10.04.06
PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY
Today, Monday 10th April, at 1000hrs GMT a press conference will be held with the new walking record holders in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, in the highest located revolving restaurant in the world. To follow the press conference online and to view photos (after 1700hrs GMT), click on link below under the 'Sign up for updates' box. For more information about the press conference contact Mrs Myriam Imseng, Tel: + 41 (0) 27 958 11 12, E-mail: imseng.myriam@saas-fee.ch.

05.04.06
MIKE AND BORGE HEADING HOME TODAY!
After waiting patiently at the Borneo Base for the runway to be completed, last night the Russians gave the all clear for the first commercial aircraft to land on the North Pole. This morning at approximately 1100GMT, Mike and Borge's friends, family and sponsors will arrive at Borneo Base to be reunited with the new record holding walking duo, then after spending a few hours on the ice they will return home at long last!

03.04.06
MIKE AND BORGE RETURN HOME DELAYED
Mike and Borge have spent the week camping at the Borneo Base N89°32' (just 52km from the North Pole), waiting for the Russian team to build the airstrip (1km long) ready for the first commercial aircraft in to the North Pole. Originally this flight was scheduled to arrive Sunday but was cancelled due to the runway taking slightly longer than expected to build. The re-scheduled flight last night was delayed once again - more news on their return shortly.

Update from Mike: "It's been a long week! We arrived at the Russian Base on the 25th April and every since we have been waiting, waiting for our family and friends to take us back home with them.

It's been really interesting to be at the base with the Russians. They have been very kind to us and we have been trying to make ourselves useful when possible. Our Russian conversation quickly came back to us and we are now conversing quite well.

We are finding it very cold here even though it is no colder than it was before. It's strange that since we have stopped walking we just do not seem to get used to the cold! Apart from that, we are still finding the temperature too hot in the Russians tent. We cannot stay in there for long periods of time but are very happy to retreat there from time to time.

We have been relaxing a lot, letting our bodies recuperate from it's long trip. We are a bit on the skinny side and are longing to 'pig - out' on good food. Borge and I have both probably lost about 8 kgs each. We have been anxiously awaiting a box that was sent from Switzerland, full of chocolates, cake, chips, cheese, etc and jump to attention every time a plane comes near in the hope that this might be the day the box arrives. The waiting was agony but the box did arrive - finally!

The Russians sent a second tractor earlier in the week and this time everything went as planned. The parachutes opened and the tractor arrived safely on the ice. Quite a sight indeed to see the tractor fall out of the sky! After its arrivial, the Russians were then able to start building the runway. Now we are just waiting for the completion of the airstrip so the first commercial aircraft will be able to land.

That's all from me - I'm looking forward to seeing everybody soon, back home in Switzerland!"

27.03.06
CONTEMPLATION TIME AS MIKE AND BORGE PREPARE FOR LIFE BACK ON LAND
"Borge and myself are now slowly adapting to the human noise around us. It seems to be out of place out here on the ice. For the last two months we only had each other as company and not a great deal was said between us.

It will only be a matter of time before we will get use to the fact that the expedition is over and our lives are not in each others hands any more. We quickly adapted to each other’s habits and there was no conflict inside the tent during this expedition.

It will be a major adaptation to get use to my bed again, and not having that "DID YOU HEAR THAT?" phrase once or twice a night, or the very faint sound of the alarm after only 5 hours sleep which signalled the start of the new day. To get out of the sleeping bag at -30°C, put on your frozen shoes and jacket, and get out there and walk for 12 hours with your head lamp as the only light source when there was no moon, stars, wind or snowdrift to guide you up north, was quite a challenge.

Borge and I were a highly motivated team that had only one goal, to make it to the North Pole. We knew there would have been no second attempt. As two solo explorers we worked on each other’s strong points to make the expedition a success.
Borge will always stay one of the greatest Arctic Ocean explorers in my eyes. It was a great honour for me to share this experience with him.

Thinking back on the expedition, we realize now that we live in our small comfort zone with only our thoughts and objectives in mind. We have the tendency to forget the others that have done all the hard work at home and the sponsors and friends that made it all possible for us. I cannot thank all of you in this mail but you know who you are, and I will do it personally on my return back home. The team behind us were just as motivated as we were, and this carried us throughout the trip. We are all bonded in emotion and all the effort came from the heart. Thank you all very much for that!

Now the midnight sun has arrived and to have seen and experienced both the darkness and the light on this exploit seems like two different worlds. The saying that “there is light at the end of the tunnel” has never made more sense!

Only one thing remaining for us now, and that is to have the patience to wait for our families and friends to come and take us back home with them (on 2nd April).

This will complete the new chapter in Arctic history.

Best regards"

Mike

26.03.06
MIKE AND BORGE ARRIVE AT ICE BASE BORNEO
After arriving at the North Pole on Friday afternoon, last night Mike and Borge were picked up by helicopter and taken to the Borneo Base which the Russian team had set up yesterday prior to their arrival along with tents, fuel and supplies…

"Sorry I didn't send any news yesterday. Borge and I spent the entire day waiting for the helicopters to come. Our equipment was all packed and our telephones as well. The Russians did arrive eventually, quite a bit later than expected because they were affronted with a few problems with the drop off of material at the Borneo Base.

Every year, at the beginning of the spring, the Russians set up a base on the ice near to the North Pole and build an airstrip so that large aircraft can bring in groups of tourists. The Russians fly in from Murmansk with two helicopters and afterwards they send a jumbo from Longyearbyen (Spitzberg) to airdrop food, equipment, fuel and even a tractor so that they can flatten the airstrip. This was all done yesterday and it went very well until they airdropped the tractor. Unfortunately when they airdropped the tractor the parachutes didn't open and the tractor broke into 5 million pieces onto the ice. It was only after this catastrophe, at 1700hrs GMT, that the helicopter could eventually fly to pick us up at the North Pole and take us back to their base.

The latitude of the Ice Base can vary from year to year, depending on ice conditions. This year the Ice Base is situated at N89°32', 52km from the North Pole so the flight only took 15-20 minutes. So now after two months of being on their own Mike and Borge have arrived at civilisation again.

It was a strange moment to be airlifted off the ice and to realise that this was it - the expedition was really finished and we had achieved what we had set out to do. The Russians gave us a very friendly welcome, and we entered what felt like an overly heated tent, which was very noisy and full of smoke. Our plan was to stay in the spacious tents that the Russians have set up but it was simply too hot for us there. Believe it or not we eventually decided to set up our tent once again outside and sleep out in the cold as we had done for the last 61 days.

Before retiring to our tent, we enjoyed a great meal of sausage and bread with our new friends, drank the traditional vodka (although not many), and had a fun time trying to converse in Russian, or to get out as many words as we could remember from our previous trips. We had a wonderful evening!

Now all we can do is wait. We must wait one week at the Borneo Base until the first aircraft can fly in and we can fly out. On that flight will be family, friends, press and sponsors. They'll arrive on April 2nd . That'll give the Russian's enough time to get another tractor flown in and enough time for us to brush up on our Russian. We're looking forward to returning home to be with our families but in the meantime are happy to rest a few days on the ice, to relax, eat some additional calories, and to get ourselves used to the idea of returning to civilisation once again.

I'll try to send you some photos from the Borneo Base.

My best regards to you all!"

Mike

23.03.06
MIKE AND BORGE ARRIVE AT THE NORTH POLE!!
After 60 days and 5 hours, Mike and Borge have become the first men ever to walk to the North Pole completely unassisted in the Arctic winter.

On January 22nd, Mike Horn and Borge Ousland set off on the first ever attempt to walk to the North Pole in the sunless Arctic winter, unassisted by machines or dogs. Today at 1600hrs GMT Mike and Borge finally accomplished what they set out to achieve. They arrived at the North Pole very tired but elated.

"It’s great to finally be standing on the North Pole. This mystical place is all that it is made out to be. It’s incredible out here!! Borge and I have walked far and the conditions have been extremely tough - but we’ve made it! I can’t tell you how happy we are feeling! We are alone out here, standing on the very top of the world.

It was an eventful trip. We had to walk days and days on end in complete darkness, had several encounters with polar bears, problems with equipment, and swam many times across open leads, all this in extremely cold temperatures getting as low as -50°C. We certainly have a lot to tell you about when we get back.

Borge and I worked well together, both of us with a lot of experience to offer. Not all moments were easy but we bought our knowledge and experience together and always managed to pull through in the end. It’s quite a trip we have done together and I am thrilled to have be able to share it with him."

