Rob Gauntlett and James Hooper during the skiing stage on Greenland (click to enlarge)
One of the Greenland dog teams (click to enlarge)
Rob unexpectedly fell through the ice. He stayed in the icy water for three minutes before James and one of the Inuit hunters hauled him out. By then he was unconscious. After half an hour he gained consciousness and was evacuated by helicopter (click to enlarge)
Rob in the hospital in Upernavik where he was treated for concussion and hypothermia (click to enlarge)
Cycling the Americas (click to enlarge)
Sailing to the Magnetic South Pole. All images courtesy of robgauntlett.com (click to enlarge)
LINKS
|
Debrief: From the Geomagnetic North Pole to the Magnetic South Pole
Posted: Aug 12, 2008 05:50 pm EST
Two young Britons set themselves the task to travel from the Geomagnetic North Pole to the Magnetic South Pole. James Hooper and Rob Gauntlett set off from a location near the Geomagnetic North Pole on the sea ice North-west of Greenland and finished 395 days later in Sydney, Australia.
Getting to the start
Their jump-off town in Greenland was Qaanaaq. From there they planned to take a helicopter to their starting point, but due to bad weather the helicopter couldn’t fly so they were transported with dog sleds to 79°08’00”N, 71°09’00”W near the Geomagnetic North Pole.
Sled-hauling and dog sledding
Right at the start they had to swim across quite a wide, open lead of water. They headed for firmer ground on the Greenland Icecap and damaged their sleds on rocky terrain. One of the sleds split in half, but they manage to repair it.
On their way back to Qaanaaq they stopped over at one of the villages that they visited on the start point dogsled trip. At Qaanaaq they resupplied and recharged for the next stage, a dog sledding trip with Inuits south towards Dundas (Thule airbase). There the Danish authorities told them that the ice conditions were too bad for traveling further and they had to stay and wait for their boat to pick them up. After a few days Rob and James decided differently and traveled south with some hunters and their dogs from Savissivik.
An unplanned swim
The route was not easy, covered with soft snow and crevasses. On Day 49 Rob unexpectedly fell through the ice. He stayed in the icy water for three minutes before James and one of the hunters hauled him out. By then he was unconscious. They ripped his clothes off and got him into his sleeping bag. After half an hour he gained consciousness and was evacuated by helicopter to a hospital in Upernavik where he was treated for concussion and hypothermia.
From Upernavik to New York
On day 58 Rob and James’ boat arrived in Upernavik from where they started their first sea stage to New York. They first aimed to stop in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk. On their 800-mile sea journey to Nuuk they were in a storm with 50-knot winds.
They described their yacht, Ice Maiden, as a “50 ft, ’one-off’, cutter vessel and is fully equipped for long expeditions. She has a steel hull making her ideal for high latitude navigation in areas plagued by floating sea ice.”
From Nuuk they sailed around Newfoundland (roughly the same latitude as London) and encountered a lot of icebergs, other ships and dense fog, which made sailing quite dangerous. They stopped in Halifax (Canada) to sort out visas for the USA and found it strange to see trees again. From there they carried on to New York.
The cycling stage
In New York Rob and James started their cycling stage southwards accompanied by their support team in a 4x4 vehicle. They traveled through Washington DC, across the Appalachian Mountains, through Tennessee and Texas. On the way Rob had trouble with tendonitis in his one heel and had to get medical treatment. The intense heat in Texas dehydrated them quickly and they had to drink a lot of water.
On day 141 they crossed the Mexican border and cycled south to Panama City where they got on a boat for the 8-day trip to Ecuador. From there the cycling stage through South America followed.
From Punta Arenas to The Magnetic South Pole
On Day 308 Rob and James left Punta Arenas, situated on the Street of Magellan, on the sailboat, Blizzard, with skipper David Pryce and South Pole ski record holder, Hannah McKeand. Not long after they have set sail a crew member injured himself. His finger was broken in two places. They stopped over at the Falkland Islands to get medical help and the unfortunate person had to leave the boat.
After two weeks they left Stanley in the Falklands for the Kergeulen islands. In the process they crossed the Antarctic convergence where the cold Southern Ocean water meets the warmer water of the South Atlantic.
On route the received news that an iceberg the size of Tasmania has broken off from Antarctica’s Weddell Sea. The crew was extremely careful as they sailed right passed it in winds gusting at 50 knots. They were watching the radar closely.
On the boat they had a routine where they ran a watch system where two people were steering on deck and looking after the sails, two people cooked and the two other slept.
Closer to the Kerguelen Islands they encountered their first blizzard on the Blizzard. After that, better weather gave way for another storm. In a 60-knot wind Blizzard were knocked down when the steering cable snapped. They lost control and the boat capsized. Luckily no one was injured.
On Day 382 of Rob and James’ expedition the boat reached the Magnetic South Pole. From there they crossed the Antarctic convergence again to sail north to Sydney, their final destination.
(Ed note: Geomagnetic and Magnetic poles are not the same as the Earth's Geographic poles and even Santa is confused. Check ExWeb's previous story for more:
Geographic, Magnetic, Inaccessible, Geomagnetic - even Santa needs a GPS)
Rob Gauntlett and James Hooper climbed Everest North side in 2006 at the age of 19. A year later they embarked on a sled-hauling, dogsledding, cycling and sailing journey from near the Geomagnetic North Pole to the Magnetic South Pole.
|
