April 14, 2024
North Pole Debrief - Part 2
Now, where was I?
For all the players involved in the North Pole season, Svalbard makes the most sense as a jumping off point. For starters, all the polar guides (myself included) have storage units in Longyearbyen full of expedition gear as does the Bareno team. For clients, its an easy-to-reach destination with modern amenities nestled in one of the most stunning landscapes on earth. For the Barneo crew, it is also the closest commercial runway-jumping off point to the North Pole. Therefore, the decision to fly through Russia was not one taken lightly for both physical and philosophical reasons. But without the permits from the Norwegian government to land and refuel at LYR, there was no other option.
Despite the US State Department issuing a Level 4 Travel Advisory (do not travel) my clients and I made the decision, after significant deliberation, to move forward with our adventure. We were hesitant, not only because of the potential threat of detainment or worse, but also the bigger political ramifications. For my part, I felt stuck financially, already having lost money on prior seasons cancellations as well as several years of not working due to cancer and covid. I simply needed to clear the slate so to speak to get back to zero.
Most importantly however, I thought back to many of my predecessors and mentors who used polar exploration as a means to support and promote peace between the US and Russia (at that time the Soviet Union). At the height of the cold war over 35 years ago, Polar Explorers were pioneering peace makers uniting our two countries through adventure. In 1987, a Russian Victor Boyarsky was sent as a Soviet representative to join famed polar explorer Will Stegers international team crossing Antarctica (1989-1990). In 1989, Paul Schurke organized the Soviet-American Expedition from Siberia to Alaska with 12 men and women from both the Soviet Union and the US. At roughly the same time, Canadian Richard Weber was skiing from Siberia to Ellesmere Island Canada as a team member 1988 of the Soviet-Canadian Polar Bridge expedition. There are more examples, too. In a time when the threat of nuclear war was imminent, polar explorers were forgoing ideological differences between governments and finding common bonds.
While I know guiding a short adventure is nowhere near the olive branch that Will, Paul or Richard extended, I do believe that adventure is a great middle ground to find a mutual understanding and appreciation. Regardless, it was with more than a little trepidation that I departed Colorado at the end of March with five duffels of expedition gear and skis flying to Turkey then Moscow and Krasnoyarsk, the capital of Siberia.
The original plan would be to meet several clients in Istanbul and then travel with the American contingent of the group together through Russia. After a small lostical snafu, we flew into Moscow where we were refused entry at passport control and asked to wait. We feared the worst. After about and a half, we flagged down an official who smiled and said it would be five more minutes. He asked us a couple of questions and then we were cleared. The most likely reason behind the delay and detainment was not our nationality but most likely the other people in the queue - roughly 150 Uzbekistanis ahead of us waiting to be further evaluated then cleared. Once through, everything else was effortless.
Despite not flying to the pole, our experience in Krasnoyarsk in the middle of Siberia was incredible. Everyone we met was so nice and helpful. Several times, we were stopped and asked where we were from. Those who asked were so happy to hear that we were from America. On two separate occasions, we met people who had lived in Colorado, one as a garbage man in Denver and the other as a chemical engineering student at the School of Mines in Golden. Regularly, my team reported back surprising observations or events - getting a discount card at a grocery store, membership at a local gym and the numerous restaurants that equaled those in LA or New York but at a fraction of the price. The opera (yes opera) we went to cost seven dollars! We often remarked how similar our two cultures are.
Of course, we werenâ??t in Siberia for sightseeing. Our main goal was the North Pole and to that end, much of the construction of the Barneo camp and ice runway went as it often does - in fits and spurts. The initial location quickly fractured, but luckily, before a majority of the support equipment was airdropped. The helicopter crew was able to locate a new pan of stable ice, and over several days, level and create a one thousand meter runway on the frozen surface. Our initial departure was delayed for a day which allowed the crew to finish the new runway and then two more days delay for bad weather - initially at Cape Baranova then the Pole. We were packed and on standby waiting on a three hour cycle of weather reports from Barneo. With expectation that the next update would be a flight time, we received the message with the following information:
We are reaching out to inform you that we have just got a call from Barneo. They reported that the runway had been completely broken and could not be repaired at the same place. Scouting of the proper ice floe and construction of the new runway will take at least 10-12 days to tell nothing about the weather along the route that keeps to be windy and unpredictable. Our experience tells us that weather closer to May is always getting even worse and ice is getting less stable. Thatâ??s why we made a difficult decision to cancel the season.