For 61 days, Mike and Borge have been walking 10-12 hours a day pulling their 160kg sledges in the extreme Arctic temperatures and in 24 hours of complete darkness for the majority of the expedition, catching only a glimmer of sunlight on the horizon some days for a few hours. Mike and Borge's bodies are now feeling the strain. Having had only two days break until now they are in need of a good rest. They are suffering from minor frostbite, which needs to be attended to and they need to replenish their bodies of fluids and vitamins.

"We’ve decided to camp on the Pole for a few more days. We’ve worked hard to get here and now we can really sit back and enjoy our accomplishment.

The Russians will come with helicopters in a few days time to pick up Borge and I, and take us back to the floating airstrip called the Barneo Base which is situated about 100kms away from the Pole. We will need to wait another week in the company of the Russians until the first commercial flight will be able to fly in. This flight will be filled with our family, friends, journalists and sponsors. We’ll have a great celebration on the ice before heading back to Europe.

Our thanks go out to everybody that supported Borge and I throughout the expedition, to all the people that wrote mails, to our sponsors and of course, our families!"

See image below and Gallery for latest photos sent back from Mike and Borge at the North Pole!

22.03.06
DAY 60: MIKE FEELING BETTER FOR FINAL PUSH TO POLE!!
Mike phoned this evening with very good news: "I'm feeling better," he said, sounding very elated. "I woke up this morning feeling completely lousy and gradually felt better and better throughout the day. All my aches and pains are finally going and I'm getting my appetite back. The antibiotics have finally kicked in. I was a little anxious for a while but now it seems that everything will be alright." …and just in time!...

With only 21kms to go, Mike and Borge will arrive at the North Pole tomorrow! For 60 days now they have crossed 1000kms on skis over the frozen Arctic Ocean in very unfavourable conditions and during the darkest of winter months.

"We're starting to get excited. It's finally sinking in that we are going to arrive tomorrow. It's been quite a trip! Borge's 42 years old and now looks 80 and I'm 39 and look like 90! (Mike laughs)

We arrived on the North Pole ice today, Borge's keen eye noticed it straight away. There is still some water about but luckily we didn't need to swim. I don't think I could have coped with that today!

The weather forecast was not at all as had been predicted. Today we had westerly winds of 4-5m/s (9-11mph) with a southwards drift and temperatures of -22°C. Tomorrow northeasterly winds of 8m/s (18mph) are predicted. We hope that this prediction will also be wrong.

We have reached N89°48'39", E87°25'34" and are extremely motivated for the final stretch. Tomorrow we'll get to the North Pole while enjoying the light of the midnight sun. There isn't much else to say. It's just great to know that I will now be able to appreciate my last day walking not worried with aches and pains. I will be able to appreciate the last walking day in the company of my dear friend Borge and enjoy the very special moment once we arrive on the Pole.

Until tomorrow!!!"

Mike

21.03.06
DAY 59: MIKE RUNNING ON WILL POWER!
Mike rang at 2000hrs GMT this evening after a full day of walking: "We pitched camp at N89°35'19" E 79°37'43 this evening after advancing another 25kms." His voice definitely sounded stronger than it did yesterday. He did however say that he did not feel any better than he did yesterday, but most importantly, he didn't feel any worse either. He is continuing the antibiotics three times a day and we hope that by tomorrow we will see a definite improvement in his health.

"I have walked all day. I'm feeling weak and am having hot and cold rushes down my spine. I am wearing every single bit of clothing I own just to keep my body temperature up. My body seems to be running on sheer will power. I haven't slowed down my pace at all and Borge and I are still keeping a very good average.

"Today the winds calmed down completely and the temperatures were -28°C. The forecast predicts southerly winds tomorrow of 5m/s which is very positive for us. The following day northeasterly winds are predicted. Our plan is to go as far as possible tomorrow and turn into the northeasterly winds on Thursday continuing straight to the Pole. Ideally it would be better to have a complete rest day to help my body get over whatever it has, but we want to continue because of the changing weather. It is better for us to continue now while the going is good.

The Spring Equinox has arrived and the sun is in the sky 24/24. We didn't realize that what we were seeing before was actually only the reflection of the sun. It wasn't the sun at all. Now, after 3 months we are looking at the real sun and it is something different altogether. For the first time yesterday we saw shadows. You think you feel heat in the suns rays but in fact you don't. It really is the most amazing sight.

I will try and eat something now. Scrambled eggs on the menu this evening with lots of fluids - Doctors orders!!

Cheers!"

Mike

20.03.06
DAY 58: ROUGH DAY FOR MIKE...
Unfortunately Mike's sore stomach is a little more serious than we thought. It was a rough day for him but he struggled on, walking 10 hours and advancing 25kms in temperatures of -26°C.

Mike seems to be suffering from some form of intoxication, perhaps from a possible fuel leakage inside his sledge that may have contaminated some of his food. However, neither he nor Borge really know where it came from.

He is suffering from generalised weakness, body aches and nausea and has no desire to eat or drink. Always reluctant to take medication, Mike has finally succumbed this evening and has taken some antibiotics. We hope that the double dose he took will take effect immediately and that his condition will soon start to improve.

In the meantime, Borge and his support team are doing all they can to help, as Borge explains: "Mike almost never gets sick and I can hardly remember the last time. In addition to the antibiotics, we have contact with a physician to find out if there is anything else that should be done. Be assured that we’re doing everything we can right here. I’m pulling as much weight as possible and have taken over the various and sundry tasks that need doing, in order to make it more manageable for Mike. Naturally we’re evaluating the situation continually."

With just over 70kms to go until the Pole, the walking duo are excited about arriving at the 90° latitude, and Mike has no intention to stop now. This winning team have battled hard to get to the Pole and it won't be long now until their efforts will be well rewarded.

20.03.06
DAY 57: THE FINAL 100KM…
"Another 10 hours walking and another 27kms closer to the Pole! Borge and I have decided that we're getting pretty good at this! We have our daily routines and each one his chores. We have everything 'off-pat' now and it all works like clockwork. We make a good team. Immediately after pitching the tent in the evening we start cleaning the ice off our clothes. It takes a good 2 and a half hours before we can enjoy some food, and then we eventually collapse from exhaustion. The days are long and cold and the efforts we are putting in are huge.

A monumental day it was today, because not only did we arrive at the 89th latitude, but we also have less than 100 kms to go until we reach the Pole (97 to be exact). We think that in 4 days we'll make it, and if by some chance the drift is with us, we might even make it in 3 days.

The weather wasn't too bad today with temperatures around -28°C. The white-out conditions and strong 5m/s (11mph) NE winds gradually improved throughout the day and we could clearly enjoy seeing the sun once again situated well over the horizon.

Borge ski repairs seems to be finally lasting. We are hoping that now they will be fine until we get to the Pole. He must be very careful where he places his feet because I doubt that he'll be able to repair them again after this.

Have an upset stomach today and am feeling nauseous. Not at all sure why - perhaps it's the food, perhaps it's because of the vasodilator I am taking, perhaps just generalised fatigue. We've only had two days rest until now - the 15th day and the 29th day. Once we get to the Pole we'll be able to rest but for now we want to keep on going. I'm sure my stomach will come right after some food and a good sleep.

Until tomorrow!"

Mike

19.03.06
DAY 56: A FAR BETTER DAY - 36KM PROGRESS!
"Another 10 hours walking but today things were definitely better for us. Tonight we have stopped 36kms from where we were camped this morning and we have only another 124kms to do until we arrive at the pole. At present the temperature is reading -28°C and the winds has calmed down completely. Throughout the day we had a very, very cold easterly winds gusting between 3-8m/s (7-18mph). With the easterly winds came a NW drift which is pushing the ice together and closing up all the patches of open water.

It's unbelievable to think just a few days before reaching the pole we are finally getting a drift in the right direction! Wouldn't it be nice if it stays like this until the end?!?

Once again, Borge is repairing his skis this evening. He is sticking the cut off portion (that he took off last night) onto the underside of the ski. This means that now his skis are double thickness and will be more solid to withstand the rest of our journey. I hope for his sake this'll be the last time he'll need to repair his ski!

Borge and I marvelled at the site of the full sun today. It stayed in the sky for 4 hours and we managed to get some great photos. I'll try and send them through to you tomorrow. I hope the photos will look as good to you as they did to us. It was really an amazing sensation for us both.

