DAILY ACCOUNTS - PLEASE VISIT MIKE'S WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION

 

 

21.01.06

POLAR BEAR WATCH CONTINUES...
Message from Mike: "A curious polar bear circled our tent during the night looking for something to do. We hope he doesn’t return with any of his friends. Fortunately, we have seen no sign of bears the last eight hours, but we have had to repair a rubber dinghy that the polar bear ripped apart during the night." See latest image below sent back from Mike and Borge earlier today, of polar bear tracks outside their tent. Conditions on the ice are still unstable, more news on their departure soon...

 

20.01.06

MIKE AND BORGE NOW AT CAPE ARTICHESKY!

The good news came today that the wind conditions had calmed. Mike and Borge left their lodgings at Golomiyanniy, the helicopter motors were heated, and now at long last, they were on their way to Cape Artichesky, the starting point of their expedition.

Conditions were not what they were expecting. The region seems to be experiencing what we could almost call ‘A Siberian Heatwave‘. Warm temperatures of –5°C had struck the region, never before seen in this area at this time of year.

Another surprise soon became apparent, the recent westerly winds had blown the ice close to land. Mike and Borge were able to walk immediately onto the sea ice – almost too good to be true!! The courageous team waved goodbye as the helicopters flew away. Now they are alone on the ice, far away from any civilisation or shelter.

The excitement was high! Mike and Borge put on their skis, attached their heavily laden sleds onto their harnesses and started walking across the sea ice. Unfortunately the good luck did not continue...about 600 metres further on they decided to turn around. The ice was not stable, almost sludge in places, broken and moving fast in the current. The only option for them was to turn back to land and hope for better conditions tomorrow.

Now is time to put words into practice, to start getting into routine, each person with a specific chore, with the hope to get the tent up in as little time as possible. They were settling comfortably in the tent and then the next surprise came - their first visitor - a polar bear!! They weren’t expecting that on their first evening on the ice! The bear put his paw in the door of the tent, stood on and broke the zipper, sniffed around a little, and then turned backwards to the sled. As Mike and Borge got out of the tent they saw that he was walking off with a bag of food in his mouth. They set off a flare, the frightened bear dropped the food and ran onto the sea ice. As Mike said on the satellite phone, 'We managed to get rid of him for the moment - hopefully he will not come back...'

They certainly won’t be sleeping much tonight! One of them will need to stay on bear watch – not so easy in the dark, as Mike explains, 'You can’t hear the bears come close to the tent because the wind is blowing too hard.'

The broken zipper is now fixed and they are once again comfortably installed in their tent.

Although the start of their expedition is delayed another day, Mike and Borge have no regrets being where they are. They are in high spirits and want to get moving. Let's hope the temperatures will now drop, the northerly winds will appear and the ice will start freezing once again.

19.01.06

MESSAGE FROM MIKE

Dear all,
Borge and I are still standing by to leave to the starting position. The weather and temperature has not been too great, strong winds and very high temperature. We have inflated our rubber boats and hope to leave today. The visibility is not good enough for the pilot to fly so we have been stranded at Golomiyanniy for two days now. The race against the rising sun is on. We have only 65 days of food to make it north before the sun will rise. Very thin and broken up ice will be our bigest challenge. The first couple of days will be very interesting. Another problem will be to find drinking water on the salty sea ice. There are many unknown factors at this stage but we are ready and waiting for mother nature to decide our time to leave, we will be in the starting blocks. The dark polar night are making a difficult task a little more difficult.
We will keep you informed.
Mike

 

18.01.06

YET ANOTHER DAY OF WAITING!

Mike called at 23h45 local time on Sredny Island (1645GMT) to say that the weather had once again taken control. The helicopters were unable to fly. They feel positive that tomorrow will be the big 'D' day and they promise to send news as soon as they land on Cape Artichesky!

At 0330hrs CET today, Mike rang his support team to say that in just a few hours the helicopter would take them to Cape Arctichesky. Mike and his expedition companion, Norwegian explorer Borge Ousland, left Sredny Island at 1000hrs CET today and are expected to arrive at their start destination, Cape Artichesky, later today.

From Mike: 'Conditions are not so great! There are strong southerly winds (8 - 9m/sec) and this has broken up the ice around the Cape. We have been told that the broken blocks of ice are drifting up to 82°N so it'll be tough going at the start. The temperature is only -20°C and it is snowing outside - far too warm for the ice to form properly. A thick layer of clouds cover the Cape and it is dark outside - pitch dark 24 hours a day!! - you cannot see a thing!!!'

Sleep is the last thing that Mike and Borge want to do this evening. They will be packing their equipment (yet again) and thinking of every last meticulous detail before they set off. We are looking forward to receiving a phone call from their first camp on the ice, when we hope to find out more details on their departure - they will only know this themselves once they are out there and have accessed the conditions.

Landing at Cape Artichesky signifies the imminent start of Mike and Borge's North Pole Winter Expedition as they attempt to be the first men to walk 1000km to the North Pole in the sunless Arctic winter, unassisted by machines or dogs, in the darkness and extreme conditions with the average temperature expected to be -50°. As Mike says, 'Obstacles are as big as you personally make them...'

Wed, 18 Jan 2006 // 13:26

Quote of the Day:
'Conditions are not so great!...Strong winds have broken up the ice around the cape - it'll be tough going at the start...'
Mike Horn

 

18.01.06

FLYING TO CAPE ARTICHESKY TODAY!

