HEAVY STORMS ON THE SEDNA WINTERING IN THE WATERS OF ANTARCTIC PENINSULA

May 21st 2006
The entire crew of the sailing ship Sedna from the Antarctic Mission, which is spending the winter in the waters off the Antarctic Peninsula, has suffered terribly at the hands of Eolus, the god of the winds in recent days. First, there was a storm that struck during the night on 8th May when the boat was riding at anchor in a small bay, sheltering from the furies of the sea, which contrived to break all of the mooring lines, forcing the crew to change bay in the middle of the night and thread its way through threatening rocks as the waves threw everything they could at the boat... Then, a few days later, there was another tremendous storm at the new anchorage. What happened, as chef de mission Jean Lemire describes in his daily update, was that "the wind blew non-stop at over 100 km/h for three days. There wasn’t a night when we could get a wink’s sleep, or a day when from first light we weren’t out there rejigging our mooring system for all we were worth..."


ARCTIC ICE COVER FALLS TO RECORD WINTER LOW

May 20th 2006
From an article published in the Guardian and written by David Adam : "Record amounts of the Arctic ocean failed to freeze during the recent winter, new figures show, spelling disaster for wildlife and strengthening concerns that the region is locked into a destructive cycle of irreversible climate change. Satellite measurements show the area covered by Arctic winter sea ice reached an all-time low in March, down some 300,000 square kilometres on last year -an area bigger than the UK. ..."


ARNESEN/BANCROFT'S TRANSARCTIC OCEAN POSTPONED UNTIL 2007

Due to the request from sponsors, the fact that it is the International Polar Year 2007/08;- I have postponed the attempt to cross the Arctic Ocean from Russia via the North Pole and further on to Canda until February 2007. This is going to be very positive for the educational curriculums connected to this expeditions about all the environmental questions linked to the Arctic Ocean and the Barent Sea Region. Ann Bancroft & Liv Arnesen

Their website

BEN SAUNDERS BACK FROM A TRAINING EXPEDITION IN GROENLAND (May 15th - June 10th)

Saturday June 12th

Having been to the Arctic Ocean three times and reached the North Pole twice (see our follow-ups), British explorer Ben Saunders is this time turning his attention to the Antarctic. We don't yet know the details of what he intends to attempt in this part of the world, but we do know that the adventure will be “ground-breaking” as his website puts it (of course) and that it will be taking place during the next southern summer period.
In the meantime, Saunders is doing some serious preparation by setting out for a month in Greenland with his partner for the forthcoming expedition (Tony) to test the various items of equipment they will be taking with them - tent, communication equipment, food, sledges, harnesses, skis, etc. He is telling the day-by-day story of this pre-adventure on his website, exactly as though he were embarking on a normal expedition.

Visit his website

FRENCH TRAVELLERS GO FOR A TRANSGROENLAND TREK

Friday June 11th

To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the death of French explorer Paul Emile Victor (1907-1995) and pay him homage by so doing, two French polar journey enthusiasts decided to undertake a 600-km east-west crossing of Greenland on skis, from Kangerlussuaq to Tasiilaq. The two men were Olivier Pezeron, 37, mountaineer, and Arnaud Fauvet, 27, mountaineer and engineer.

They set out on 4th June.
Day 1: 8 hours 40 minutes of skiing, covering 22 km, into the wind, crevasses.
Day 2, 5th June: 25 km covered.
7th June: 12 hours 30 minutes of skiing, 22 km covered.
8th June: "Yesterday and today we did almost 40 km and changed altitude by 250,” wrote Olivier Pezeron . “Everything is going terrifically well, there's fog all around us. We are totally on schedule. Unfortunately, the weather is not great; we still have a strong head wind against us in the region of 30 to 40 km/h, which is slowing our progress a bit..."

Visit their website


DISAGREEMENT BETWEEN RUSSIANS AND FRENCHMEN

Thursday March 31st

Because of a serious disagreement prevailing between russian authorities and the french TO Cerpolex (the french company which takes care of the logisitics for the polar expeditions leaving from Cape Arktichewski and trying either to cross the Arctic ocean or to reach North Pole - since years and with great success) has deciced it could not assure anymore the security of the three expeditions being on the ice for the moment. These are : duo Bancroft/Arnesen (for the entire crossing), Pole Track Expedition and Ann Daniels who was attempting a solo trek to North Pole. Therefore Cerpolex has decided to fly and pick up the three teams on the ice. Two MI8 helicopters left Khatanga yesterday night, overnighted on Stredny Island and left cape Arktichewski this morning at 7.15 TU. They had to go over there anyway to resupply to the three teams.
For the time being, we do not have yet any news from this operation. But one can already be sure that there will be a great disappointment for these expeditions - it's the first time such a situation exists. And that this polar affair is not over yet...
More news later in the day when the MI8 come back from the pack.


Scientists dig world's oldest ice from Antarctica

Sunday January 16th

The oldest ice ever found has been pulled out of a deep hole in Antarctica to give scientists hints about the weather nearly one million years ago, before the evolution of mankind.
Heinz Miller of Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Oceanographic Rearch AWI, who heads the drilling project, said it had stopped at a depth of 3270 metres as it approached a zone of slush, where the ice had been melted by heat from the Earth's mantle.

Nasa says : " It's a clash of the titans... "

Tuesday January 11th

A giant iceberg the size of Long Island is on a collision course with a floating glacier in Antarctica — and it could cause a smash so big, it will be best seen from space.
NASA scientists say the 100-mile-long iceberg, dubbed B-15 A, is set to crash into the Drygalski Ice Tongue near the McMurdo Research Station on the coast of Antarctica by the end of this week.


JAN MELA : 16-year old disabled reached both Poles

Friday December 31st

Marek Kaminski, Wojciech Ostrowski and the youngest team member Jan Mela reached the South Pole on December 31st. They completed successfully their goal of reaching both poles in one year. This April the small team from Poland already undertook an unique expedition. 15-year old disabled Jan Mela got the chance to overcome the limits of his body and conquered the North Pole together with Marek Kaminski (Polish adventurer and expedition leader). This took place in April of this year and ended with huge success.


COOK - PEARY : history to be cleared up ?

Saturday October 30th

British explorer Tom Avery has announced on Friday 29th October at the Royal Geographic Society that he will lead a team of explorers to the North Pole in a bid to solve the greatest polar mystery of all time. Tom and his team are aiming to recreate Commander Robert Peary's disputed expedition of April 1909, when he claims to have discovered the North Pole in record 38 days.
American explorer, Commander Robert Peary is arguably one of the most driven polar explorers, and although little known outside of the polar community he is described as one of the greatest explorers that ever lived.  Mystery and controversy surround his polar expedition of 1909, in which it is claimed he (and Matthew Henson) discovered the North Pole - since then the polar community has disputed this claim worldwide with a few exceptions.  The expedition aims to verify his claim once and for all, proving that he reached the 'top of the world' in the extraordinary speeds he claimed.  This has not been done before.

Tom and his team aims to prove the Peary sceptics wrong and match the 38 day record.  In nearly a century of polar exploration, the quickest journey to the North Pole, since Peary's was completed, used modern travel techniques and took 42 days.  The team will be using replicas of the original wooden sledges and a team of Canadian Eskimo Husky dogs.

Tom will make the announcement on Friday morning at the Royal Geographic Society,1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR (entrance via Exhibition Road) - there will be a team of Canadian Eskimo Husky Dogs and a replica of the original sledge....... we also have available footage taken from Tom's recent trips and his training sessions in Baffin Island Northern Canada.