The life and less ordinary times of LDC

Spring 2007 and Jeremy Clarkson and his Top Gear chums made history when they ‘drove to the Pole’.  To be accurate, they went from the Inuit community of Resolute Bay in northern Canada to the 1996 North Magnetic Pole.  On August 30th 2011, I was part of the six-man team who managed to complete this same journey, but in a rowing boat. 

What bittersweet success.  The BBC documentary that I was filming for, and will be shown in the coming months, will put a spotlight on the fast changing Arctic – quite simply, it should not have been possible. The National Snow and Ice Data Centre have published that 2011 has been the second greatest year of Arctic sea ice melt on record. 

Lead by veteran polar adventurer Jock Wishart, this was my first major team expedition outside of mountaineering. After cycling around the world and down the Americas, I have looked forwards to journeys through the spaces of water in-between. Friends of LDC may remember that in 2009 I planned to row the North Atlantic, until an accident with our boat ‘La Mondiale’.  Whilst I looked forwards to a period in my career of ocean rowing, I didn’t expect to start in the high Arctic! 

It took a month in our ‘Ice Boat’ to island-hop through the archipelago, around and over the vast ice fields of the Nunavut Territory.  No small boat has ever been through those waters and we were constantly very aware of just how remote we were – days from our nearest rescue.  

Beforehand, my greatest concern was the rowing, so I was surprised to find that it was physically easier than expected – certainly much easier than cycling around the world! There were very tough stages on the oars and periods of sleep deprivation, but also many days where the ice and weather kept us pinned to one spot meaning that the team could always recover. 

My greatest challenge proved to be the mental strain from being a crewmember on the oars whilst also being the filmmaker for the journey. As cameraman you are always on duty and have a fine balancing act to perform; on the one hand being part of the expedition and on the other observing and capturing the true spirit of it. Our cramped 9-meter boat was a very pressured environment for any team to live in – there was no personal space – and so introducing cameras into the mix could be antagonizing. Added to this, cameras have an aversion to freezing salt-water conditions!  It is great to be home now and start to reflect on what has been an utterly unique and privileged expedition to be a part of.

LDC was one of the supporters of this expedition and full details of the adventure can be found at www.rowtothepole.com

Heaving the boat through an ice field

The final 50 mile leg of the Row to the Pole expedition was a tale of two halves, beginning with a 48 mile forward surge by sea, and followed by an on-ice struggle to traverse a two mile ice field. Conditions were excellent as the crew began and made great progress as they rowed 40 miles through the Arctic night. With 10 miles to go, the ice grew denser and became progressively more difficult to navigate. The crew began celebrating the completion of their journey prematurely when, with two miles to go, a wall of ice blocked their passage and presented the crew with their final extreme polar challenge. The same winds that had cleared much of the route into Deer Bay had, ironically filled much of it with ice that had drifted in after days of battering winds. To finish the journey the crew had to use the one routine they had rehearsed the least – man-hauling the boat on its special runners over the ice.

Click here for the video taken by Billy Gammon on the Old Pulteney as she rounds the top of Noice Peninsula during the crew’s amazing row through the night that got them into Deer Bay.

The crew has made the magnificent achievement of rowing 500 miles through Arctic waters. It is normal for Arctic pack ice to retreat each summer. What has become most striking in recent years is the accelerated rate of summer sea ice loss which has made this adventure possible.

The two mile long ice field had to be surmounted to achieve the expedition’s objective of becoming the first to complete a journey to a pole positioning by row boat. The Old Pulteney Ice Boat was perfectly designed to meet this challenge: Her cathedral hull has runners that allow her to be dragged like a sled. Even so, the two mile trek was an epic task for the exhausted crew as they dragged her over huge ice hillocks, through ice rubble and crumbling ice leads. The boat was heaved in-and-out of small ice breaks which provided brief respite until they encountered more ice rubble that once again blocked their path. Billy Gammon, a crew member and veteran ocean rower, referred to this stretch as…”The most arduous difficulty I have ever faced.”

The crossing took almost 10 hours as the crew dragged the 1.3 ton boat, arriving at the 1996 Magnetic North Pole at six thirty in the evening local time (0130 BST).

Having overcome a fortress of ice, the Old Pulteney Row to the Pole crew have reached their destination, utterly exhausted and feeling they had given everything to do it. This voyage is the first polar rowing expedition since Antarctica 1916 when Sir Ernest Shackleton ordered the crew of the Endurance to their rowing boats to escape the pack ice that surrounded and crushed their ship. The crew have earned a small piece of adventure history for two significant achievements: (1) they are the first team to row to any pole position and (2) they have set a new gold-standard in ocean and endurance rowing.

