News
The South Pole 2006
December 8th
Borge Ousland and Fredrick Syberg arrived happy and healthy at the South Pole this morning (8 December 05) at about 10:00 am. They are South Pole's first skiing visitors of the season. A third Norwegian, Jan Warbo is expected to arrive tomorrow.
December 1st.
Yesterday was a really hard day due to the altitude. The atmosphere is
alot thinner here, so it feels alot higher than it really is. The body
feels like it's on 3000m, we feel this through our resting pulse over
100, slight headache, lack of hunger and other signs of mild mountain
sickness. This made the walking yesterday very tough, and in addition it
was very cold (35 degrees below and wind from the east). We walked 19
kilometers in 9 hours. We're hoping for a better day today so it'll be a
little easier to walk. We are all doing good. Jan Erik experienced the
same problems we did. He's a couple of kilometers on our side, but
walked the same distance so we're on the sam course.
Comments from Fredrik:
Yesterday I had the toughest ski trip of my life. If you take everything
you've ever learned about skiing on the south pole and double it up 10
times, you'll be pretty close to our ski trip yesterday. It's hard,
nothing comes free here, and for every step you take you are reminded
that the pulk needs to be dragged along aswell. With 35 degrees below,
this is, as Børge already said, very tough. And if Børge thinks it's
hard, you can imagine how it is for me, but every day is one step closer
to our goal. We're having some breakfast now and then we're ready for a
new trip. Everything will look brighter once we're done with day 2.
November 30th
We are finally moving. The weather was on our side yesterday, and we were able to take off and landed at 88 14 on the plateau.We had a chance to walk a few hours before we camped. Fredrik and I (Børge) walked to the left and Jan Erik by himself a kilometer to the right. Sverre and Ståle flew on down to the south pole to ski sail back to Patriot Hills.
We're doing great, the weather is cold, approximately 35 degrees below and the sun is shining. It's comfortable inside the tent, dispite the rather cold weather and we're happy to finally be on our way.
Some comments from Fredrik
We have finally come out of Patriot Hills after a long week down there, a week that was too long. It feels good to come up here to Børges home.
We have no problems, our eyes are fine. The temprature is freaking cold, but we're handling it. I have a little greeting I wish to send out to Bente Erlandsen. I'm walking this trip for you Bente Erlandsen.
November 29th
Unfortunately, the weather started to act up again, so we had to stay at Patriot Hill yet another day. We have now packed up all our equipment and it is sitting in the plane waiting for us. The weather is clearer now so we hope we can get off in about an hour.
November 28th
We are finally moving. We will fly out in about an hour. The plan is to fly out even though the weather in Patriot Hills is still bad. The weather further south is good. The pilot has said that he's willing to take the trip, so we'll just have to try. Hopefully we'll be landing on Teals mountain first, were we'll stop for gas. Then go 88 degrees south where Jan Erik, Fredrik and I (Børge) will hop off. Sverre and Ståle will go a little further down to the south pole where they'll start ski sailing back to Patriot Hills.
In other news, things have been a little chaotic down here, a climber broke his leg on the mountain Vinson and we had to pick him up.
We're happy to finally get going.
27th november
We are still stuck on Patriot Hills after five days. This time it's the weather here at Patriot Hills that's causing us trouble. It's extremely windy both night and day, and we have very limited sight. Things are improving slightly and in a couple of hours we'll know if we'll be able to fly out today. If not, we're going to have to wait another day. That's Antarctic.
26th november
We are still staying in Patriot Hills and the weather is aweful (wind blowing at 100km per hour) and 20 degrees below. We have to secure our tent during the night due to the wind. It is beginning to calm down, and we'll might get a chance to fly out today - we'll know in a couple of hours. Everyone's fine, Sverre and Ståle who are ski sailing down from the south pole aswell as Jan Erik, Fredrik and me (Børge)
24th november
It looks like we'll stay here another day due to bad weather down south.
We are awaiting a new weather forecast in a couple of hours. The way things look now, the pilot won't be able to get in here due to the weather.
The weather where we are is fine and warm - 15 degrees below. We're having a good time, and skiing.
NB: Fredrik has a delayed birthday greeting to his sister Elin. He's sorry he forgot in all the fuzz, but he loves you very much!
23th november
We have now reached the Antarctic. The weather is good and everyone is happy. We have already been out skiing twice.
22 november
We are in Punta Arenas in Chile. All is well and all the equipment arrived safly. other teams has waited as much as 10 days to get to Antarctica. but it looks like we willl be on scedule. we leave in half an hour and next message will hopefully be from Antarctica.
18 November
Its a few months since our last adventure, but now we are off again. Today we fly to Punta Arenas in Chile, and from ther onwards to Patriot Hills in Antarctica. In Patriot we board a ski equipped Twin Otter plane and fly to around 88 degrees south. Here Fredik Syberg and Borge will ski the last two degrees to the South Pole. On the plane is also Jan Erik Warbo, Sverre Hollie and Staale Samulesen. Jan Erik shall ski alone to the South Pole while Sverre and Staale will fly to the Pole and ski-sail back to Patriot Hills.
