Dixie and Alain's camp upon arrival on Greenland in 2007. Image courtesy of Dixie Dancercoer (click to enlarge)
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North Pole to Greenland new route, more to the story
Posted: Jun 22, 2009 07:36 pm EDT
(ThePoles.com) French skiers Arnaud Tortel and Charles Hedrich arrived at Cape Morris Jesup on 6 June this year, 62 days after they left the North Pole for Greenland. With that the two men carved a new Arctic route; unsupported and unassisted.
However, in 2007 Belgians Dixie Dansercoer and Alain Hubert started from near the Siberian coast and skied past the North Pole to Greenland, spending a total of 106 days on the ice.
Both teams now hold their own records.
Dixie and Alain
March 1, 2007, Dixie Dansercoer and Alain Hubert kicked off what would become an amazing 1625 km partial crossing of the Arctic Ocean via the North Pole.
The two were airlifted over 85 km of open water off the coast of Russia, on the Siberian side. They planned for a resupply before the North Pole, which they got on April 9. By mistake they received helicopter fuel instead of Coleman gas however and so the helicopter returned with correct gas on April 27, now on the Greenland side.
In strict statistical definition, this made the trip from NP to Greenland assisted.
After skiing 49 days from the North Pole, Dixie and Alain arrived at the Greenland coast on June 14, 2007. A first provided position 11 km off the Greenland coast has since been corrected by the two.
Dixie and Alain pioneered the North Pole/Greenland Route with a resupply. Theirs was also one of the longest ski expeditions undertaken on the Arctic Ocean; 1625 km in 106 days.
Charles and Arnaud
Arnaud Tortel and Charles Hedrich left the North Pole on April 6, 2009 and arrived Sirius Patrol hut at Cape Morris Jesup at the Greenland coast two months later, on June 6.
This made the French team the first to ski unsupported and unassisted from the North Pole to Greenland.
The two had planned to ski from Cape Morris Jesup to Qaanaaq, but found conditions not suitable to get onto the Inland ice. Although they did only 40% of the distance traveled by Dixie and Alain, the first unassisted North Pole to Greenland goes to Charles and Arnaud.
The next challenge
Skiing North Pole to Greenland has advantage of a positive current. The opposite journey, starting from Greenland towards the Pole has never been achieved.
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