THE LAST DEGREE 2009
-Ten days on skis from 89°N To the North Pole

Cost / Booking

The price for the Last degree trip 2009 is not ready yet. This year the price for this trip was 20.900,- Euro. Contact post@ousland.com for booking and inqueries.

Whats included?

This trip includes: all transport and baggage up to 50 kilos, food and accommodation north of Longyearbyen.  With regards to equipment, we provide: tents, sledges, skies, skipoles, boots, sleepingbags, sleeping mattresses, stoves, cooking gear, fuel, wool mitts and wind mitts, communication, food and other shared gear. The training trip is also included.

The price does not include: personal equipment, air fare Oslo-Longyearbyen, accommodation and food in Longyearbyen, expenses connected with alterations to air tickets necessitated by late return to Longyearbyen, or insurance.

Personal equipment and clothing will mostly be windproof anorak and trousers, underwear, fleece, thick warm jacket and hat.

Air travel from Oslo (Tromsø) to Longyearbyen could be a bottleneck, and tickets should be secured well in advance. Two airlines fly to Longyearbyen, check out www.sas.no and www.norwegian.no or book your airplane ticket through your travel agent.

Insurance

Delays that prevent us catching the scheduled flight south from Longyearbyen, however caused, will not be covered.  It is also necessary that all participants provide personal insurance for the expedition itself. 

Ordinary insurance will not normally cover polar expeditions, but only be valid as far as Longyearbyen. You can also check with your own insurance company and ask if they can extend your existing travel insurance to include the North Pole/Arctic for the specified period. Or get a new world wide travel insurance with www.ihi.com

SUNDRIES

Physical condition

Both Nansen and Amundsen spent an entire winter of inactivity just feeding themselves up before they set out on their expeditions.  It worked out well, but they may have had a bit of a struggle in the early stages.  Even though the aim of this trip isn't to get there first or haul the heaviest load, it is nevertheless a great advantage for participants to train beforehand.  A reasonable physical foundation will make the trip more fulfilling.  Our activity level will be low intensity over a protracted period as we'll be spending 8-9 hours on skis daily.  Stamina and being used to longish hikes is the most important thing.  For those who would like it, a special training programme will be put together in good time for the start of the expedition.  Three normal training sessions per week should be sufficient for participants in the months leading up to departure. It is advices that inexperienced skiers do a brush up on their cross country ski-technique.

Liability

Borge Ousland is the leader of the trip and will organise the expedition.  Furthermore, he will to do his best to complete the trip as planned, as well as keep participants informed of all aspects of the expedition.  The individual participant will be covered by the Travel Guarantee Fund in Norway (RGF).  But it is important to emphasise that this trip cannot be compared with normal organised travel, and that special conditions apply.  It is also important to make clear that accidents and injuries can occur and that all parties join at their own risk, and participate in the full knowledge of these facts. All participants must sign a waiver stating that they fully understand this and that they participate on this trip at their own risk.

Risk

Trips to the most extreme areas of the earth always involve a certain amount of risk. Thorough preparation, good equipment, a wide knowledge of polar regions and an expedition leader who has been to the North Pole several times before, ensure that the risk during the actual expedition in our opinion is small.

The journey to and from 89 degrees North and Longyearbyen and Barneo, will be done with pilots and planes from Gasprom. Helicopters and pilots comes from Taymyr Aviation in Norilsk.  These companies have flown in the Arctic for many years.  The aircrafts are well maintained, and these pilots are among the most experienced Arctic pilots in the world.

Generally speaking, this is an area where bad luck can have more far-reaching consequences than in other places.  Mishaps can occur en route, such as fractures, frostbite or acute illnesses.  Most people suffer minor frost bite on the trip, but we have also had more serious frostbites.  In case of emergency, the helicopter can normally be summoned quickly, and there are normally always at least one helicopter stationed at Borneo.  Helicopters aren't so weather-dependent as planes and can land and take off under almost any conditions.  Normally there is a doctor at Borneo, but this cannot be guaranteed.  The nearest hospital is at Longyearbyen, and it would take some time to reach it.  The plane needs good weather to land at Borneo and, as there usually isn't one stationed there, it would generally take at least ten hours to reach Longyearbyen.

The expedition is equipped with firearms and warning shot in case we meet polar bears.  These bears are not usually found so far north, but there are exceptions. 

We take spares for most critical pieces of equipment.  We carry two communication devices, an Iridium satellite phone and an emergency beacon, or two Iridium phones. 

In the past there have been occasions when an unlucky polar traveller has taken a bath in a lead, but this is in general not a major problem as there are plenty of people to help in that eventuality. We stick together and we work as a team.

Polar greetings from Børge