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Each
day the men get closer to the moment when they will be able to finally
unleash their Identified Flying Objects (sails) and throw themselves
into the mad pursuit of the clock, on an ice pack the size of Belgium. The 4th Episode of the Exploits of Nansen
The
two men are not worried. Of course, they know that they are running
very late in comparison with the planned schedule (about 25 km per
day) but they say that they are not beaten by any means. Quite the
opposite, in fact. They know that the one thing that is typical
of adventure is that it changes all the time, and for the moment,
they are only adapting to their surroundings. Adapting little by
little, one foot in front of the other, as the Reverend Didier Goetghebuer,
Alain's former adventuring companion put it, to conserve as much
strength as possible, and put in a spurt when the opportunity arises
to go as far as possible. A
day of fine weather, 6½ hours' walking, still no skis on
their feet, very cold temperature (-35°C), only two leads of
open water. Extreme concentration by the two men on their subject.
It no longer gets completely dark in their tent at night.
Finally, the ice is becoming more open. The floes on which the duo are travelling are becoming more extensive and thicker. There are fewer ridges which characterise the hummocks (areas where the sheets of ice have collided), and areas of open water are fortunately less frequent. That is what made Alain say a little while ago that they have "reached a different landscape". Reassuring news for adventurers and backup team alike.
This morning, we have received, via the
l'iPaq
7 hours' walking today, -32° C (the coldest day since the start of the exhibition, because of the wind), splendid weather.
The day before leaving, Alain Hubert took an hour off at HQ, switched off his mobile and ruminated a little on the situation as a whole. This
short break enabled Alain to talk not only about his training methods
- often comparing them with those of his expedition partner - but
also about the feelings he was Open
the body of the release here
That's
the limit! While Dixie and Alain are experiencing the worst conditions
for making progress that you can imagine (since the start, exactly
30 days ago, they have worn their skis for a grand total of 4 hours!)
they are now facing a totally unexpected obstacle: a North wind
and a negative westward drift, i.e. a drift that is "pushing
them backwards" towards the Siberian coast. Not content to
toil away like slaves in the time of the pyramids, now they have
to fight to avoid going backwards ! For
the first time, antarctica.org is publishing some videos about our
expeditions - 15 film clips so far. Click on the icon on the right
and, above all, read the warnings shown at the top of our "Video"
page.
Their impression that the terrain is becoming gradually more open has been confirmed, and the areas where they can ski are more expansive. "Finally, we think it is the weight of the skis that is making gliding impossible", Dixie told us a little while ago. "Once they are a bit lighter, we will be able to glide better, that's for sure". An
other abandon on the ice pack...
Second expedition abandoned on the Arctic ice floe : we have just learnt that the Australian pair of Jarvis and Treseder (on the route Arktishevski -> North Pole) were picked up on the same day as Chinese adventurer Liu Shaoshuang. At present, we do not know what caused them to give up (" Peter was suffering severe frostbite on his left foot ", says the press release) . But it is certain that these polar regions are not readily practicable this year. Tomorrow, we will be publishing our new video page, with a dozen fascinating clips, including the pictures of our two ice-men starting out.
To
display the previous follow up pages, click on the related week
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Saturday 30 March (day 34) : 
experiencing
at such an important moment in his adventure, as well as his job
as boss and expedition leader. It was a recurring theme of the expedition/adventure/business.
The
photos published today (the two photos below, the pair of walruses
and rear view of Alain).are the first that we have received (via
Compaq's iPaq) since the team started out onto the ice. These
photos have only been received now because the sun is higher on
the horizon, so the men can recharge their batteries more easily
and therefore take care of sending the photos.
While
at this end of the adventure, we are rather concerned about the
slow progress, at the sharp end, far away on the ice floe, where
no human being has ever set foot, the two men are in high spirits.
It is true that they can't use their skis yet, but they are walking.
One foot in front of the other, like madmen, to use one of the terms
employed in today's satellite conversation, and trailing the sleds
behind them, like the heaviest of burdens. Result: 7 km today in
8 hours' walking, counting the 400 metres of westward drift observed
during the night. They consider that they have "worked"
hard. 
However,
they could have done better if Dixie had not found himself face
to face (or almost) with a bear when he went a short distance from
the tent to answer a call of nature. However, this time, the animal
was far less inquisitive than those who came to pay them a courtesy
call the other day, 