More news tomorrow when we hit the 89th latitude!!!"

Mike

18.03.06
DAY 55: FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE SUN!
"We woke up in white-out conditions this morning and with very strong winds. It was a very difficult day. Bad terrain and poor visibility hindered our progress and we only advanced 15kms in 10 hrs. We could hardly see two metres in front of us. Ice conditions were bad, with some moving patches and leads appearing. Just when we thought that our swimming days were over we were forced to put on our swim suits and cross two leads. These must definitely be the last!!

The temperatures were cold when we woke up but they gradually warmed throughout the afternoon. You won't believe that we saw our first glimpse of the sun today. Ironically we looked at the temperature gauge at the same time, but saw that there was no change. It was still reading -38°C. It was an amazing sight to see the sun and it re-zapped us with instant energy and well-being.

Now, at our camp this evening (N88°34'10" E 83°41'32") it is dead calm, the winds have dropped and the temperature has climbed to -15°C. We hope that now the winds have calmed the southerly drift will also stop. We're fed up with drifting backwards! The winds appear to be turning to NW which might give us an easterly drift, or even better we might stop drifting altogether.

Only 160km to go to the Pole and only one major concern at this moment. As we are speaking, Borge is sawing his skis in half.
Unfortunately his last repair job did not hold out so he has no choice but to shorten the skis and move the bindings forward. This shouldn't hinder his progress too much we hope...at any rate, nothing is going to stop us from getting to the pole now!!!"

Mike

17.03.06
DAY 54: ZAPPED BY THE COLD ONCE AGAIN!
"Spoke too soon about the temperatures rising!!! The cold zapped us once again today going down as low as -38°C without windchill.

The northerly winds shifted around all day today, sometimes stopping dead calm at times. Our faces and poor noses are getting a hammering in this weather! It's unbelievable to think that we have been walking in temperatures of -35°C to -40°C for 10 days now with no sign of things improving. The sleds stick to the ground, the water takes forever to boil, the inconveniences are many, not to mention the discomfort!!

After walking for 10 hours today we managed to advance 22km against the southward drift of 0.3km/hr.

We are in good spirits and are cruising comfortably to the Pole. It's getting closer - 172 kms to go!

Am longing for cakes, cheese and chocolate…and a very good sleep!!”

Mike

16.03.06
DAY 53 : TEMPERATURES ARE RISING!
Mike reported a slightly better day today, starting off pretty much like the others with the harsh northerly winds which eventually calmed down towards the end of the day. The temperatures also crept up a little:

"It's -29°C this evening with no wind - a lot more comfortable than these previous days! We are camping at N88°16'35" E85°45'47 for now. We woke up this morning 3km further south from where we camped last night. We try our best to go forward but the ice keeps pushing us back. Now the winds have calmed a little we can expect less southwards drift tonight.

The ice is still pretty much the same - one minute fine and flat and the next minute we are on a big patch of rubble. Borge's ski is just holding out. He's going to put a few more bolts in this evening so it should be okay until we reach the pole.

In 10 hours of walking today we managed to do 22 kms and so now we have only 192 kms to go until we reach the pole! We can see the glimmer of the top of the sun trying to peek over the horizon. In another week the sun will be up and there will be light 24 hours a day. Incredible when you think of the complete darkness we had when we started! Incredible also, to think that after all this time and effort we will soon be standing on the North Pole."

Best regards,

Mike

15.03.06
DAY 52: THE LAST DAYS ARE ALWAYS THE HARDEST...
"Everything was against us today. We pushed all day against very strong head-on northerly winds of 9m/s (20mph) and temperatures of -38°C without windchill (approx -60°C with!). We also had a southerly drift of 0.7 km/hr so all our effort has very little reward at the end of the day. We battle on in these conditions trying to protect our fingers, noses and feet from freezing and rejoice when we can pitch the tent at the end of the day, sheltering ourselves from the cutting wind, and to make our first hot drink.

My fingers are cracked and sore. I am taking a daily vasodilator and aspirin to increase the blood circulation. This helps a lot. Borge's hands are fine, but has one foot that tends to go completely numb on occasions. His remedy is to keep on walking. We struggle on in these conditions because we prefer to move rather than to sit in the tent. In a few more days the temperatures are expected to rise again. We must just be very careful not to make any mistakes in the meantime.

We encountered a lot of rubble-like-ice today, which was very hard on our skis. This is ice that has previously been crunched up because of a pressure ridge and has snowdrift in-between. Unfortunately because the surface was not flat, it was very hard on Borges already delicate skis and we discovered that the metal edges were beginning to lift off one of his skis. We had to stop early this evening so Borge could fix it. He is actually tearing the metal completely off the ski and gluing it back on with Araldite glue. Of course the glue is well frozen, so we need to heat up the glue and the tent before he can even start to think about this repair job. We believe they should be fine again for tomorrow morning. Luckily for us, we have a very adequate repair kit on this trip!

We are happy to return back to our normal 24 hour day. We were pushing ourselves into the ground with our 26-hour days, which was not at all sensible. In a few days we'll get back into normal routine again, and walk our regular 10 hours a day. At this rate we should arrive on the Pole on the 23rd of March and we'll be very happy with this.

The camp is pitched at N88°06'47" E86°59'42" and we have 211kms to go until we reach the Pole. I don't know why, but on every expedition I have done, it always seems that the last days are always the hardest!!

Cheers!"

Mike

14.03.06
DAY 51: EXTREME COLD TAKING ITS TOLL...
Update from Borge and Mike: "This has been one of the very toughest days of our expedition. The day started with temperatures of –34°C, and we had the wind against us all day. When we called it quits, the thermometer showed –37°C. We’re taking such a beating from this wind that we simply can’t continue in this tempo. The two of us are just getting more and more tired, more and more exhausted, as the chilling wind sucks away all our strength. We’ve been walking for 10 hours today.

We have promised to do our best – and that’s what we’re doing. However, that also means taking care of ourselves and minding our health.”

The extreme cold is once again taking its toll on their bodies with Mike suffering new frostbite damage on his fingertips, which now have cracked open. Borge is having problems with keeping his feet warm, and has pains in his right heel, due to walking long distances and long hours with little rest.

“We simply have to let go of the idea of reaching the North Pole in a hurry, be sensible in this extreme weather, and make safe decisions. There is still a long way to go. Tomorrow we’re falling back into a less strenuous routine, settling for 10 hours walking, and no longer stretching the day beyond 24 hours. We simply can’t walk 12 hours and make do with 6 hours sleep when the weather is fighting us. We have to have the weather on our side if we’re to push that hard – and the winds and weather are definitely not. It’s against us, and according to the forecast we can expect northerly winds and chilly temperatures all week. So that’s why we’re calming down our pace.

N88° has been one of the hardest yet – and this day one of the toughest. We’re exhausted, but are pleased that we only have two degrees of latitude left.

The most goal of this expedition is to reach the North Pole in a sensible way. The great difficulties and major challenges are behind us. Now we have to mind our well-being. If the weather suddenly improves, we can make an extra effort. Otherwise we’re going to continue at a normal pace.

We’re both exhausted and hope to soon be asleep."

13.03.06
DAY 50 : THE COLD REMAINS!
Update from Mike: "It's -37°C without windchill! It is VERY cold still and even though the forecast says it'll get warmer, it doesn't seem to be. The wind has turned slightly and is now coming from the NE but we are still drifting south and loosing around 4 kms every day. Twelve hours of walking in these temperatures is tough but we are now getting used to the new routine. We advanced 23 kms today.

The ice was relatively flat today with the occasional patches of broken ice and a lot of accumulated snow. There were also a lot of leads again but luckily they were all heading NS so we were able to walk along side until we found an appropriate place to cross.

The equipment is holding out. With every passing day, we eat about 1.1 kgs of food and burn another 300gms of fuel, so our sledges are gradually getting lighter every day. We are probably pulling about 90 kgs now and when we started we had about 160kgs.

The position of the campsite tonight is N87°49'44 E89°46'07. We've already brushed the ice off our clothing, have eaten and now it's time to sleep! How I long for a warm bed! Sleep is virtually impossible in this temperature!

Until tomorrow!"

Mike

11.03.06
DAY 49: UNBELIEVEABLE COLD...
Mike calls from position N87°37'44 E90°37'09 at 2030hrs GMT: "I'm calling later than usual because our days are now 26 hours long. This means that you'll be getting the report 2 hours later everyday.