BIG CONGRATULATIONS from all LDC!

See below link for a BBC Scotland radio interview with Mark Beaumont on the latest from the Row to the Pole expedition, the crew is currently only 50 miles from the Magnetic North Pole but weather is hampering the final push…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00jz0t8

So they are busy getting themselves defrosted!!!

They are so near and yet so far…50 odd miles…still a long way, but they feel like they can almost see it!

After a torrid night on board the OP the night before last, followed by an excitable ‘beaching’ involving an impromptu dip in to the bracing Arctic Ocean escaping the close confines of the boat to the relative freedom of Thor Island’s shore – and for the aft cabin boys a welcome break from another taxing game of twister. The sustained sprints of the past few days, coupled with little if any sleep had left the bodies weary and their heads fighting that torturous battle of excitement versus exhaustion. However spirits were high and smiles broad as they were now in a great position to make the final advance.

After another sumptuos meal, including apples and custard (with a best before date of Aug ’08!), the evening ended with a crew bonding ‘jackanory’ session around the Toughbook to hear all the messages of support from friends, family and followers.
They awoke yesterday to sub zero temperatures, snow in the skies and a freshening breeze from the West. What had been a relatively ice free shoreline on arrival had now become heavily congested with ice bergs, all blown in with the winds over night. The team have been very lucky to have Kim and Chris on board to offer their expert guidance and advice on the weather and ice forecasts, both absolutely crucial to the success of this campaign and more importantly the safe passage of the OP and crew.

Given the current ice state  and their proposed route onwards, and the indifferent forecast it looks as though they are going to have to hunker down for a few days and await conditions to improve. With ice choking the path ahead and a weather bomb due to land they can’t be taking any risks. The waiting is often harder than the punishing sprint work on the oars, if only because it’s shrouded in uncertainty…which for this crew invariably leads to immense frustration.
All that said never in their wildest dreams did they think they would be this far north already, so whilst news of a possible/probable extended delay isn’t what they were hoping forthey are mindful about just how fortunate they have been to date.
So with no chance of any action today the day started with an ever improving version of omlette – still fit for nothing more than dogs, although given the local Arctic wolves don’t even want it they remain unconvinced that it’s fit for any living species. Post breakfast the latest forecasts were studied in their temporary nerve centre as planning enters the critical phase. Sadly it doesn’t look pretty for the next 2 days so until then they will be on standby should things change. Ho hum!

Having beaching the boat on shore (and mindful of ongoing power limitations) they can’t use the water maker, so Mark D made the call to go and harvest their own. Unlike most of the previous islands visited Thor is very flat with little free flowing fresh water – not helped by the flat, sandy landscape. An alternative source is to use old, mature ice bergs – easily identifiable by their striking blue colouring. So without further a do Mark D and Dave M donned their dry suits and waded out to sea complete with pick axes, rope,ice screws and a saw…both very much in their element and frothing at the mouth with excitement (candy store and kids springs to mind)! Having identified the ‘perfect’ berg they got to work. 1/2 hour later and they were done…not to mention cold. It had been a successful mission and they returned to the shoreline to a heroes welcome. From there the ice was loaded on to a couple of pulks which their sherpas then transported back to camp.
With the water ‘done’ the rest of the day was a mix of cards (which is an altogether more enjoyable experience now Jock has ‘rewarded’ himself with a clean pair of socks) and exploratory walks across the island. With fresh animal tracks in abundance a few of them set off in search of the elusive muscox and the Arctic wolf which Rob had spotted yesterday. However apart from Rob, who once again spotted a wolf none of us saw anything – apart from a lot of tracks, droppings and the occassional bird. Clearly there’s no Sir David Attenborough amongst this crew…but, weather permitting, the search will go on although the latest forecast now suggests we may be confined to sleeping bags and shelter as the Arctic plans an assault on our base!

Oh and in the midst of the waiting around HOT OFF THE PRESS…Mark D is now a dad!! Helene gave birth this morning to a boy & mum and baby are doing well…but missing dad. Congratulations Mark from all at LDC.

Editor’s Note

This brief extract blog is taken from the blogs posted by team members.

LDC is one of the supporters of this expedition and full details of the adventure can be found at www.rowtothepole.com

Film can be found directly at http://www.youtube.com/user/rowtothepolewith twitter comment via @oprowtothepole and photos at www.flickr.com/photos/billygammon/and on the facebook page – Row To The Pole

Mark Beaumont, LDC’s ambassador, is a member of the crew and filming the trip for a BBC documentary. His thoughts can be followed via his twitter feed (@mrmarkbeaumont #rowingarctic) or via the BBC site http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/rowing_the_arctic/

After 36 hours the crew make King Christian Island on the south shore of Ellef Ringnes Island.

