This will be my last blog update before I head to the Pole as there is not much mobile phone reception or wifi on the top of the world (yet) so I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has sponsored or supported me in some way, shape or form. I am extremely fortunate to have been afforded the opportunity to undertake this expedition and whilst I have personally invested a significant amount of time, money and perspiration in this venture, this would not have been possible without your support, so thank you again. There are always risks in such expeditions but I have done all I can to mitigate these to what I think is an acceptable level but I know from experience that you take on mother nature on her terms and no matter how hard I try, I can’t influence the wind direction, ice floe drift, ocean currents or where hungry polar bears might be but I am committed, prepared and ready for the challenge. We are on a small plane out on Tuesday morning to ‘ice station zebra’ as I’ve called the temporary ice station. We will be landing on one year old sea ice that has been flattened by small tractors parachuted in, guided in by free fall parachuters sent in as an advance party. As soon as we land, we will be airlifted to our start point and the journey will need to begin as we are starting a bit later than we would have hoped due to the poor weather conditions. The good thing is that as we are so high and are coming in from the Norwegian/Russian side, we will get an attempt at the pole this year – unlike those who are currently in northern Canada and who had hoped to reach the pole, most of these expeditions have been cancelled. All things being equal, we will get to bag the pole around the 20th/21st April, fingers crossed. I will be in touch as soon as I can. Thanks again. A bientot……