It's unbelievably cold! Today the temperatures were even lower than yesterday -40°C! The winds were still northwesterly in the morning but luckily for us they dropped throughout the day. The temperatures are expected to pick up again tomorrow (we are hoping so at least.). Normally at this time of year the temperatures are around -25° to -28°C so -40°C is extremely low. Obviously my nose is frozen but it will heal. My fingers are suffering as well but they'll be okay.

We walked our twelve hours today in and out of the pack ice and even with a southerly drift we managed to cover a distance of 25kms. Borge and I are beginning to feel like robots, one foot after the other, hour after hour after hour. One thing is for sure, we have great satisfaction to see the Pole getting closer and closer. Only 265 kms to go!

Borge and I work well together. Our combination of knowledge and experience makes for a very good team.

Regards to you all!"

Mike

10.03.06
DAY 48: COLDEST DAY SO FAR...
"We were once again in very cold temperatures today. We walked 12 hours in -38° C (without windchill) and a northwesterly wind (about 4m/s) blowing right into our faces. My fingers can only take 8 hours in these conditions and after that they really start to suffer. They eventually came right once I got back into the tent and was able to warm them up around a hot cup of soup. We did well under these conditions as we managed to advance 23kms even with a southerly drift of 0.3 km/hr.

You would think that the sledges would slide well when it is cold like this, but in fact, they don't! The snow becomes dry and it feels like we are dragging the sledges over sandpaper. There was also a very big accumulation of snow that we had to work our way though. The only advantage in these cold temperatures is that all the open water is frozen and it is normally thick enough to walk over.

Borge is fixing the skins on his skis this evening. They are wearing out where the ski is bending.

Hope tomorrow will be a warmer day!”

Mike

09.03.06
DAY 47: 12 HOURS OF WALKING!!
Update from Mike: "Sorry for the late report but we have in fact just got into the tent. Borge and I have decided to get to the North Pole as quickly as we possibly can. To do this we decided to walk an extra two hours everyday, doing 12 hours rather than 10. These are long hard days for us.

Today we battled against strong northwesterly winds. The temperatures dropped very low to -34°C (without windchill) so it was very, very cold. The fur around my jacket blocks out a lot of the wind but we still must take extra precaution to protect our faces from freezing. Surprisingly enough my fingers felt good today which was a relief!!! Along with the tough climatic conditions we also had a southwards drift and were constantly coming in and out of the pack ice with many small leads to cross. One photo I have sent you today shows how we cross a small lead by crawling over our strategically placed sledges. (See image below and more in Gallery).These factors made progression rather difficult for us today but even so we managed to do 28 kms.

The winds have finally calmed this evening and are coming from the west. We hope that the very cold temperatures will freeze all open water and the westerly winds will push the old ice over the young leads. This will give us an easier day tomorrow. Our camp coordinates tonight are N87°12'47" E91°51'37".

311 km to go! Because we will now walk 12 hours everyday, we have also decided to sleep and extra 1.5 hours longer each night. This way a smaller portion of our time is taken up by all the other tasks that need doing. However, it also means that you will be getting our progress reports a bit later every day.

Regards to you all!"

Mike

08.03.06
DAY 46 : A RUN FOR THE POLE!!!!
"The day started off rather badly, with very bad visibility and a strong southerly wind but to our pleasant surprise the winds dropped throughout the day and the temperature climbed slowly. We have now about -15°C which seems a little odd to say the least. We think this might be the calm before the storm. Strong winds have been predicted along with a radical drop in temperature. My fingers will not be looking forward to that!!!

We progressed 26km today passing in and out of the pack ice as usual. All in all, it was a good day. All we hope for at this stage is this continued progression every day.

Borge and I decided today that we want to make a run for the Pole. We are averaging 1 degree every 3 days so believe that if we go for it we can do the last 3 degrees in 12 days, which will get us there on the 21st of March. We hope then we'll be able to camp some last few days on the Pole, taking the time to relax and to appreciate the mammoth task which we would have just accomplished.
It will certainly be a great moment arriving at the Pole!!! Ha, I'm speaking to soon. Anything can happen yet. We are still at the mercy of the nature and we mustn't forget that!!!

We are both extremely tired…(Mike's nearly falling asleep as he speaks)

Until tomorrow!”

Mike

07.03.06
DAY 45: COMPRESSION ZONE HOLDS UP PROGRESS...
Mike calls from N86°43' E93°33' : "We started off the day walking along a very long lead that headed directly north. It was easy progression for quite a while. We followed the flat ice for several hours with white-out conditions and southerly winds pushing us from behind and a northward drift of 0.3km/hour. Perfect conditions to advance!!"

Shortly after that we arrived at a compression zone. This is a zone where the ice is compressed and crushed. You literally hear it crushing and grinding under our feet. It's quite freaky to hear but we know that the ice is solid and we are in no danger. The ice slowly grinds away and pushes up mountains of ice, which can be 5-6 metres high and block our path completely. We needed to back track a few times today and find alternative passages around these massive obtrusions. This held us up quite a bit in the afternoon so we only managed to advance 25 kms in the end. We managed to find our way out of the compression zone only late this evening and we are hoping we will not encounter another tomorrow.

We are well. The equipment is holding out still, but of course we are being extremely careful. We must!! No more bears - no animals at all. Just us in this barren environment. It's beautiful to see and I hope we can share a little of what we are experiencing with the photos we are sending back.

367 kms to go!! We'll be able to predict our arrival date on the Pole once we arrive at N88°. In the meantime we'll keep moving and save our rest days until the Pole. After all this effort we would like to stay there for a few days and take in the scenery.

Until tomorrow!"

Mike

07.03.06
DAY 44: FATIGUE KICKING IN AFTER LONG 10 HR DAYS
"We headed off this morning with a covered sky and calmer easterly winds. It’s was a great relief to find that the temperatures had risen to -30 degrees. We had put on all our extra clothing as we were expecting the worst, but found that the conditions were not so bad after all. Later in the day the winds actually turned to SE and died down considerably. It's always a lot more comfortable to have the winds in our backs.

It was wonderful today as we didn't need to use our headlights at all. Having visibility makes things so much easier and it means progression - it's like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel - very encouraging!

We followed many frozen leads today. They’re mostly running north–south. We move more quickly and easily on this nice, even ice. It now seems we’ve put the leads behind us as we've once again hit the pack ice. It's impressive - sometimes the ice is up to 5-6 metres high. It's beautiful to see!

It seems that we have left the polar bears as well. We haven’t seen any bears or even tracks today. I guess they finally understood that we didn't want them around after we fired the last signal flare last night. Thank goodness for that - we'll be able to sleep more comfortably tonight!!

We’re starting to feel fatigue after these long days. When we walk 10 hours, there is hardly time for anything at the end of the day, other than to set up camp, brush the snow and frost from our clothing and equipment, cook up water, eat dinner and go to bed. That fills up the entire day.

Forecasts predict that the winds may come from the north for the next few days. This is not so good for us as it will mean that we'll once again have a southwards drift and winds in the face.

392 kms to go!! Our goal is getting closer!

Cheers!"

Mike

06.03.06
DAY 44: EVENTFUL WEEK ON THE ICE...
Last week was an eventful week for Mike and Borge. With the days getting lighter and ice conditions improving, they made good and steady progress in the past week, covering between 20-28km each day on the ice. After 39 days, they past the halfway mark in terms of distance covered (500km) towards their goal to be the first men to walk unassisted to the North Pole in the Arctic Winter; although it took them almost 40 days to reach this stage, Mike estimated it would take another 30 days to finish the expedition.

Although halfway was a major milestone, there was no time for celebration after suffering repeated equipment failure including tents poles and shoe soles which had broken due to the freezing cold temperatures. They had no choice but to spend a day inside the their tent making vital repairs to the equipment, in particular their skis which if irrepairable would have ended their expedition hopes: “Usually this should not happen, it's never happened in any of my expeditions and it is a bit of a disappointment. It's like driving a car without a motor.” Mike Horn.

The days that followed bought another added danger to their expedition - close encounters with curious polar bears. The bears have come too close for comfort at times, one time coming within 3 metres of them, but have not shown any aggression to the duo which means they must be feeding well in their own habitat – good news for Mike and Borge!

Mike and Borge have been surprised to see so many polar bears at this latitude (N86°): “It is usual to see one or two but never in these quantities. It must be the global warming that is pushing the bears further north every year.” (See the ‘Did you know?’ section below for more detailed information about how global warming is affecting the polar bears.)