Further beta from the Barneo crew on the ice revealed unusually foggy and windy weather at the pole as well as significant areas of cracked ice and open water. While the ice is moving and there is always open water - no matter how cold it gets - this years conditions seemed usual. While Global Warming definitely has had an overall impact on the extent, thickness and integrity of the sea ice, the Barneo team attributed the break up more to El Nino than climate change. Even though there wasn't officially a tourist season at Barneo last year (2023) the runway was established with planes taking off and landing on the sea ice with no issues. This is also not the first year the runway has cracked either. In 2018, the runway cracked (but didn't create an open water gap like this year) and the flight crew was (remarkably) able to land the plane rear wheels on one side of the crack and front wheel right after. There have been other issues over the years as well so delay and uncertainty with this operation is not unusual. The immediate concern is the start-up crew currently still on the Arctic Ocean at Barneo. Nearly 20 people still have to fly in two helicopters back to Cape Baranova nearly 1,000 kilometers / 600 miles away.
Where does that leave me and the rest of everyone trying to adventure on the Arctic Ocean to the North Pole? There is no question in my mind that the clock is ticking on the Barneo operation. Some scientists estimate the Arctic Ocean could be ice free in the summer in as little as 10 years. Will Barneo's support planes (Antonov 74 jet) be able to land on the sea ice far into the future. Unlikely as well. However, I do feel that this current logistical model can function for at least five more years realistically before big changes need to happen. After that, who knows.
In 2014, I was dropped off by a small plane at Cape Discovery on Ellesmere Island. My expedition partner Ryan Waters and I skied, snowshoed, walked, crawled and swam for 53 days to reach the North Pole. It was the last time anyone was able to travel human powered from land to the Geographic North Pole. All told, Ive completed three total full expeditions from land and guided three Last Degree Expeditions. Completing a Last Degree is a fun adventure but it is more like helicoptering to the top of the Hillary Step and climbing the last 100 meters to the summit of Mt. Everest. In scale and scope a full and last degree expedition are incomparable. In any capacity however, I feel lucky to have spent more time on North Pole expeditions than all but a few others in the world.
Logic tells me I shouldnt go back. But my passion for the Arctic defies rational thought and I want so badly to be on an expedition on the sea ice. Its where I am my best self - where all my quirky knowledge, experience and skills have direct utility. But in the never ending race of modern adventurers to be first we have, it seems, entered an era of lasts.
Image: Unloading sleds at Bareno camp after a successful Last Degree North Pole expedition in 2017
For all the players involved in the North Pole season, Svalbard makes the most sense as a jumping off point. For starters, all the polar guides (myself included) have storage units in Longyearbyen full of expedition gear as does the Bareno team. For clients, its an easy-to-reach destination with modern amenities nestled in one of the most stunning landscapes on earth. For the Barneo crew, it is also the closest commercial runway-jumping off point to the North Pole. Therefore, the decision to fly through Russia was not one taken lightly for both physical and philosophical reasons. But without the permits from the Norwegian government to land and refuel at LYR, there was no other option.
Despite the US State Department issuing a Level 4 Travel Advisory (do not travel) my clients and I made the decision, after significant deliberation, to move forward with our adventure. We were hesitant, not only because of the potential threat of detainment or worse, but also the bigger political ramifications. For my part, I felt stuck financially, already having lost money on prior seasons cancellations as well as several years of not working due to cancer and covid. I simply needed to clear the slate so to speak to get back to zero.
Most importantly however, I thought back to many of my predecessors and mentors who used polar exploration as a means to support and promote peace between the US and Russia (at that time the Soviet Union). At the height of the cold war over 35 years ago, Polar Explorers were pioneering peace makers uniting our two countries through adventure. In 1987, a Russian Victor Boyarsky was sent as a Soviet representative to join famed polar explorer Will Stegers international team crossing Antarctica (1989-1990). In 1989, Paul Schurke organized the Soviet-American Expedition from Siberia to Alaska with 12 men and women from both the Soviet Union and the US. At roughly the same time, Canadian Richard Weber was skiing from Siberia to Ellesmere Island Canada as a team member 1988 of the Soviet-Canadian Polar Bridge expedition. There are more examples, too. In a time when the threat of nuclear war was imminent, polar explorers were forgoing ideological differences between governments and finding common bonds.
While I know guiding a short adventure is nowhere near the olive branch that Will, Paul or Richard extended, I do believe that adventure is a great middle ground to find a mutual understanding and appreciation. Regardless, it was with more than a little trepidation that I departed Colorado at the end of March with five duffels of expedition gear and skis flying to Turkey then Moscow and Krasnoyarsk, the capital of Siberia.
