole II HQ

That is to save the batteries, of course. They can only recharge the batteries using a few solar panels carried in their baggage once the sun is higher in the sky. Which means that there will not be any photos, and only one or two minutes of satellite phone contact per day.
It has been decided that the men will call us in the evening after pitching camp, and since the expedition is 6 hours ahead of Brussels time, we shall receive the news here in Brussels in the early afternoon.


So this " LIVE " page will be updated at the end of the day in the French version, and at lunchtime the following day in the English and Dutch update versions (translation takes time).
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Francis Van Peer, the Dutch translator, the Misty Meadows company for the English translation, and Compaq (the financial aspect) for the effort that they are putting into this great adventure.



Thursday 14th February, afternoon / Just a brief update on the expedition

Everything arrived safely at Khatanga (equipment and men) and the team is carrying out the final testing of the satellite links. In fact, they are making the most of the time it takes to send the flight authorisations from Moscow to Tiksi. These are needed because it is a military flight.

When they take off for Tiksi, they will be overflying their starting point (it seems that, despite temperatures out of a different world (-50°C excluding wind chill), there is quite a lot of open water around the archipelago) and will parachute in the kerosene required (the stockpile delivered last year has disappeared) for the return flight of the MI8 helicopter to Tiksi once they have been dropped off finally at Kotelny, one of the New Siberian Islands.
While we wait, the group are slightly nervous, which is easy to understand, but everyone is in good shape.



Wednesday 13th February / Let's take advantage of the presence of the two Belgian in far-off and mysterious Siberia to find out a little about the area...

We've been busy surfing the Net for you and have browsed our way through encyclopaedias to find out more about the towns of Khatanga and Tiksi through which the Compaq Pole II team is due to pass. In fact, they arrived in Khatanga yesterday evening and are due to take another plane today for Tiksi (see map).

Below are a few useful Web addresses that will help you to find out more about these places at the ends of the earth.

(See also our picture gallery (20 photos) for which the photos were taken by Alain and Dixie during their respective training trips to northern Siberia.

 

Monday 11 February / They left Brussels on Saturday with a cameraman and a photographer

Family, some friends and journalists, a few cameras and microphones: just fifty or so well-wishers (in any case fewer than when they left for the Antarctic 4 years ago) made the trip despite the early hour to see off the Compaq Pole II expedition.

Going with them is the French photographer from Chamonix, René Robert, a renowned specialist for photographing adventures and master in difficult shooting conditions. He was the photographer selected by Alain Hubert to go with him on his The Wall in Antarctica expedition. The shots taken by René Robert were simply superb. This time around, his job will be to use the three hours or so of pallid light that glimmer in the far Siberian north at this time of the year - light from the ends of the earth, you might say - to record the expedition on film. "I also can't wait to photograph the Northern Lights," Robert told us. "It's a real challenge for photographers."
Remy Revellin, who has also been to the Antarctic with Hubert, left on Saturday morning as well; he will be working with the team for two days to simulate as many likely expedition situations as possible.

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The whole team will stop over in Moscow for two days before flying to Khatanga on 13th February. From there, they will board an Antonov 74 for Tiksi before being flown out to the islands of New Siberia in a big Russian MI8 helicopter.
The team thinks that having provided the necessary grid references for the spot they want to set out from and given the need to take pictures, they will not be setting off for real before 15th February.
Something else could also delay the expedition's departure: last year a fuel dump was set up (and paid for through the nose by the expedition) on the coast of the islands of New Siberia. If it is no longer there, it will be impossible for the MI8 to make the round trip between Tiksi and New Siberia. Unfortunately, Hubert has just learnt that this fuel dump was stolen during the winter !

 

Tuesday 29th January / Dixie Dansercoer reflects on his physical and mental training...

Back from the press conference held last week in St Petersburg (see photos), Dixie Dansercoer explains the main points of his physical preparation programme that he began 21 months ago with the assistance of Frank De Witte, who is part of the Belgian Olympic Committee (the same coach who handles Alain Hubert).

He also talks about the methods he uses for his mental training (highly unusual), which he feels is responsible for 80% of the success of his adventures.

He also tells us about the contacts he has had with some of the inmatesat Leuven prison, whose inner strength he has drawn on during his encounters with them; he explains the type of music he will be taking with him in his sledge (Andreas Vollenweider, especially, seen here in the photo), and gives details of the talks he has had with his children about his forthcoming long absence. He also talks about some of the keys for the expedition's success. For the text of the interview (numerous photos), click here.
In a few days from now, it will be Alain Hubert's turn to reveal some of the secrets of his preparation.

 

Thursday 24th January / A few words about the sledges

Today, the Compaq Pole II expedition is holding a press conference for some thirty or so Belgian and French journalists who have been invited to St Petersburg by our expedition partner, Compaq.
To mark the occasion, Hubert and Dansercoer will be taking the media out on to the Russian ice (on the Baltic Sea in the Gulf of Finland) to show them the equipment that they will be using during their Arctic crossing. They will also be giving the journalists a small taste of the atmosphere that prevails in an expedition of this kind. Pictures from this event will be published early next week.

We will return in detail during the course of the expedition to certain aspects of the work that goes into preparing for an adventure of this scale - and in particular the physical preparation that is so important in this type of challenge. Between now and the beginning of next week, we will also be publishing an interview on this topic that we conducted with Dansercoer and Frank De Witte, who has been responsible for the physical preparation of the two men.
But right now, we thought it important to give you a number of details about the manufacture of the sledges that are of such crucial importance in this type of adventure.
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The sledges for Compaq Pole II
a weighty challenge

Presentation of AERIANE

These facets of the trip may be a little on the technical side, but in view of the many specific details (rigidity, weight, buoyancy, etc.) that the designers had to contend with, it is extremely interesting to follow some of the stages involved in manufacturing the sledges and to see how a small Belgian company - Aériane - was able to come up with the right product for our two men.

By clicking on the windows opposite, you will find the specifications used for the sledges, details about how their shape was designed, an analysis of the composite materials used and information about the trials conducted in a cold storage room and in situ out in northern Siberia barely two month ago. You'll also find dimensions, plus all of the technical specifications for the sledges. There is also a profile of the small Belgian company that built them.

 


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