Ultimate Arctic Crossing - part 4

Saturday April 27 - DAY 62 / Since the decision to give up was made, the team has been making faster progress than ever. During the last four days, they have effectively covered 89km to the Northwest, even while remaining two days in the tent! Or a daily

Saturday April 27 - DAY 62 / Since the decision to give up was made, the team has been making faster progress than ever. During the last four days, they have effectively covered 89km to the Northwest, even while remaining two days in the tent! Or a daily

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  • So the decision came about during the night: the operation would be by helicopter and not with Antonov 2 - the latter (sensitive to the problems of de-icing) would have to have flown over too much ice-free water and was consequently likely to arrive over
  • Saturday April 27 - DAY 62 / Since the decision to give up was made, the team has been making faster progress than ever. During the last four days, they have effectively covered 89km to the Northwest, even while remaining two days in the tent! Or a daily
  • Sunday April 28 - DAY 63 / HQ was informed by Cerpolex that the Russians again would prefer to use the Antonov 2 to go to look for two men on the ice and that, provided the twin-engine is assisted by the MI8, which would have to make a fuel drop on the wa
  • Sunday April 28 - DAY 63 / On the pack ice, the men do not know any more to which saint they should devote themselves. Once, they are told that it is in fact the MI8 that will be coming to find them, then the next day, they are again told that, no, it wil
  • Monday April 29 - DAY 64 / It was not only the two men who didn't know to which saint to devote themselves. At HQ as well, a fair number of questions were being asked. And including the question of money. There had been no question of it up to now, but th
  • Monday April 29 - DAY 64 / The sum in question for this entire recovery operation is estimated to be approximately ,000. However the expedition's books are in the red, as is the case with any self-respecting expedition. Furthermore, the Russians are deman
  • The only chance of a solution: to call the expedition's main sponsor, Compaq. It was Michel Brent who took care of it. In less than ten minutes, the case was heard. The big boss Johan Deschuyffeleer did not abandon the men, and he asked his financial dire
  • Monday April 29 - DAY 64 / The cameraman who had left Brussels to go to film the recovery and who had arrived at Khatanga for a few days, left in the MI8 this morning for the town of Tchelyouskine. He was going to have to wait in this godforsaken part of
  • Monday 29 April - Day 64 / 10pm / Set-back at Khatanga: HQ has learned, via Cerpolex/khatanga, that the Russians require the presence of two helicopters at Khatanga for them to be able to go to look for the two men. This is so that they can keep a machine
  • Monday 29 April - Day 64 / 4pm / The last one: The Russian pilots on standby with the Antonov 2 in Stredny are now demanding - to go to find the two men - satellite maps of the pack ice from St Petersburg showing the state of the ice between Stredny and t
  • The flow of contradictory information is solidly testing the two men's nerves. It's now several days since they last moved. Then during these long hours of waiting, they kill time by strolling on the ice - which pleases Dixie but strongly upsets Hubert, w
  • To kill time and to relax the nerves, the men take the last shots of the expedition; here, some photographs for the Korean sponsor, Hyundai, who gave them both, via its concessionaire in Belgium, the use of a new car for three years...
  • Tuesday April 30 - DAY 65 / The Antonov 2 will finally not fly. Too much ice-free water in the way, said the pilots. So the mission was entrusted to the two MI8 helicopters, which had to go down to the Barneo Base. This time, the end of the expedition is
  • Thursday May 2 - DAY 67 / Pandemonium of combat at dawn. Two MI8s finally take care of the recovery, one will make a stockpile of fuel 300km from Cape Arktichewski and will return to Tcheliouskine, the other will follow and will refuel at the stockpile be
  • Thursday May 2 - DAY 67 / Before embarking with the men, let us say - to finish - that this day of Thursday May 2 was full of surprises, for although Alain and Dixie knew that people were coming to find them, they could no longer have any satellite contac
  • Friday May 3 - DAY 68 / All the team took off at about 11.30 yesterday night. Three and a half hours later, they landed at Tchelyouskine, where they arrived today at about 2 am. There, the pilots wanted to rest before flying on to Khatanga. It was therefo
  • Friday May 3 - DAY 68 /
  • Saturday May 4: In Khatanga, Hubert and Dansercoer bump into some old polar buddies who have also just returned from an expedition. From left to right: Petter Nyquist, Dixie Dansercoer, John Muir, Alain Hubert, Eric Philips, and Kjetill Holen.
  • On Sunday May 5, the team's return to Brussels was confirmed for Monday May 6 at 12.55. In this shot, you can clearly see the wear and tear caused by the ice to the sides of the sledges. Apart from that, hats off toe the guys from Aériane, the manufacture
  • Monday April 6 12.55 / Brussels Zaventem Airport: The team's arrival from Moscow: families and media waiting. First impression: physically, the men do not seem to have suffered too much from their adventure, despite the fact that Alain had lost ten little
  • In this shot, you can clearly see the wear and tear cause by the ice to the sides of the sledges. Here, Cauyaq, Dixie's sledge, is invaded by his children.
  • On his arrival at Brussels-Zaventem, Dixie Dansercoer saw for the first time his child who had been born a few weeks earlier, on Friday April 26, while her father was still struggling with the glacial hell of the Arctic pack ice. Thanks to the satellite t
  • For an even better experience of the moments of this Arctic epic, visitors will be able to go to the

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The Coldest Journey (Sir Ranulph Fiennes & Team)

Antarctic 2012-2013 - ongoing

25.10.2012

Sir Ranulph Fiennes is back in the Antarctic for a world first. He will lead a team of explorers to conquer…

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