The original plan would be to meet several clients in Istanbul and then travel with the American contingent of the group together through Russia. After a small lostical snafu, we flew into Moscow where we were refused entry at passport control and asked to wait. We feared the worst. After about and a half, we flagged down an official who smiled and said it would be five more minutes. He asked us a couple of questions and then we were cleared. The most likely reason behind the delay and detainment was not our nationality but most likely the other people in the queue - roughly 150 Uzbekistanis ahead of us waiting to be further evaluated then cleared. Once through, everything else was effortless.
Despite not flying to the pole, our experience in Krasnoyarsk in the middle of Siberia was incredible. Everyone we met was so nice and helpful. Several times, we were stopped and asked where we were from. Those who asked were so happy to hear that we were from America. On two separate occasions, we met people who had lived in Colorado, one as a garbage man in Denver and the other as a chemical engineering student at the School of Mines in Golden. Regularly, my team reported back surprising observations or events - getting a discount card at a grocery store, membership at a local gym and the numerous restaurants that equaled those in LA or New York but at a fraction of the price. The opera (yes opera) we went to cost seven dollars! We often remarked how similar our two cultures are.
Of course, we werenâ??t in Siberia for sightseeing. Our main goal was the North Pole and to that end, much of the construction of the Barneo camp and ice runway went as it often does - in fits and spurts. The initial location quickly fractured, but luckily, before a majority of the support equipment was airdropped. The helicopter crew was able to locate a new pan of stable ice, and over several days, level and create a one thousand meter runway on the frozen surface. Our initial departure was delayed for a day which allowed the crew to finish the new runway and then two more days delay for bad weather - initially at Cape Baranova then the Pole. We were packed and on standby waiting on a three hour cycle of weather reports from Barneo. With expectation that the next update would be a flight time, we received the message with the following information:
We are reaching out to inform you that we have just got a call from Barneo. They reported that the runway had been completely broken and could not be repaired at the same place. Scouting of the proper ice floe and construction of the new runway will take at least 10-12 days to tell nothing about the weather along the route that keeps to be windy and unpredictable. Our experience tells us that weather closer to May is always getting even worse and ice is getting less stable. Thatâ??s why we made a difficult decision to cancel the season.
Further beta from the Barneo crew on the ice revealed unusually foggy and windy weather at the pole as well as significant areas of cracked ice and open water. While the ice is moving and there is always open water - no matter how cold it gets - this years conditions seemed usual. While Global Warming definitely has had an overall impact on the extent, thickness and integrity of the sea ice, the Barneo team attributed the break up more to El Nino than climate change. Even though there wasn't officially a tourist season at Barneo last year (2023) the runway was established with planes taking off and landing on the sea ice with no issues. This is also not the first year the runway has cracked either. In 2018, the runway cracked (but didn't create an open water gap like this year) and the flight crew was (remarkably) able to land the plane rear wheels on one side of the crack and front wheel right after. There have been other issues over the years as well so delay and uncertainty with this operation is not unusual. The immediate concern is the start-up crew currently still on the Arctic Ocean at Barneo. Nearly 20 people still have to fly in two helicopters back to Cape Baranova nearly 1,000 kilometers / 600 miles away.
Where does that leave me and the rest of everyone trying to adventure on the Arctic Ocean to the North Pole? There is no question in my mind that the clock is ticking on the Barneo operation. Some scientists estimate the Arctic Ocean could be ice free in the summer in as little as 10 years. Will Barneo's support planes (Antonov 74 jet) be able to land on the sea ice far into the future. Unlikely as well. However, I do feel that this current logistical model can function for at least five more years realistically before big changes need to happen. After that, who knows.
In 2014, I was dropped off by a small plane at Cape Discovery on Ellesmere Island. My expedition partner Ryan Waters and I skied, snowshoed, walked, crawled and swam for 53 days to reach the North Pole. It was the last time anyone was able to travel human powered from land to the Geographic North Pole. All told, Ive completed three total full expeditions from land and guided three Last Degree Expeditions. Completing a Last Degree is a fun adventure but it is more like helicoptering to the top of the Hillary Step and climbing the last 100 meters to the summit of Mt. Everest. In scale and scope a full and last degree expedition are incomparable. In any capacity however, I feel lucky to have spent more time on North Pole expeditions than all but a few others in the world.
Logic tells me I shouldnt go back. But my passion for the Arctic defies rational thought and I want so badly to be on an expedition on the sea ice. Its where I am my best self - where all my quirky knowledge, experience and skills have direct utility. But in the never ending race of modern adventurers to be first we have, it seems, entered an era of lasts.
Image: Unloading sleds at Bareno camp after a successful Last Degree North Pole expedition in 2017