Top of the world

by Scott Gilmour

In April 2013 I was part of an expedition group that would complete the last 2 degrees to the Geographic North Pole. It had always been a goal of mine to reach the Geographic North Pole, and whilst this was not a full North Pole expedition it was not without its challenges.

The journey proper started in Longyearbyen, Svalbard where the Russian operators of Barneo organise their logistics.

Barneo is a privately organised camp located at 89°N. From here researchers, private expeditions and tourists use the base as a launching point for activities on the sea ice. Each year the base crew bulldoze a runway so the Antanov passenger/ cargo plane is able to safely land and supply the base with the materials it needs. It’s a very impressive operation.

After a few days in Svalbard kicking tyres and suffering from a severe case of cabin fever we received the call to make our way to the airport.

After a spectacular flight over the sea ice we touched down and unloaded our equipment. Barneo was in the process of being constructed and we had a very brief stop over inside one of their already erected structures whist they organised our logistics.

After a couple of hours we were given the nod and the expedition was on. A helicopter would fly us to 88° and from here we would ski to the Pole itself.

Now I can’t equate this expedition to a full North Pole expedition, and I never will. The achievement is night and day. I’m also not trying to diminish the challenge either, as there were still inherent risks, extreme cold, fresh leads, numerous pressure ridges and open water.

For the distance we expected to cover we had allowed for up to 20 days to complete it, which is why we arrived so early in the season.

The expedition was thankfully very cold, although not thankfully when it was windy! We generally had a very consistent and stable mass of pack ice to navigate.

The team was very well drilled, routines were easily maintained and we approached the challenge following a rough 12/12 schedule. 12hrs of movement, 12hrs camped. As the timezone is ambiguous here we worked on British time, so this equated to 0700-1900.

As the days passed we found that we were covering good distance whilst experiencing a slight positive drift toward the pole.

The main challenges came from having to track a huge lead for 20km or so to find a suitable crossing point. It was far too significant to use the immersion suits. Once we found a relatively safe point (in terms of the North Pole) we took it in turns to carefully ski to a series of small islands, with very fresh new ice forming a custard like skin on the surface. Probably the hairiest moment of the trip.

Once this final obstacle was dealt with it, it was a straight shot at the pole. We had reached 90°N in 8d 6hrs.

2013 Geographic North Pole Going through the rubble.