Mike rang at 3h30 local time to say that in just a few hours the helicopter would take them to Cape Arctichesky. Mike and his expedition companion, Norwegian explorer Borge Ousland planned to leave Sredny Island at 10am local time with an expected arrival at their start destination, Cape Artichesky, later today.

Mike says, "Conditions are not so great! There are strong southerly winds (8 - 9m/sec) and this has broken up the ice around the Cape. We have been told that the broken blocks of ice are drifting up to 82°N so it'll be tough going at the start. The temperature is only -20°C and it is snowing outside - far too warm for the ice to form properly. A thick layer of clouds cover the Cape and it is dark outside - pitch dark 24 hours a day!! - you cannot see a thing!!!"

Sleep was the last thing that Mike and Borge wanted to do this evening. They were packing their equipment (yet again) thinking of every last meticulous detail. We are looking forward to receiving a phone call from their first camp on the ice, when we hope to find out more details on their departure. They will only know this themselves once they are out there.

Landing at Cape Artichesky will signifiy the imminent start of Mike and Borge’s North Pole Winter Expedition as they attempt to be the first men to walk the 1000km to the North Pole in the sunless Arctic winter, unassisted by machines or dogs, in the darkness and extreme conditions with the average temperature expected to be -50°. As Mike says, “Obstacles are as big as you personally make them…” More news from Mike soon...

 

16.01.06

MIKE AND BORGE FLY TO SREDNY ISLAND TODAY (MONDAY)

Mike and Borge have been waiting patiently in Noril'sk ever since the 9th of January. This has given them time to check and recheck all their equipment many times over. They are as ready as they can ever be! The problem is now they must wait for the bad spell of weather to pass so the helicopters can fly.

The news arrived yesterday that they can at long last fly to Sredny Island today (Monday). At around 10am Mike and Borge will be flown in a MI8 helicopter with about 350kgs of equipment and land on an ancient military airstrip on Sredny Island. They will then take refuge in a weather station and await the next helicopter that will take them to the northern most point of Russia, Cape Artichesky. They expect that they will get to Cape Artichesky tomorrow (17th January) and from there their expedition will finally start.

The ice around the Cape is not stable at the moment. Strong winds have recently battered the island and the ice has been broken up and pushed away from the land. Russian pilots reported that the ice was drifting at 10kms/hr around the Cape obviously making it impossible for Mike and Borge to set off. Now the conditions are once again improving, the winds have calmed and the temperatures are once again dropping allowing the ice to form. To help Mike and Borge arrive onto the ice they have with them two rubber dingy's. They may well need them if the temperatures rise again.

According to the latest weather charts the ice conditions will be very unstable for the first 115 kms of their trek. It will not be easy for Mike and Borge but they are well prepared and highly motivated to make a success of this expedition.

We hope for more news tomorrow from Cape Artichesky!

 

13.01.06

MIKE PREPARES TO HEAD OFF TO NORTH POLE

Extreme explorer, Mike Horn, will set off in the next few days on another extraordinary mission, the type of challenge that sets Mike apart from pretty well any other modern day adventurer. After swimming the length of the Amazon in six months, circling the globe without powered assistance at the Equator starting in June 1999 and finishing 17 months later in October 2000, and then more recently circling the planet at the Arctic Circle, including a winter time traverse of Siberia (2 years, 3 months long), it’s hard to find the right words to describe the quite incredible ability and determination of this modern day Shackleton, Amundsen and Hilary all in one.

Mike’s mission, a ‘training’ event for his Seven Wonders project (to be revealed on his return), is attempting to walk, unassisted by machines or dogs, the 1000 kilometres to the North Pole, in the darkness and extremely low temperatures of a sunless winter (-50C expected to be the ‘average’), to arrive at the top of the planet as the sun rises for the first time in 2006.

 

13.01.06

MIKE HORN’S RACE AGAINST THE ARCTIC ELEMENTS

Ellen MacArthur’s Offshore Challenges are supporting Mike’s mission as part of the Adventure Team formed in 2005. Ellen’s perspective on Mike, sets the scene for yet another unbelievable voyage...

“An extraordinary person can achieve extraordinary things and Mike Horn is one of those people. In today’s world there are few new boundaries left to break, and yet Mike keeps on doing what seems the impossible.

“He now faces his own ‘race against the elements’ to reach the North Pole in darkness, in extreme circumstances. Conditions will be sub-zero, and sometimes, down to -60 degrees Centigrade depending on the wind chill factor, it will be permanently dark, as the only way Mike can complete this trip from Siberia is this ‘early’ in the season (polar travel is normally undertaken in spring time, just before the ice melts, but after the sun has ‘returned’). The thickness of the ice that Mike must travel over is marginal, and at times he will have to swim through the Arctic waters to reach the next ice pack. To go to the North Pole you are walking on water not land! In these conditions you can freeze to death in minutes once you stop moving. Mike and his expedition companion, Norwegian explorer Borge Ousland, are attempting to be the first men to walk to the North Pole in the sunless Arctic winter. If they succeed, it will be an astounding feat of human perseverance and endurance.

“The duo are aiming to arrive at the North Pole around the 21st March – the first day of the spring equinox when the sun will rise properly for the first time in this region. They have 67 days worth of food and plan to start their expedition imminently – there is no margin for error and there is no back-up.

“I have been thrilled by Mike’s extreme adventures over the years and on meeting him you are struck by his piercing eyes and practically floored by his vice-like bear hug! You quickly realise this is a human being who has pushed his own personal boundaries to the limit and where his determination knows no limits. As Mike says in his own words: ‘Obstacles are as big as you personally make them…’

“I wish him and Borge the very best of luck and look forward to following him with you!”