All the highest peaks have been climbed; all the deepest jungles penetrated. So today's explorers must satisfy themselves with being the first to ascend, say, the western face of the 17th-highest peak in the third-tallest range in the world. Not that this makes the going any easier, as Lonnie Dupre and Eric Larsen discovered in May when they attempted the first unassisted, nonmechanical, summertime crossing of the Arctic Ocean. Among other things, they hoped to draw attention to the melting polar ice cap. Along the way, they braved deep snow, thin ice, and inquisitive polar bears.
Back in 1909, the world had to wait months to get reports of Robert Peary's epic trek to the pole, but anyone wanting to follow Dupre and Larsen's progress - or lack thereof - could catch daily podcast and blog updates. Setbacks on the projected 1,240-mile journey across the North Pole began before the pair even set out onto the ice.
May 9, Sredney, Russia, northernmost airstrip in the world: We're spending tonight packing, then taking off at 10 o'clock in the morning. Things are a little bit hectic: We can't find the bullets for our rifle. We don't anticipate having to use them, but you never know.
Tuesday, May 10, Cape Arctichesky, Russia, 602 miles from the pole: It was a hard day, but we made good progress. It's a stark realization that we are leaving the world as we know it behind. On a positive note, the tent is really warm right now. On the down side, I (Eric) seem to have caught a Russian virus and have almost no energy.
Friday, May 13, 604 miles from the pole: We are in the tent after a long day in a big snowstorm. We just took out the GPS and found that we've actually drifted farther back than where we started yesterday. Our lack of progress can only be blamed on the fact that it's Friday the 13th.
Saturday, May 14, 588 miles from the pole: We had a great white visitor about an hour ago - a young polar bear. He was very curious; it took two flares to scare him away, and Eric has set up a fence. I don't think either of us will be sleeping much tonight.
Saturday, May 21, 588 miles from the pole: Just when we thought it couldn't get worse, it did. The ice is 100 percent unforgiving. But we made 6.25 miles, and now we're in our tents, dead tired. Not really looking forward to tomorrow, but we're going to keep pressing on.
Sunday, May 22, 577 miles from the pole: Today we ended up skiing across some pretty thin ice at times, all the while holding our breath and thinking about helium.
Monday, May 23, 570 miles from the pole: Let's see what we've got going today: For dinner we had egg noodles and dried caribou. Kind of a goulash. At night Eric and I have been falling asleep to our MP3 players. I've been listening to Aretha Franklin, and Eric's listening to the Counting Crows.
Saturday, May 28, 569 miles from the pole: We'd like to use our canoes, but we first have to break the slush with our dry suits, swimming and breaking the ice as we go, then pulling our canoes across. Summer here has come a month early this year.
Friday, June 3, 562 miles from the pole: Eric and I were airlifted off the ice today. I want to share my reasoning for making the decision to end the expedition: There are vast areas of thin ice and slushy leads too thick to canoe across and too thin to ski. This, combined with the month-early breakup of the ocean ice, caused our backward drift early in the trip. Hard realization that our dreams and hopes and aspirations are coming to a close. The Arctic is already erasing our presence.
- Jeff Howe
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North Pole or Bust
