Posted: Mar 23, 2009 12:55 pm EST
(ThePoles.com) The floating Russian Ice Station, Barneo, will open in the beginning of April, the organizers told ExWeb. An Ilyushin-76 and two Mi-8 helicopters have already taken off to look for steady ice for parachuting the construction material and fuel for the building of the station.

The ski teams reported about their routines and daily life.

Unsupported, Unassisted

John Huston and Tyler Fish (USA)

The two Americans crossed their first line of latitude, 84 degrees.

Tyler described how clouds on the horizon were playing with him to create an illusion. Then visibility steadily decreased. “Eventually the sun was gone and it was very hard to make out all the ups and downs in the terrain,” he said.

“Even though daylight has increased by an average of, we think, about 45 minutes every day, you still need the sunlight itself for the contrasts in the terrain. So the going was much, much slower. Incidentally, according to our GPS, we now have just over 12 hours of daylight from sunrise to sunset. But because we are so far north, there's actually, if you wake up in the middle of the night, there is still a little light in the sky.”

John described their daily routine which starts at five o’clock in the morning when the alarm goes off, “we wake up, pull the sleeping bags out of the tent, start the stoves, and then take a few hours sometimes doing little projects, journaling or just relaxing a little bit, have breakfast. Tyler cooks breakfast.”

08h15 they are out of the tent and start skiing at 9 o’clock until around 6 pm. “Then it takes us about 45 minutes to put up the tent, empty our sleds, cut snow for snow blocks to melt into water, and organize everything inside the tent.” Read more detail on their website.

Day 18, March 19
Location: N84° 09.479' W074° 21.600'
Time Traveled: 9 hours
Distance Traveled: 5.8 nautical miles
AM Temperature: -26°F/-32°C
PM Temperature: -24°F/-31°C

Unsupported, Assisted

Lonnie Dupre, guide, (USA), Max Chaya (Lebanon) and Stuart Smith (USA)

The team had been out on the ice for 19 days on 22 March.

Stuart explained in a voice report about their life in the tent. Although it is a four-person tent it is crowded with the three of them inside every night. They spend time in the tent from six o’clock in the evening, doing the cooking and usual tent stuff.

He said because they are on the ocean, their sleeping bags absorb a lot of moisture which then freezes. They sleep in two bags and estimated that their outer sleeping bags have absorbed three or four pounds of water, which had turned to ice now. But the bags still keep them warm.

The team reported that their sleds were getting lighter as they eat food and consume fuel, but another reason that their sleds felt light was because they were gliding so well on the snow. They reported their warmest temperature of –10°F/-23°C, a 40 degree temperature difference from just over a week ago. The warm temperature and easy glide allowed them to travel longer (8.5 hours) during which time they made 9.25 miles.

The next day though, they had poor ice conditions and headwinds, which brought in low visibility and they travelled 6.9 nautical miles in 7 hours.

If all goes well and if weather conditions are favorable the team will receive their first resupply on 23 March.

Position 22 March:
84.5705N, 78.3031W
(check out their position on their tracker map on the Peary-Henson website)

Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley (UK)

The team received their resupply and was back on their schedule of six sessions of one hour and five minutes walking between each pause. Martin said he had to dress his frostbitten toe in between, “Extra feet warmers and dressing arrived in the resupply however and it’s feeling a lot better.”

Barneo Ice Station

The floating station Barneo is usually built near to the 89 parallel and serves the teams departing from Longyearbyen, Svalbard. Some of the long distance North Pole skiers will be picked up at the Pole by a Barneo helicopter. Mi-8 helicopters will first search for a stable enough area to start building the station.

Yulia Panteleeva sent the following report to ExplorersWeb:
“Friday March 20, 2009, in Moscow Church of Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin the prayer service was held to bless the coming Barneo expedition.”

“Also today an Iljushin Il-76 airplane took off from Moscow to Murmarsk having onboard the load for Barneo construction and the fuel for parachuting onto the ice. The fuel is intended for 2 Mi-8 helicopters which will search for an ice floe steady enough to bear the airdrome. The helicopters have lifted from Norilsk enroute Dikson – Sredniy Island earlier this week.”

Links to Arctic 2009 expeditions

Unsupported, Unassisted Geographic North Pole
John Huston and Tyler Fish (USA) - Victorinox North Pole '09 Expedition

Unsupported, Assisted Geographic North Pole
Lonnie Dupre (USA), Max Chaya (Lebanon) and Stuart Smith (USA) – Peary-Henson Centennial North Pole Expedition 09
Max Chaya’s website
Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley (UK) – Catlin Arctic Survey Expedition

Unsupported/Unassisted Magnetic North Pole (1996 position)
Michele Pontrandolfo (Italy)

Barneo Ice Station

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