April 12, 2010 at 15:43
After a few days of unpacking, drying equipment, packing up and socializing, the members of the Nordboundquest team are leaving Longyearbyen to go back home after our adventures on the polar ice. We didn’t make it to the North Pole but everyone seems satisfied with the expedition. The team spirit was top, we laughed a lot, we’ve been able to enjoy the environment f the polar ice cap and most of the team members have move their boundaries with this trip.
Here and there, some wounds still need healing. I have a few blisters on my fingertips as well which makes typing this blog a bit of a challenge. But those wounds will all heal fine so they should not bother me on future expeditions.
Saturday evening, we also bumped into Alain Hubert. Alain is in Longyearbyen for a Last Degree trip. He’s leaving for Barneo with a number of people tomorrow. And yesterday evening, we went for a drink with a Dutch team. They were on the ice at the same time as us but they got about 10 km closer to the pole.
The trip was a pretty good experience. And maybe I will do something like this again. A similar challenge in Antarctica would be a logical next step. But now, I need to focus on my K2 expedition in 2011 first.
Soon, I will add a short story about the trip and some photos to this website.
April 9, 2010 at 22:05
The wind has been a bad influence the last days, throwing us back south day by day. Last days we struggled to arrive at 70 km every evening just to wake up kilometers further away. By this morning we drifted away to 80 km, again. No use in pursisting this way. Probably we will be picked up by helicopter to first fly us to the northpole to give us the possibility to take some pictures and then bring us back to Barneo station.
Although the wind should turn south and finally give us the right push for the next couple of days, it’s too little too late.
More information on the expeditions website : http://www.thenorthboundquest.com/
April 6, 2010 at 20:59
Friday, the helicopter flew us in from Barneo station to the ice and droppes us on the 89° on 107 km from the northpole. Since then, conditions have been good: hardly any wind, no open water, smooth ice and no polar bears. Only temperatures are harsh untill -32 °C yesterday. Forecasts give softer temperatures (- 5° on wednesday) but increasing winds.
Whem I said we had no open water, I was’nt fully correct. Yesterday we met our first lead: a 10 cm gap. No reason to panic.
Tonight we sleep at 60 km from our goal. Drifting ice has already proven to be the cause that we wake up closer or further away from the pole.
More information on the expeditions website : http://www.thenorthboundquest.com/
April 2, 2010 at 7:55
Heading for the airport. 0 degrees celsius here. It’s a north pole heatwave 