Whilst the durability of their ski repairs remains their biggest concern, the extreme cold is an ever-present issue that can bring devastating results. With temperatures dropping to -35°C, without taking in to account the wind chill factor, the risk of frostbite is ever high on the list of dangers. The latest wind statistics shows they are experiencing easterly winds of around 5 metres per second, which is 11mph. With wind chill this equates to around -50°C posing a huge risk to Mike and Borge - any exposed skin can be frozen within 30 seconds. Even activities in the tent are often impossible due to the extreme cold: “Simple tasks can be complicated by the extreme cold of metal surfaces; even talking on the satellite phone is difficult.”

Their bodies are also feeling the effects of the dropping temperatures, and Mike’s fingers are causing him pain, so they are both taking precautions to protect their hands and feet which are most affected.

Now on day 44, they have 405km to go with 25 days of food left, with three extra days of emergency rations just to survive if they need it. To successfully complete the expedition, Mike and Borge currently need to average 17km per day. Mike estimates they will reach the North Pole around 24-29th March.
With their average daily distance this week not dipping below 20km, things are looking good.

DID YOU KNOW?
Experts believe global warming is causing the ice pack to melt much faster than compared to twenty years ago. When the ice disappears early, so do the seals, which are the polar bears main source of food. From April until summer when the ice pack breaks up the seals disappear into open water, so polar bears spend their time on the ice in the Arctic winter storing up enough energy for the summer and autumn when there is little food available. With the ice melting at an increasingly quicker rate, the seals time on the ice is becoming shorter, resulting in less time for the polar bears to store up the necessary reserves. For female polar bears with offspring there is even greater risk – without enough food she will stop producing milk and her cubs will inevitably die.

05.03.06
DAY 43 : BEARS EVERYWHERE!
"It was another exciting day for us and probably one of the most difficult yet!", says Mike during this afternoon's phonecall.

"We advanced 25kms with very strong easterly winds. The temperature has once again dropped. It's very, very cold and we are taking precautions to protect or hands and feet. I am taking a vasodilators and aspirin for my aching fingers. My thumb is alright, or at least it is not getting any worst at this stage, but these temperatures certainly are not helping it to improve."

"The bears were everywhere today. Our friend from yesterday came to greet us in the morning and once again ripped the cover of my sledge. At one stage he was only about 3 metres away. We fired a flare to tell him politely that he was just a little too close for our liking. This made him leave. Later on, a mother with her two cubs came to visit. The cubs, being curious, came very close while she stood by watching. No aggression has been shown yet and we don't think we will be harmed in any way. These bears are beautiful, healthy beasts and are obviously not hungry, just inquisitive which is perfectly normal."

"We followed a lead for 2 and a half hours today. It was perfectly flat and the ice was solid enough to walk on. We came across open patches of water, which are where the bears are also heading to by the looks of the numerous tracks that we passed. It amazing to see that there are so many bears at this latitude. It is usual to see one or two but never in these quantities. It must be the global warming that is pushing the bears further north every year."

"We hope that the temperatures will rise again. It is virtually impossible to do anything in this extreme cold and the presence of the polar bears is not helping us at all."

"We are going well. The food rations should be enough to get us to the end of our trip. Our only big worry at this stage, are the skis. Lets hope they'll hold out!!"

Bye for now!

Mike

04.03.06
DAY 42: TROUBLE WITH PLAYFUL POLAR BEAR...
After another good day, Mike and Borge have now reached the 86th degree of latitude, advancing 23km in ten hours with ski repairs holding well: "We were woken this morning with the noise of a bear trying to get into my sledge. Luckily the young bear didn’t run away with my food but he did however manage to rip the canvas protection on the sledge. No problems – it’s easily fixed.

After this rude awakening we continued as usual but realised that the bear was following us. The whole day we keep noticing him appearing behind the pack ice, crouching low and just watching – a curious bear, and probably a little hungry! At 86 ° N , this is a particularly high latitude to see a bear but we have passed some seal holes which will explain his presence. We carried on walking but he was really holding us back. We were constantly turning around looking for him, keeping our guard so decided to try and scare him off. We shot two flares and he didn’t budge. The third flare we shot, he found and then ate it!!! It was only two hours before we pitched tent that the bear decided to leave us. We are hoping that he has decided to head back down south, back to the seal holes and that he’ll let us sleep in peace this evening.

The weather is okay with easterly winds. It was still very cold this morning but it seems to be 4 to 5 degrees milder now. The ice is getting better and better but there are still a lot of leads to pass over. In this temperature they freeze quickly but we are often walking over patches of very thin ice. With a 25 km advance today we now have only 445kms to go until the pole. We are getting there!

Borge and I work like clockwork now. I’ve nicknamed Borge ‘The King of the Ice Pack’ as he really knows how to read the ice, getting around, finding the best path etc. Me on the other hand, I am the ‘The Navigation Man’. Navigation is my speciality, reading the sun, ice formations, winds etc. We make a good team.

Must sleep now. We are both very tired.”

Mike

03.03.06
DAY 41: ON THE MOVE AGAIN!
After spending yesterday in their tent making vital repairs, Mike and Borge were pleased to be back out walking on the ice today and making good progress: "Now we’re on the move again! We’ve reached N85°47’34” E92°, after a day with good ice conditions. We walked 23 km. We encountered a couple of open leads today, but managed to cross them without having to swim. I’m thankful for that, because temperatures have dropped to –35°C. I can promise you that you really notice the difference between 30 and 35 below – not so much when we’re out walking, but when we’re trying to do things inside the tent. Simple tasks can be complicated by the extreme cold of metal surfaces; even talking on the satellite phone is difficult.

Our ski repairs seem to be holding up pretty well…" (broken connection)

Borge and Mike

02.03.06
DAY 40: 11 HOURS OF DIFFICULT SKI REPAIRS
Update from Mike and Borge: "We have been in the tent the entire day repairing skis. We're just finished. The operation has taken us 11 hours and it was extremely difficult and demanding!

The first thing we did was to move the bindings on three of our skis 5–6cm further back. Each of them are now positioned immediately above where we registered the strain in the materials. This moves the main strain point – and hopefully in time. We can only hope that the skis are not so damaged inside that they break anyway."

Borge had a particularly big repair job to do on his one broken ski: "It was excruciatingly difficult, and we still don’t know how it will hold, since we haven’t had a chance to walk at all today. What I did was to first saw off 25cm from the back of that ski. Then I used that piece as a reinforcement where the ski was completely broken, attaching the binding to it, and screwed it onto the middle of the main section of the ski. Well, actually since we don’t have so many screws, I had to find an alternative way to attach them. I drilled 16 holes through the ski and the reinforcement, and then used a shoelace – I have very strong shoelaces – to tighten it all. That should give a strong yet flexible joint." (View images in Gallery)

I’m really hoping this repair job will hold! I think it will. But it’s horrible to consider the thought that every single one of our skis might have to be repaired in the same manner. Hopefully we won’t have to do that – because it took an insane amount of time.

We’re going to have to have a serious word with our ski producer when we get back. These skis are clearly not what they’re made out to be and not what we ordered. It looks like they’ve just given us ordinary skis, and not the reinforced ones that we were promised.

Tomorrow we’ll test the results on the ice."

02.03.06
LATEST IMAGES FROM THE ICE!
Go to Gallery to view latest images Mike sent back today of their broken skis and repairs...

01.03.06
DAY 39: PAST HALFWAY MARK - 495KM TO GO...
Listen to the latest audio file sent back from Mike:
"We’ve basically reached the halfway mark of the expedition in distance. Although we spent 40 days reaching 500km, we expect another 30 days to end the expedition. The days are becoming much lighter, the ice conditions have improved. Although we’ve been battling with a lot of pack ice today, we made reasonably good progress.

The future looks ok, we have had a lot of equipment failure at this stage, tent poles have been breaking because of the cold, shoe soles have been coming off because of the cold and our biggest worrying is that one of Borge’s skis have broken. We’ll have to take a day off to try and fix the ski, basically to try and move the binding back to change the stress point on the ski. Usually this should not happen, it’s never happened in any of my expeditions and it is a bit of a disappointment. It’s like driving a car without a motor – it’s impossible to walk to the pole that can only be done in skis.

