Экспедиция через Северный полюс норвежца Борге Усланда и уроженца ЮАР Майка Хорна завершилась благополучно. У полярников заканчивалась еда, но помогло подкрепление из Норвегии.
Поход начался в конце сентября. Всего исследователи прошли около 1,800 км по льду в условиях полярной ночи.
Одной из целей экспедиции был сбор информации о таянии льдов Арктики. Ученые связывают этот процесс с глобальным потеплением.
Поход должен был завершиться в середине ноября, но из-за скачков температуры и дрейфующего льда Усланд и Хорн отстали от графика.
Еще в пятницу у пары должна была закончиться еда, но к ним подоспели норвежские исследователи Бенгт Ротмо и Александр Гамме. Вместе они добрались до исследовательского судна "Ланс".
На борту "Ланса" Хорн и Усланд выйдут из льдов Арктики и пересядут на другое судно, "Пангею", на котором достигнут берегов Шпицбергена.
Эвакуация
Норвежская экспедиция вышла на встречу Хорну и Усланду во вторник. Организатор похода Ларс Эббесен держал связь с обеими группами по спутниковой связи.
Mike HornExpedition Update 23: The night we arrived at the pole, the wind increased and we found ourselves in a blizzard with a lot of snow. This is the photo of our tent the next morning after having to dig ourselves out of the tent. The wind kept on blowing the after that, which made it dangerous because of the snow covering the open water. Both @BorgeOusland and myself broke through the snow into the water, but luckily only knee-deep. Even though we are extremely careful, things sometimes still go wrong. With the pole behind us, we are now focused on the next goal: to get as far south as possible with our remaining food. The days are now completely dark due to the significant cloud cover, affecting visibility when crossing open water or overcoming pressure ridges. Yet despite the challenges, yesterday was a good day with a 26km progress. With the drift pushing us southwest, we need to walk to southeast, to make sure we stay on course for Spitzbergen (Norway), where Pangaea is waiting for us. We worked so hard to get to the pole and our old bodies can feel it, but luckily the sleds are lighter now, allowing us to move a little faster. We are still sticking to a very tight routine and solving problems one after the other as they occur. Stick to what works and try to do better every day. #NorthPoleCrossing #Pole2Pole #MikeHorn
В пятницу он рассказал Би-би-си, что Хорн и Усланд отказались от эвакуации на вертолете, но согласились встретиться с норвежцами.
У пары заканчивалось продовольствие, а ветер усиливался. Если бы ураган отрезал их от внешнего мира, они остались бы обречены на голод.
1800 км по льду
Усланд и Хорн начали путь по льду 23 сентября. Они неделями шли в кромешной тьме, в условиях полярной ночи.
Mike HornAs we continue to make slow progress towards our goal (Pangaea), to our surprise, we are still making use of our rafts to cross open water leads. Although it is a massive hassle and a great risk to cross open water, we always feel rewarded once we have successfully reached the other side without falling into the water. Rafting also breaks the monotonous rhythm we quickly get into when we walk in a straight line hours on end…I guess this is a way of looking at the bright side of something we really dislike doing. On average we make about 15km progress a day, but this is without taking into account the negative progress we make when we drift back from where we came from. Being here in these conditions makes me think about my trip across Antarctica almost 3 years ago. Back then, I thought that expedition would be toughest challenge I would ever embark on but now that I find myself with @BorgeOusland on this forever moving platform, I am starting to reconsider what I thought…After all, there are a lot more unpredictable and ever-changing factors in the Arctic, without even taking into account the complete darkness we currently find ourselves in. Oh well, every experience is different, and that’s the beauty of a life filled with unknown and adventure! #NorthPoleCrossing #Pole2Pole #MikeHorn
Их путь осложняли резкие скачки температуры воздуха, которая колебалась от -40°C до +2°C. Исследователи считают, что виной тому глобальное потепление.
Дрейфующие льдины порой отбрасывали путешественников назад, удлиняя поход. Местами лед был тоньше обычного.
Один раз Хорн упал в ледяную воду и заработал обморожение кистей рук и носа. Оба исследователя, по словам Хорна, сильно похудели и очень устали за время путешествия.
Усланду - 57 лет, Хорну - 53. В 2006 году они стали первыми людьми, достигшими Северного Полюса зимой, без механического транспорта и даже собак.
Mike HornExpedition Update 36: Another couple of intense days on the ice. The temperatures are dropping day by day and have now reached as low as -40 C. Extra reason for us to wrap up this expedition and head back home. The positive drift has slowed down but the winds from the north are still helping us progress a couple kilometres a day, which at this stage is extremely helpful. Right now we have two different options to finish this expedition: 1. Get down south as quickly as possible with the food that we have left if we want to fulfil our hopes of being picked up by boat as we had originally planned. 2. If we do not make sufficient progress, a helicopter will have to be called in…but right now, we are ruling out this option in order to fully focus our remaining energy on the final sprint that is required to pass the finish line. It is almost as if @BorgeOusland and I have subconsciously been saving some extra energy just in case we found ourselves in the situation we currently find ourselves in. Just one week ago, we never even imagined we would be making 30km progress in a day during our last week. The body is full of surprises, when you think you have reached your limits, turns out something inside you makes you push them further…and even further! One thing is sure, we want to leave the arctic the way we arrived, that is by boat. But we must also make sure to take into account the risks that this endeavour involves…due to the cold temperatures, we spend a lot of time checking the conditions of our frostbites. As soon as we think we are losing sensation in our extremities, we stop, set up the tent and warm ourselves up until we are ready to head out again. As a result, we have decided to increase the number of walking hours per day just to give ourselves more time to warm up, while making the necessary progress to reach our goal (82 degrees north) which we hope to achieve before our food runs out. Now, we currently find ourselves at 83deg41’, which means we still need to cover over 150km to make it to a position where the boat has its best chances of picking us up. One more week of expedition to go, the race against time officially begins...wish us luck!
