January 20, 2006
Three card board cut-outs outside their offices in Canary Wharf.
January 24, 2006
Shortly after this photo was taken, the horse in red put its hoof in David's tyre and took him for an unexpected spin. Fortunately no injuries but our flask of tea did get smashed.
March 24, 2006
The final training run was a 20 mile tyre pull followed by a well earned lunch. It took approximately six and a half hours.
April 06, 2006
It was here that we discovered that Andre had left his sleeping bag at David's house in Harpenden.
April 07, 2006
SAS went on strike. Lunch at the airport whilst we tried to find a private jet to take us to Spitsbergen. Mike's sister Helen came up trumps with a google search.
April 07, 2006
The jet arrives but can he get all our baggage on board. At least we don't have Andre's sleeping bag.
April 07, 2006
Michael, Chris & Mark get comfortable while Andre gets ready to jump into the cockpit. Andre has a private pilot's licence.
April 07, 2006
David, Graham & Ian keep the baggage company. Disaster strikes - the crew thinking we were all fit men - took the majority of the alcohol off which only left us one bottle of red wine.
April 07, 2006
We got to Spitsbergen at last but we were some what poorer. A journey that should have been a few hundred pounds cost alittle more.
April 07, 2006
The first of many great meals (loading the calories) while we waited for the flight to Camp Barneo.
April 08, 2006
Alan supplemented the provisions with thirty large sausages that he had brought with him from France.
April 08, 2006
A life size replica of a Polar Bear at the 5 star Radisson hotel - which was not where we stayed!!!
April 08, 2006
We had to make up ten bags of food for each day that we would be on the ice.
April 09, 2006
We left on Thursday the 6th and it's now Monday the 10th and we are still waiting to leave. Everyone is fed up.
April 10, 2006
We are informed just before getting on the plane that the radio has broken at Camp Barneo and that could the pilot borrow a satellite phone if he is unable to locate the airstrip on the ice.
April 10, 2006
Low cloud cover so the pilot has to fly very low for a while whilst looking for the air strip. Just as well this is a frozen ocean.
April 10, 2006
Camp Barneo exists for one month of the year for scientific research and supporting expeditions like our own.
April 10, 2006
Watching the plane take-off in such a short distance is amazing.
April 10, 2006
Cross country skis with a 70kg sledge sliding through inches of fresh snow.
April 11, 2006
David who organised and planned the entire trip over the past eighteen months had started to feel under the weather.
April 11, 2006
There was much more open water around this year than usual. It was just a matter of luck as to how far you needed to walk to go around it.
April 11, 2006
Alan, Andre & Alan melting ice, heating water, filling flasks and adding the boiling water to the dried food for the evening meal. The whole process took 2 - 3 hours.
April 12, 2006
We progressed approximately one mile an hour. There was an unusally strong drift against us which meant that we drifted back half a mile per hour. If we slept too long we made no progress at all.
April 12, 2006
It was possible to cross small leads on skis. It was then that you realised that the ice was only a few inches thick.
April 12, 2006
You needed to trust that the skis would take your weight which of course they are designed to do.
April 12, 2006
The trick was to get enough speed to get the sledge across before it fell into the water.
April 12, 2006
At tricky points Alan & Pete would ensure that everyone got across safely.
April 12, 2006
Visibility was often poor and Alan & Pete would take every opportunity to scale a high point in order to try and navigate as smooth a path as possible.
April 12, 2006
The best weather was often just after we set-up camp. We tried to stay on the UK clock as much as possible despite the fact that it was 24 hour day light.