The future looks good – we’ve made very good progress and we’re hoping to get to the Pole in the week of the 24th - 29th (March). Everything seems to be ok with our health - my little frost bite fingers have improved, Borge’s feet have not been giving him too much hassle, and basically we hope that things in the equipment will last to carry us all the way through to the Pole without assistance. We have currently about 30 days of food, with 3 days of emergency rations just to survive if we might need it.

So that’s about all the news for now!"

Mike

28.02.06
DAY 38: EXCELLENT ICE CONDITIONS
Update from Borge and Mike: "It has been another good day for us. We’ve walked 25 km today in ten hours – that’s 28 km closer to the North Pole, taking into account last night’s ice drift. We are really satisfied with that kind of progress! We had an easterly wind today, too, but not as annoying or biting cold as yesterday. –28°C is within our 'comfort zone', unless the wind factor make’s life chillier. Fortunately the wind velocity stayed around 5 metres per second (11mph), and now it’s died down completely. We wonder what tomorrow will bring.

We saw polar bear tracks today and yesterday, but they weren’t fresh.

Tonight our position is N85°22’42”, E98°12’51”. The light is fantastic up here! It’s bluish violet with a trace of red near the southern horizon. We only have to use our headlights in the morning and for a few hours in the evening. The rest of the time, there is enough light from the sky to navigate.

We see our surroundings well and the ice conditions are still really excellent. Perhaps a bit more chaotic and mixed, but we’re making good headway. We still have about 515 km to go.

We’re going to bed now, hoping to wake to yet another good day tomorrow!"

27.02.06
DAY 37 : ANOTHER 30KM DAY!
"It was another great day. We encountered a lot of broken ice and patches of water, but we managed to get across on skis or otherwise found an alternative passage. We are fighting against very strong winds and very cold temperatures of around -40° (with windchill). Only one thing to do when it's cold like this and that is to move, move, move! You do not stop moving at all during the day otherwise you freeze on the spot!

It's amazing how much more light we get day by day. We left the tent early this morning and after one hour of walking we were able to turn off our headlamps already. We walked virtually all day with no extra light and only needed to turn our headlamps on again two hours prior to pitching tent. Having light during the day makes a huge difference to our progress. We are also noticing polar bear tracks more regularly. Seems as though there are not so far away but at least now we might be able to spot them before they spot us!

The easterly drift added an extra 3km on to our 27km today so all in all we advanced 30km!!

Our position tonight is N85°08'07 E 98°56'09" - that is 543km from the Pole. It interesting to note that the longitudes are changing quickly now, because they are getting closer and closer as we approach the North Pole.

No problems with tent poles tonight so that is good. I have an infection under my nail, which is quite sore. I hope that the antibiotics in my pharmacy will soon sort that out!!!

Bye for now!!"

Mike

27.02.06
DAY 37 : MIKE AND BORGE FEELING POSITIVE...
Mike and Borge have made excellent progress over the last few days, breaking their record for distance covered in one day which now stands at 30km after 10 hours walking. On Saturday they reached the halfway mark in the expedition, in terms of days on the ice (37 out of an estimated 70) and are now nearly half way in distance covered (457km done with 543km to go). As a result their sledges are becoming noticeable lighter as the days go by with the more food and fuel they burn.

Now in the 85th degree of latitude, the ice conditions are noticeably improving too as they move on to the older, thicker and more stable ice (100-150cm). Even at this stage, there is still a chance the ice can break up and form open leads but this is less likely to form troublesome pack ice. Although donning their survival suits to swim across these leads is unlikely to be a thing of the past.

The easterly winds and ice drift are currently going in their favour, and helping them accelerate north. These all round excellent conditions they are experiencing, helped them advance an impressive 58km over the weekend.

The duo are hoping the current easterly wind will shift to a southerly. This will cause the ice cap to drift north speeding up their progress towards the North Pole. This direction of wind also means it would come from behind them not only helping to push them along, but also creating safer walking conditions. A week ago, Mike and Borge were really suffering the effects of the harsh freezing cold head-on winds, causing Mike’s nose to turn black on the tip and Borge was also suffering with a swollen face- the first signs of frostbite. However, today’s latest update from Mike (see below) demonstrates how they are still battling with freezing conditions: "We are fighting against very strong winds and very cold temperatures of around -40° (with windchill)..."

The main preoccupation now, apart from looking after their bodies and having enough food to get them to the Pole, is also their equipment that is still being affected by the freezing cold temperature, which caused another tent pole to snap.

From now on they need to continue averaging 19km a day to get them to the North Pole before running out of food! They have saved an extra three days of rations to allow them a safety margin of a few extra days - this would allow the average daily distance to drop to 17km.

Mike and Borge have decided to walk at least 10 hours each day, which is less tiring on the good ice they are now experiencing, and they are both feeling positive they will make it to the North Pole in time to become the first men to walk do the North Pole unassisted in the Arctic winter.

26.02.06
DAY 36 : 30KM WALKED IN 11 HOURS - NEW RECORD!
A very happy Mike and Borge call after setting another new record for distance covered in one day, with no swimming involved today! While making good progress, their equipment is feeling the effects of the extreme cold: "We did 30kms today! Conditions were great so we walked almost 11 hours and get a bit of distance behind us. If we look at the food supplies we have an average of 19kms to do each day before we go hungry. It's a bit touch and go so we prefer to move while the going is good. It's important to get all the chances on our side.

The wind is strong and coming from the southeast at 8 metres per second (18mph). The ice drift is northeasterly at about 0.5 km/hr. The sky was clear today with the occasional cloud and a lot of blowing snow. It was great to be able to turn off our headlamps for about three hours today and to still be able to see where we were placing our feet. We only had a couple of leads to cross today but no swimming was done!!! It would be great if conditions stay like this!!

The tent poles are causing us a lot of worry. This time it was Borge that had the mishap - the pole broke in his hand. We have fixed it again and are hoping they will last another month of these conditions. They just do not withstand the extreme cold.

We are now 400kms away from Cape Artichesky and we have 574 kms to go to the pole. It was around about here where I was picked up after freezing my fingers during my first attempt of the North Pole. I can tell you it feels great to be passing this point and to know that everything is just fine.

Will try and get some new photos to you tomorrow but for now I need to sleep!

Regards to all!"

Mike

25.02.06
DAY 35 : 35 DAYS DOWN - 35 DAYS TO GO !
"The ice was fabulous today!" reports Mike. "The winds are now easterly and have calmed down considerably. The ice has flattened out and the occasional patches of rubble that we came across were also quite flat because they had filled up with snow. We decided to charge ahead while the going was good. We continued for 11 hours and covered a distance of 25kms!

First thing this morning we had to tackle the 400m wide lead that we camped beside last night. There were no risks taken. We put on our swimsuits before leaving the tent and literally crawled across on the thin ice. Thank goodness for the suits! We both fell through the ice into the water but this time we remained completely dry. The sledges are specially designed to float so our equipment fortunately stays dry. We crossed a second lead in the day but that didn't cause us any problems.

The temperatures are -20° today (without the wind factor) and the ice drift is slightly northwesterly. There was a little light around midday. The little bit of light and the better ice conditions really gave us the lift that we needed. We were in need of a good day!!!

Borge and I are living in harmony in the tent. We hope from now on the ice will stay like this and we can steam ahead to the North Pole.

I'm now waiting for the water to boil. Dinner in the tent is always a great moment of the day!"

Mike

24.02.06
DAY 34: DIFFICULT DAY ON DANGEROUS THIN ICE...
Today started with a comical accident with the pepper spray in their tent, as Borge explains, “Mike was a tad bit careless and released pepper spray, which gave us a rather hilarious start! Pepper spray is intended as a defence or last resort when you’re standing eye to eye with a polar bear, and it’s extremely effective. Well, it worked. Shortly after breakfast, our tent was suddenly full of it, and we could hardly breathe – we lay next to each of our vents gasping for air, struggling to catch our breath. That episode certainly did get our blood circulation going!”

The weather conditions were borderline this morning, with 20-26mph northeast winds and almost zero visibility in the snow, so Mike and Borge decided to stay in the tent to see how things developed. Mike listened to his music and Borge listened to the Hobbit by JRR Tolkien.

Throughout the morning conditions outside the tent seemed to be improving slightly: “Around noon the wind had abated a bit, so we packed our equipment and broke camp. It was still a miserable day. Even so, it did us good to get out of the tent. It is so easy to just remain there once you’ve settled into your sleeping bag. Hence it feels like an even greater victory when you get it together and brave the elements.