We will try to update this site every day for the next three weeks.
Diary from the Last Degree trip to the North Pole 2005
14 April
After some waiting at the Borneo base, we then flew southwards (!) by helicopter to 89 degrees North. The base is moving all the time due to the drift of the ice. Since our expedition is to cover the last degree (from 89 to 90 degrees), there will be no cheating here! Today we covered 10 km and we all had a good day.
15 April
A long day with lots of action is now over. Today we have covered a little over 20 km in minus 20 º C and otherwise good weather. The participants are working well together and we have a very good group of skiers. We encountered lots of pressure ridges and difficult conditions today, and everyone can feel on their bodies what it is like to be a Polar traveler!
A man from Kongsberg felt it more than the others in that he was unfortunate enough to fall through the ice. Fortunately one of the party held out a ski pole and hauled him back up on the ice. We all helped to get him undressed and then dressed with dry clothes. After a while the trip could continue and he had no ill effects from the experience.
Otherwise we have been watching the ice floes collide and create new pressure ridges. This is a rare occurrence and not too many people have experienced it first hand.
When we pitch camp we are only two km from Beorneo and can see the base. At this rate we should be able to reach the North Pole in six days.
Otherwise it can be noted that the Croatian divers who will attempt to set a new world record diving under the ice are on schedule. With assistance from the Norwegian Lars Petter and the Russian Anthon, they are training at the base and will probably attempt to break the record in a few days.
16 April
A cold wind and otherwise unpleasant weather greeted us early this morning. After boiling water, eating and taking down the tents, we were ready for new challenges and more kilometres.
The first hours were used to raise the body temperatures, but as the day progressed we were all warm and in good spirits. Even if the day was characterized by a cold wind and numerous pressure ridges, we managed to cover 20 km. We were helped by the fact that the ice drifted in the same direction as our travel. This is somewhat unusual in that the drift is usually easterly or south-easterly.
Peter Spiten is using this opportunity to send greetings home and to say that everything is o.k. and his feet are warm even after his little swim yesterday!
17 April
Today has been a mixed bag of tricks. We awoke this morning to drifting snow and winds from the northwest, but we had to get up and get going. The first few hours were hard in that we had to struggle through deep new snow and poor ice. In some places we experienced a total whiteout. In other words; very poor visibility!
Later in the day the weather cleared and we had sunshine and good visibility. We then had to cross some snow-filled leads and those crossings can give you an eerie feeling. We therefore took it very easy while inching across.
After another few hours on skis we were ready to set up camp after having covered about 15 km. We are satisfied with this distance since we had poor weather and the ice had drifted against us; we felt it was a good achievement.
Today we passed the midway point so we only have another half to go.
18 April
Bright sunshine and almost dead calm. Almost Easter weather. It is still cold, but in such weather we forget about the freezing temperatures.
Lots of pressure ridges, thin impassable ice and leads of open water characterized the day.
Several times we had to cross over leads on thin ice where the whole group had to work as a team to get us quickly and safely over.
Torleif has tried Captain Nemo today and is now a new member of the exclusive North Pole Swim Club. He described it as being nice and warm. And his feet didn’t even get wet! Take that, Mr. Spite!
The group is now 35 km from the North Pole and, at the current pace, we should be there in two days.
The participants have experienced almost everything on this trip, except for Polar bears. However, bears have been observed at Boerneo, so perhaps they will drop in!
The divers on Boerneo made a dive down to 50 meters today and are planning on making an attempt at the record in two days.
19 April
Minus 20 degrees C and wind soon translates into a minus 40 wind-chill factor and so today we have felt the cold on our bodies for yet another day. With a strong headwind and ice drifting southward we really have had to struggle to make 16 km today.
Most of us were completely wrapped up today and had problems keeping warm.
After each short stop it was necessary to wear our down jackets for quite some time.
Many of the group are looking forward to reaching the goal!
The North Pole is now 20 km away, and we should be able to get there tomorrow.
20 April
The North Pole!
Now we are here, the trip is over and everyone can call themselves Polar Travelers!
It has been a long, tough day with headwinds and ice drifting towards the south.
The surrounding landscape on the last day was bewitching with lots of old ice and grand ice sculptures rising from the surface.
A 10 cm crack opened up in the ice under our tent overnight. Nobody heard anything due to the loud snoring noises coming from Petter Spiten! Cracks like this usually make quite a loud noise when they open up.
Now we are celebrating with cake and warm drinks.
Today Jo Gambi can celebrate being the first woman who has climbed all seven summits and has also been to both the South and North poles! Congratulations.
Congratulations also to the rest of the group, we have all worked hard as a strong team and, therefore, we are standing here today.
We will be here on the North Pole for two days waiting for transport. Most of us have light frost injuries and sore fingertips needing some rest.
Tomorrow we expect the arrival of the diving team who will be attempting to set a new record diving under the ice.
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