“The battle has started ...”
Published on 22.03.2012 - North Pole 2012
They have started too hard perhaps...
© Expedition website
Finally Norwegian Mads Agerup & Rune Midtgaard were brought to Cape Discovery on 18 March 2012. As a lot of snow has covered the ice through the last storms, the terrain looked smoother than perceived...
Despite all these abandons (the Japanese, the Indian Army and the Irish people), there are fortunetaly still some polar travellers going for it. It's the case for Mads Agerup & Rune Midtgaard. No more than three hours after their lanbding at Cape Discovery, they had done 8.3 kil already.
Excerpts from their 19 March blog : " 3 hours later and 8,3 kil into the Polar Ocean they camped. Conditions satisfactory. Speed satisfactory. Spirit high. The first part out from land normally has the worst ice. Here the whole Polar Ice sheet in pounding on land making fantastic formations and a sculptured landscape like nowhere else.
"This morning they called in and reported with some understatement that they were working on the cold modus. The stove had managed a comfortable (!) -30°C in the tent. And it would be misleading to say they felt in complete control. It will take a bit more time for the systems to reboot and program the white-collar-clerk-bodied into fully fledged snowmen.
"Stay tuned as we cross our fingers and hope they get through these first days with bodied, minds and equipment intact. This is a test like no other...."
Besides, progressing with all one's mind on this chaos from the first day on like they did (because of the speed record attempt of course), was a bit too much. "... Coming from the hotel rooms in Resolute and some hours later going at it full speed was expecting a lot from lungs and throats. Result : Mads got an irritation, and even though the ice and the physical strain has been better than anticipated, they have decided to calm down and not risk getting an infection. A bit disappointing, but risking anything this early is not on. They have time on their side, so we’ll see how to progress in the next days. – But spirit, equipment and strength is high. "