In difficult conditions and reduced visibility, we crossed an average of one lead of seawater every hour. When they’re covered with snow, they can be deadly. We have to always be scanning, looking left or right, trying to read the terrain. Sometimes a snowdrift will run straight across the water. But we managed to cross each lead safely.

At the end of our day, we came to a huge lead that was newly frozen and started walking. We were fine, but discovered that the ice was very varied, with patches of very thin, dangerous ice that looked almost the same as the thicker ice. Here and there the ice had cracked, and was obviously moving, forming pack ice a number of places.”

At this point, Mike and Borge decided it was best to withdraw, retreating several hundred metres onto solid ice, as Borge explains: “By tomorrow we expect the lead to have frozen, so that we can continue without taking undue risks. The wind is supposed to come from a more southerly direction tomorrow, and the weather forecast calls for good weather the next few days. We don’t mind it so much when the wind is at our backs.

We’re in the tent once again and our dinner is waiting for us. Tomorrow we’re going to cross that lead."

Mike and Borge battled in these difficult conditions today, and coupled with the southwards drift only managed to walk 4km in 6 hours, leaving them 632km to go. Hopefully tomorrow the forecasted southerly winds will return, causing the ice drift to change direction and go in their favour, and help them progress north.

24.02.06
DAY 34: A WINDY MORNING!
Message from Borge and Mike 0700GMT: "The weather looks bad, so we’ll have to see how this day turns out. There is a strong northeasterly wind. We’re about to try again. We do, however, have to be careful with such poor visibility and when there are so many open leads. Fortunately, we’re drifting due west and not losing any terrain. We'll let you know how the day turned out this evening."

23.02.06
DAY 33 : MIKE FALLS IN THE WATER!
Mike calls earlier than usual today from campsite: “We didn’t stop early because of the wind. We were forced to stop because I fell in the water - not once, but twice!!! We left the tent early this morning and walked a half hour in very strong northwesterly winds. As we expected these strong winds are breaking the ice and many openings are appearing. The snow is flying in all directions and the visibility is so bad that you cannot even see the front of your skis.

The first lead we came across, my foot broke through the ice. I quickly corrected myself but my foot was wet. We had no choice but to pitch the tent and get the cooker alight to dry out my shoe before I froze my toes. This held us back this morning but as soon as my shoe was dry and I had changed my sock we decided to get going again. I was fine.

We walked 11 – 12 kms and came across another lead. This time Borge had found a nice passage to cross or at least this is what we thought! He walked first with no problem and then it was my turn. The ice was fine but when I took my next step and I saw the ice start cracking underneath me. The ice started splitting and this time I was unable to correct myself. The crack between my legs was getting wider and wider and then I fell in. I fell in the water up to my waist and managed to pull myself out by getting a grip on the ice edge. I immediately rolled myself in the snow. The snow sticks to my clothing and has the effect of soaking up the water, which then immediately freezes and I can brush off. This takes away a large proportion of the outside moisture but does not help for the moisture in my underwear. Borge, in the meantime was already pitching the tent. This time we had a big drying job to do!

I am fine now. The cooker is still going. We have extra reserves of fuel for this reason. We have managed to dry the clothing out 80%. I think that it’ll be fine by tomorrow and we will be able to walk again as usual.

I was fortunate that the temperatures had risen to about –15° today (without wind). We’ll have to be very careful the next few days. That’s enough swimming for the meantime!

637 kms to go to the Pole!”

Mike

22.02.06
DAY 32 : THINGS ARE LOOKING GOOD!
Message from Mike: "After another 9.5 hours walking we are 20kms further north, that is 650kms away from the Pole. Things are looking good. With 32 days done and another 38 days to go until the end of the winter we are feeling positive that we will make it.

We drifted south 2kms during the night but now the ice drift is in a NW direction. It's strange that as soon as the drift is in our favour the wind suddenly dies down to nothing. We are wondering if this might not be the calm before the storm. We think the bad weather will effect us tomorrow or perhaps Friday. We are expecting winds of 15 metres per second (33mph) and very cold temperatures once again. The problem with strong wind is that waves are formed on the ocean creating pressure under the ice and causing it to break up. Water becomes exposed and huge blocks of ice are pushed up onto the surface creating more obstacles for us to get over.

The ice conditions were great today. There were still a lot of leads to get over but we were lucky to find a path most times and only needed to swim once.

For now we'll carry on as usual and stick to the same routine. When we leave the tent in the morning we walk 2.5 hours without stopping to put a bit of distance behind us and while our oatmeal breakfast is till giving us lots of energy. After that we take turns leading, switching every 80 minutes so in the course of the day, we have five breaks.

The sledges are gradually getting lighter. We are strong and our equipment is working well. Things must continue like this and we'll soon be at the Pole!"

Best regards,"

Mike

21.02.06
DAY 31: NEW RECORD - 28KM ADVANCED TODAY!
Now drifting north again, Mike and Borge crossed the 84th degree of latitude today and achieved their record daily distance so far - 28km! (previous record: 27km, Day 28)
"After a challenging day of heavy southerly wind, we've reached N84°00'17" E103°57', that is 300kms away from our starting point at Cape Artichesky. We have had a 10 metre per hour wind in our back the entire day and because of very thick cloud have also had very poor visibility, seeing only 2-5 metres ahead of us. It's a strain on your eyes in this darkness and also very tiring mentally, because you are constantly trying to distinguish features in the ice.

The ice today has been like rubble - and loads of it! We have also crossed a lot of frozen leads being careful not to fall through. It is very deceiving because of the quantity of blown snow that settles on the thin ice and sometimes on water. For now we're once again on older ice, a safe place to camp for the evening!

Since this morning, we have walked more than 20 km, but thanks to the northerly drift today and last night, we have advanced a total of 28 kms. It feels great to finally be making that kind of progress!

We are very tired after walking almost blindly for 9.5 hours. Now we're looking forward to a good night's sleep.

Regards to all!"

Mike

20.02.06
DAY 30: SWIMMING AGAIN...
After their rest day yesterday, Mike and Borge set off again this morning ready for another day walking on the ice, but soon found themselves changing in to their survival suits (completely waterproof and worn over clothing) and jumping in the freezing cold Arctic Ocean: "Today we came across another open lead we had to swim across. Luckily only one 50m wide. Drift has been south today but slow. We made good progress with very bad light today but all is well. We have 697km to go with 40 days food left. Mike" (although their official daily food rations are now down to 37 days, after cutting down for the past two weeks, Mike and Borge have managed to gain an extra few days of food rations to buy them some more time)

"The rest day did us the world of good. We were on form today and eager to move again. The southerly drift was a lot less than it was yesterday thank goodness! Today we walked 9 hours, swam over two leads and finished up 18kms north of our starting point. We only lost 3 kms with the drift so things are looking brighter. We have just less than 700 kms to go to the Pole and are almost at the 84th latitude.

The weather forecast is not so good. A storm is predicted within the next few days. It is coming up from Spitzberg and will bring along with it very strong winds of 13-15meters per second. The winds might push us in the right direction but the temperatures are also predicted to descend -10° to -20 °C. This might mean that it'll be too cold for us to leave the tent. We prefer to move of course but will not risk freezing our fingers and toes - we'll have to wait and see what happens.

It's exactly 30 days now that we are on the ice. We have 37 days of food left and can stretch our rations to 40 days if necessary.

We have an average of 18.8 kms a day to do if we want to arrive at the Pole before the end of March. It's a challenge, but I think we can do it. We have decided to start walking 10 hours a day from here on.

Regards to all!"

Mike

18.02.06
DAY 29: REST & REPAIR DAY
Today Mike and Borge are taking a day of rest, only their second since the start of the expedition four weeks ago. Message from Mike: "Rest day today day - no 29. I'll try and send a couple of photos of polar bear prints (see Gallery). This bear must have crossed our path just before we were in a storm a few days ago. The full moon was out this day so this gave us some light. The prints have filled up with the drifting snow. Borge and I are inside the tent which we now call 'home'. The frost bite on my nose is not too bad but I will have to take care. Borge has a very swollen face because of walking into the headwinds. These winds have made us drift south for 3 days now - three days with no progress! Hope the wind changes soon! That's all for now. Will get some sleep. Mike”

Meteorologists predict that Mike and Borge will have two more days of northerly winds causing the southwards drift but as Borge explains, "It's a good idea to take a break while the weather is miserable, to let our bodies rest and build up our energy reserves. It's actually rather cosy inside our tent, we're stretching out and giving our muscles a break. We've really relaxed, eaten well and listened to music on our mp3-players." The walking duo will also take the time today to check their equipment and make minor repairs to their sledges, skis and a snapped tent pole!

