Rock Solid Expedition 2008
Latest Blog Posts
On Wednesday the 14th May at 11am I will be giving a talk at the
Posted by: Mark Wood | Click here to read more.
In the early dawn light, we arrived back at the starting point of our our journey. The previous hours we had just spent on snowmobile getting us back to Grise fiord had been cold and mentally challenging. It also highlighted just how far we had covered in such a short space of time, how well we had worked as a team and how sad it was to finish under such circumstances. ...
Posted by: Mark Wood |
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This is one blog entry I didn't want to have to write. 'Expect the un-expected' is the one piece of advice I offer to people about to undertake an expedition in the arctic, and the events of the past few weeks certainly justify this advice!...
Posted by: Mark Wood |
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We set off hoping to better yesterday's distance of 18 miles, and as we departed conditions were looking pretty favourable. A strong tail-wind blowing from the east dropped the tempe...
Posted by: Mark Kelly |
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While we've made some decent progress over the last few days, we're both well aware that the current daily mileage isn't enough to get us back to Resolute within our target time, so today marked the end of our 'warm-up' and time to get down to business and pickup the pace (or at least increase the hours).
We decided to break the day's hauling down to eight 1hr legs, with a 10-15 min break in between each leg, taking it in turns to lead and navigate. We kept a steady pa...
Posted by: Mark Kelly |
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So its been two days since our last update, and in that time we've experienced plenty of different conditions out on the ice. After slowly picking our way through the sometimes spectacular ice-rubble of south cape fjord, we rounded south cape and were fortunate to encounter a large stretch of flat, wind-scoured ice, giving us the opportunity to really pick up the pace.
Today we made our way past Cape Waldegrave which signals the start of a 100 mile stretch directly across Jones Sound, unt...
Posted by: Mark Kelly |
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After a slightly white-knuckle landing at Grise Fjord, we descended a short rocky beach and took our first steps onto the ice of Jones Sound. Thankfully the ice was in good condition - fl...
Posted by: Mark Kelly |
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It's been a busy few days since arriving at South Camp in Resolute Bay. Although we're already over 1000km inside the Arctic Circle, and only have one final flight to reach Grise Fjord and the start of the expedition, there's been an unending stream of logistical and equipment issues to take care of. Woody's main kit bag (containing just a few important items such as clothing, GPS units, food rations, ski boots etc.) failed to arrive at Resolute with the rest of our baggage, and since then it's been a tense waiting game, with all fingers crossed that it would make an appearance on today's scheduled flight to Resolute....
Posted by: Mark Kelly |
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Resolute Bay - Cornwallis Island - Canadian high arctic.
I am currently sat inside South Camp Inn on Cornwallis Island which in turn is sat along side the North West passage. Looking out of the window there is a frozen ocean which locks together the vast sum of historic islands in the Canadian high arctic.
This is Polar bear country -with freezing temperatures and strong arctic winds it is also a mecca for any extreme polar traveller from around the world.
I have been coming here since 2003 and ever year the Inuit children in this small hamlet get bigger wiser and cheekier. 200 Inuit and Canadian workers live in this small outpost. They say its not the end of the world but you can see it from here! Mark Kelly and myself have once again been been made to feel really welcome.
Three very different expeditions this year from Britain have unfortunately been stopped early with in the Canadian arctic due to bad weather conditions or equipment failure. A world record speed attempt by British explorer Ben Saunders was one of the aborted trips. Expedition partner, Mark Kelly and myself have been following Ben on his daily dispatches since we left the UK and we had mixed emotions when we eventually caught up with him on our arrival last night at South camp.
It was good to see he was safe and in good spirits but it was also sad as he is such a driven honest guy who can see the importance of modern day polar exploration. Along with his base camp manager Andy we all had a great laugh chatting about the highs and lows of venturing out on ice. We look forward to meeting up with them both in the future - good luck when you head South later this year guys and thanks for the spare chocolate bars.
So what now for the Rock Solid expedition. On Thursday morning we will take a scheduled twin otter flight to the highest Inuit settlement in the Canadian arctic. 80 Inuit live in this extremely remote area - 1000 miles deep inside the arctic circle. Landing a small plane into the town involves heading straight at a cliff - turning at the last moment and coming to a stop feet away from the towns graveyard - nice!
Mark Kelly and myself will then attempt to pull roughly 80 kilos each of food and equipment as quickly- efficiently and as safely as possible across 350 miles of arctic wilderness. Our mission is to cover land locked sea ice, ice rubble and rolling snow covered hills taking us across the North West passage back into Resolute bay. A known trading route to the Inuit but the first time any Westerners have tried to cover the route on skis and by foot. But really that's not our reason for attempting this expedition....
Posted by: Mark Kelly |
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Location: 30000 ft above the North Atlantic ocean
It’s been a busy start to the year – one of my favourite pasttimes back in the UK is to take all of my ideas and future expedition plans to a café where most of my time is spent making lists. It’s become almost a joke that my life (at the moment) is being run off a list:
- Book flights to Ottawa
- Contact Terra Nova (tents)
- Email expedition flight details – Resolute Bay
- Buy food for my dad's dog - Charlie (6 week old west highland terrier)
- Order satellite phones and PLBs...
Posted by: Mark Wood | Click here to read more.
Location: Grand Marais
In 1969 Yorkshire born Sir Wally Herbert led an epic journey from point Barrow, Alaska across the frozen Arctic Ocean to Tavolya, off the coast of Spizbergen in a 476 day expedition that included reaching the North Geographic Pole.
In 1989 - 90 American Will Steger led a multi-national team on the Trans-Antarctica expedition.Taking 220 days, his team crossed the Antarctic continent enduring windchill of -150 degrees, and wind speed in excess of one hundred miles an hour....
Posted by: Mark Kelly |
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Location: Thunder Bay
Welcome to the first snowball blog - at the moment I am travelling from Heathrow airport in the UK armed to the teeth with expedition gear and skis. Facing various connecting flights and bus journeys my final destination will be a small town sitting on the side of Lake Superior in the US called Grand Marais. I've been informed that the temperature there at the moment is -25 and there's also reported to be 2 feet of fresh snow - Hooray!
I am going to be spending my time dog sledging with Paul Pregont who is a veteran of many polar expeditions. Over the years Paul has covered thousands of miles on ice with his husky dogs, guiding teams through some of the most remote places on the planet....
Posted by: Mark Kelly |
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