They awoke on Day 3 of their stop over on Table Island to find snow on the ground and in the air. There was an all too familiar blanket of fog, even though visibility looked OK out to sea. Having done an extensive reccy of the proposed route from the cliff tops the day before, they knew the sea was clear of ice so all they needed was a change in wind direction – and that is just what happened.

After a quick breakfast and another look at the latest weather/ice forecasts they packed up in speed and made a hasty exit from the Bay. As they are now used to seeing, there was a ‘sending off’ party to hand, this time three seals!

It was bitterly cold again, with air temperature at minus 2 with a wind chill on top of that ensuring their stroke rates rocketed from the off to help get our blood flowing and limbs working. The team had agreed that today was the big day where, all being well, they would cross the Belcher Channel to Cornwall Island before heading on to Ellef Ringnes – and in so doing clock up 70+ nm, making it the biggest haul of the expedition to date. A huge effort.

Cornwall Island is 15 nm from Table Island and they made it in good time. For Billy this had been a very special point. Firstly, because he is a proud Cornishman, and secondly, because he had pin-pointed this stop off as a fitting ‘goal’ to reward himself with a change of clothes.  The crew were considering bypassing the island, but in keeping with the amazing spirit of this team they decided it meant too much to him to ignore this opportunity – and when you’re battling against the clock as they were, that spoke volumes for the generous nature of his fellow oarsmen.

As they arrived, Mark D insisted Billy take to the shore first where he planted a big wet sandy kiss on the shoreline and performed a little Cornish jig in celebration. Why they didn’t leave him at that point is beyond me. They then had a bite to eat before the main event – the inaugural One Club One Hole Challenge, held at the virgin Trevose Arctic Links.

With celebrations complete, they packed up and set off the major leg of this journey to Ellef Ringnes. The team never thought for one minute they would be able to make this approach so soon, but if they could get across then they would be within touching distance of their final destination. With tails up and bodies refuelled they made sensational time once again, racing across the Channel which was for large parts astonishingly clear of ice. They did however meet a couple of lively pack ice fields. Over the past three weeks they have all become accomplished in the arts of ‘berg avoidance, and thankfully on each occasion during this crossing there were sufficient leads to allow them to navigate our way safely. Mark B did manage to hit a berg square on in what were otherwise completely ice free waters: an incredible effort that upstaged even their most accomplished ‘berg-hitter, Captain Jock Wishart who has a keen eye for everything but great big ice monoliths. Joking aside, they were fortunate this didn’t actually do any damage because it was a thunderous crack .
As she has done before the Old Pulteney brushed herself down and got on with it, with hardly a scratch to show for her troubles. The boat weaved in out of the pack ice on the crossing, then they pulled hard when clear water allowed. Like so many of their crossings to date this was another magical stretch. There were walruses, seals, birds and of course the majestic icebergs. Beauty that is beyond picture perfect and an almost unbelievable day of rowing.  

Having set off from Table Island at 0930 on Wednesday they finally touched terra firma on Ellef Rignes at 1046 on Thursday – some 25 hours later. Weary, and in some cases, a little brusied. They got got some food before getting back on board to try and push on around the coast to find a suitable bolt hole to get some rest. However as they have found on numerous occasions you can’t take anything for granted up here and sure enough it wasn’t long before they found themselves confronted by what turned out to be an inpenetrable ice field. After 11 hours of searching for the elusive gateway they decided to head to neighbouring King Christian Island to anchor up for the night and recharge six very tired bodies. 25 exhilarating hours on the oars and that final burst had left them all totally shattered. It wasn’t the perfect end, but it had, nonetheless, been a sensational 36 hours of progress. The team are now resting up before their push up north.

Editor’s Note

This brief extract blog is taken from the blogs posted by team members.

LDC is one of the supporters of this expedition and full details of the adventure can be found at www.rowtothepole.com

Film can be found directly at http://www.youtube.com/user/rowtothepolewith twitter comment via @oprowtothepole and photos at www.flickr.com/photos/billygammon/and on the facebook page – Row To The Pole

Mark Beaumont, LDC’s ambassador, is a member of the crew and filming the trip for a BBC documentary. His thoughts can be followed via his twitter feed (@mrmarkbeaumont #rowingarctic) or via the BBC site http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/rowing_the_arctic/