Ultimate Arctic Crossing - part 1

The team thinks, given the necessary reconnaissance of the place they will be leaving from, given also the work that has to be done for the pictures, that they will not be setting off on the great leg before February 15.

The team thinks, given the necessary reconnaissance of the place they will be leaving from, given also the work that has to be done for the pictures, that they will not be setting off on the great leg before February 15.

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  • Monday, 11 February, 7am: surrounded by their families, Dixie Dansercoer and Alain Hubert arrive at Zaventem Airport, Brussels. In less than two hours, they will be flying off to Moscow with Austrian Airlines.
  • As usual, the airline company concerned had opened a special desk for the expedition's check-in. The French photographer René Robert and the cameraman Remy Revellin are part of the trip.
  • Vincent Piret of the Aériane firm that manufactures them puts the finishing touch to their packing. He and Bernard Bleeckx, whom one can see at the bottom left of the photograph, (a founder of Aériane also) worked all night long to be ready for the great departure.
  • Emilie Hubert, the daughter of Alain Hubert, here, before departure.
  • My expeditions are enterprises. One has to make choices in life. And that particular aspect, being able to devote everything to the pursuit of one's goal, is peculiar to great entrepreneurs. If we are successful with my project, we shall go down as one the greatest polar expeditions of all time...
  • The entire team spent two days in Moscow, before flying in an Antonov 74 - on February 13 - to Khatanga and then going on to Tiksi. From there, they will be flying in an MI8 (the large Russian helicopter) to the New Siberia Islands.
  • The family, some friends and journalists, and some cameras and microphones: about fifty people (less than at the time of the departure for the Antarctic 4 years ago) took the trouble, despite the early hour, to come and bid farewell to the Compaq Pole II Expedition.
  • The team thinks, given the necessary reconnaissance of the place they will be leaving from, given also the work that has to be done for the pictures, that they will not be setting off on the great leg before February 15.
  • One element could come to delay the expedition's departure: last year, fuel had been stockpiled (and had cost the expedition a lot of money) on the coast of the New Siberia Islands. Without that, the MI8 would not have been able to make the Tiksi-New Siberia trip and back. However, Hubert has just learnt that the said stockpile had been stolen during the winter! Here, the Antonov makes a stopover in Doudinga, Siberia.
  • Khatanga Airport, Thursday February 14 2002 / -50°C. Everything has duly arrived (equipment and men). The team proceeds with the final tests of the satellite link. In fact, they make good use of the time they had to wait for the permits for the flight to Tiksi - a military flight - to come from Moscow. Permits that seemed to be in no hurry to arrive.
  • Monday February 18 / This morning at 7h30 (13.30 Khatanga time), the entire Compaq Pole II team (the two adventurers, the photographer, the cameraman and the Cerpolex people) is assembled on board Antonov which, two hours later, was to deposit them in Tiksi, a free area called the Republic of Saha - Yakoutie in Russian.
  • Tuesday 19 February / Bad news at Tiksi: the special exemption that they needed from the military authorities to go to the departure area by MI8 helicopter has still not arrived. The departure will therefore not be envisaged before the 22nd, since two more days of local shooting were needed before embarking on the great crossing...
  • Wednesday February 20 / Tomorrow, the first round trip will take place to go to stockpile fuel halfway between Tiksi and the New Siberia Islands. Friday morning, the departure from the New Siberia Islands is announced. On Sunday 24, all being well, Dixie Dansercoer and Alain Hubert should be definitively setting out on their great crossing. The weather conditions, despite being overcast, remain good.
  • The weather conditions, despite being overcast, remained good - as forecast yesterday. A strong north wind had, very luckily, closed the leads surrounding the west coast of Kotel'nyy Island and a west wind was forecast for the next few days, which should enable them, according to Alain Hubert, to use the traction sails relatively early: they must at all costs make up for lost time...
  • Thursday February 21, Tiksi / It was Dixie on the satellite phone today. He confirmed that the
  • Friday, 22 February, Tiksi / Bad luck: a breakdown of the chopper keeps it on the ground. The incident should not, however, according to Dixie and Alain, delay the departure by more than a day. The two men are clearly somewhat down in the dumps... For they have in mind the fact that, initially, the departure was envisaged for the first fortnight of February.
  • Saturday, 23 February, Tiksi / Deep down the MI8's breakdown was not as serious as all that. In deed, on that Saturday, 23 February, the men woke up at dawn. It was the local authorities that came to bring them the good news: the chopper would be ready to leave at about 10am. Here, the crew inside an Antonov between Khatanga and Tiksi.
  • A few hours later - after a
  • The place of the departure has finally been selected; the two men will indeed set off from the coast of Kotel'nyy Island, at 76° of Northern latitude and further to the south of the most westerly point of Siberia - more precisely, from Cape Anisiy.
  • It was cold on Kotel'nyy, -48°C, which, with the wind chill factor, produced a temperature of -68°C.
  • It was with something of a sense of drama that the two men finally left the Kotel'niy weather station. Indeed, one of the men stationed there, in this godforsaken corner at the ends of the world, had seriously stabbed his boss (who had made the trip from Tiksi to the New Siberia Islands in the MI8 helicopter chartered by Alain Hubert) with a knife after he had reproached him for some shortcomings in his work.
  • Thus instead of setting off as envisaged yesterday Sunday in the early morning, Alain and Dixie had to wait for the return of the helicopter with the local police authorities and a doctor on board before they could be taken to the place of departure, Cape Anisiy, located some twenty or so kilometres from the place where they had been deposited last Saturday.
  • Instead of arriving on time (at about 7am), the MI8 showed up at about 4pm. And finally deposited the men at the departure point at about 5pm. They then took their leave of the photographer and the cameraman and established the first camp of their adventure some 800 metres from Cape Anisiy, after progressing by moonlight.
  • Monday 25 February / 8pm for them (in the tent), midday for us: the men have been able to cover a mere 4.5km today. An enormous storm beat down on the pack ice, with the wind blowing at more than 60kph and visibility reduced to 50 metres. So they preferred to wait and huddle up in the tent.
  • Monday February 25 / From their very first steps on the ice, the two men realised that the pack ice was not as firm as it looks. Yesterday evening, in the tent, after making a small reconnaissance of the ice by following fresh bears tracks - whereas they had been assured on Kotel'nyy Island that there were no polar bears in the area - the men heard the first
  • Tuesday February 26 / Alain and Dixie had nevertheless to wait until the storm had passed before striking camp; they left about midday, only to stop 4 hours later. Assessment: 4 short kilometres of progress today. Although the ground is improving, it is still terribly slippery underfoot; they were obliged to leave the skis in the sledge and to go forward on foot.
  • Tuesday February 26 /
  • Wednesday February 27 / Dixie Dansercoer by satellite:

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