Mike and Borge are expecting to be in a very different position when they set off again tomorrow morning (Monday), but hopefully the northerly winds will calm and ideally change direction so they will not have too much ground to make up.

18.02.06
DAY 28 : THE UNREACHABLE 84°!
"Two steps forward, one step back!! That's what it is like." says Mike. "After 9 hrs of walking we moved 17kms but the GPS reading said we only moved 8kms. The southerly drift is 0.5km/hr. The worst conditions we could possible have are the northwesterly winds (today at 5-7 m/s) as this gives us the southward drift. If the wind comes from the northeast it is better for us because we will drift east instead of south. It is all to do with the rotation of the planet.

We faced a big challenge this morning - a 300 metre lead that we needed to cross. At 6 o'clock in the morning you do not feel like jumping into the Arctic Ocean. Well we did! We put on our swimsuits (otherwise called survival suits that are worn over the clothing and are completely waterproof) and jumped into the water. Borge took the lead and with his body started to break the ice. Borge held two ropes and pulled the sledges from the front. I went in after and pushed the sledges from behind. It was a good thing that we waited overnight before attempting the cross this lead because the second half of the lead had frozen sufficiently for us to walk on. We made it and we were happy!

Borge and I have decided to take a rest day tomorrow. We discussed it between us and decided it would be better for us psychologically to stop and move backwards rather than to move forward and move backwards at the same time. We would rather move forward and drift forward and make double time in the days to come. (Confused?!?!) Anyhow, tomorrow will be a repair day. We have a lot of things that need to be checked. A tent pole started splitting today at the joint. Borge has already repaired it with wire. I must repair the cover of my sledge, the skins in my skis and will spend the day inspecting the rest of my equipment. Apart from that, these days are tough going and our bodies are in need of a rest. Not a lot of words are spoken between me and Borge - we walk all day, eat and sleep!"

Mike

17.02.06
DAY 27: STOPPED IN THEIR TRACKS!
Mike and Borge were stopped in their tracks today. After walking for several hours they came across a large lead with only a very thin layer of ice covering the water. Mike and Borge put on their survival suits and tried to cross. No go - Borge broke through the ice and fell into the water. They quickly retreated to the solid edge. They spent the next few hours searching up and down the lead trying to find a way to cross but had no luck. They decided to call it a day and try again tomorrow. Perhaps by then the ice will be more solid and crossing by foot will be possible.

It seems that the ice has started to drift southwards again.

Lets hope for a better day tomorrow!

16.02.06
DAY 26: COMPLETE CALM FOR THE FIRST TIME!
Mike tells us about his day: “The wind blew the entire day and then stopped just as we were setting up the tent this evening. This is the first time that we have had complete calm. It’s makes a nice change not to have the wind howling over the tent and of course the temperatures are milder at the same time.

The full moon has left us now. It is once again under the horizon so we are once again in pitch darkness.

Today is our 26th day on the ice. It wasn’t a bad day even though we found ourselves back in the pack ice. We managed to do 17kms so we are happy.

721 kms to go until we reach the North Pole with 41 days of food left. Looks as though we should make it before the end of the winter months – that is our aim at least!

Will sleep now and rest my flat feet!”

Best regards,

Mike

15.02.06
DAY 25: RECORD DAY - 27KM!
Mike and Borge did their record day for distance – 27 kms!
“Everything was in our favour today. We were very fortunate to have a NW drift of 0.3 to 0.6 km /hr helping us in the right direction and the sledges were sliding beautifully on the thin layer of fresh snow. Now that we are on the 83rd latitude we are seeing the difference in the ice. Today the ice packs are thicker and are pressing hard against one another. A few days ago the ice was thinner and under pressure the ice would break up creating huge mounds that we needed to climb over.

At the moment we are experiencing southeasterly winds at 10 metres per second (22mph). We are expecting soon that the winds will turn from the north. It will not be very good for us if it does because we will have once again the problem of the head-on wind freezing our noses. I’m more prone to freezing my nose than Borge it seems, I guess because of my 27 month expedition around the Arctic Circle! It is already starting to turn black on the tip and around the nostrils. We will probably most likely wait for those harsh head-on northerly winds for our next rest day.

It is important for us now to move while we can. We believe that if we continue with an average of 20kms a day we’ll have enough food rations to see us to the North Pole but we prefer to be cautious and are saving three extra days for the ‘just-in-case’.

741 kms to go ! It’s getting closer!”

Mike

14.02.06
DAY 24: SOUTHERLY WINDS PUSH WALKING DUO NORTH...
With 83° latitude now reached, Mike rings at 1600hrs to report about his day: "We were in and out of the pack ice again today, but we still managed to do 15kms. We have a slight NE drift with southerly winds at 5-6metres per second (20km/h) and blowing snow. The wind gained us an extra 2km today, and luckily for us the winds blew away the snow so it was not as deep as it was yesterday. The sledges were more willing to follow us today. Milder temperatures today. Around –27°C without the windchill and –40°C with. We’re preparing our dinner now. It’s so good to get hot food into your stomachs at the end of the day. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!"

Update from Borge: “It’s been a magnificent day! Like we’re on a different planet. The ice is amazing in the moonlight, an otherworldly landscape of jagged block ice. The moon has become our sun – I know that may sound strange – but its light is strong enough to show us our surroundings and allow us to navigate. And the moon is there all the time, merely moving in a circle in the sky.

There haven’t been any signs of animals, nor have we seen any open leads at all – and that’s good. We’re encountering more and more of the old Arctic ice, although right now we’re camped on a floe that is less than a year old. These days we’ve been passing through varying ice, but we certainly want to reach more continuous older ice as soon as possible; it’s thicker, more stable and far safer.

The last few days we’ve seen areas where tremendous forces have smashed the ice into blocks of various sizes. Even though the leads between the floes of new ice are frozen now, there is always the risk that they might reopen in stronger winds or currents. We would rather not be there when that happens, so we’re in a hurry to progress further north. Fortunately the southeasterly wind seems stable, and it’s pushing us in the right direction.”

13.02.06
DAY 23: TOUGH DAY HAULING 120KG SLEDS OVER HEAVY PACK ICE...
Mike and Borge experienced slightly warmer temperatures throughout the day (-28°C in the morning dropping to -35°C in the evening) and with virtually little to no winds. This meant that the conditions were a lot less harsh than their previous days.

Heavy pack ice once again encumbered their path and no getting around it this time! They struggled with their heavy sledges (around 120kgs each) hauling them over the blocks of ice the entire day.

"The sledges are slowly getting lighter and we are certainly noticing the difference but unfortunately they are also sticking to the snow today. Even on the downhill they are not slipping!

We have walked right into a compression zone, which seems to last for as far as the eye can see. We’re hoping to move out of this vast area of pack ice soon because it really does slow down our progress a lot. That’s why we only managed to move 14 km today.

We are well but are both tired. If things continue like this we’ll be able to take a rest day in 5 days time, which will be our second since the beginning of the expedition.

Borge’s taking medicine for his knees and me vasodilators for my hands. I have a little bit of frost nip on my fingers, which is pretty normal under these circumstances. My sore hands do tend to hold me back somewhat because I am unable to carry my skis. This means I may need to double track to recuperate equipment on the other side of the blocks of ice.

Our position today is N82°57’50” and E 104°53’10”. We are getting closer to the 83rd latitude and are 786kms from the North Pole!

It’s getting lighter and lighter. Just think, in a about 3 or 4 more days we might even be able to turn our headlights off for an hour!!

Best regards,
Mike"

13.02.06
DAY 23: LATEST AUDIO FROM MIKE
Listen to full audio below: "After our 23rd day on the ice, things are looking much better than about two weeks ago. At this stage things are going a little bit better, the weather has warmed up and hopefully we can make good progress. There is a full moon and that gives us a lot of light on the ice, although we still progress with our headlamps 24 hours a day. The ice has turned in to pack ice simple because of compression zones, and we’re slowly but surely working our way through them. Our morale is 100% and there is not much wind at this stage, that makes it possible to make very good progress."

13.02.06
DAY 22: VISIONS OF TASTY FOOD...
Mike reports about his day (Sunday): "Another day of walking and we advanced 20kms - our record yet!!

We stopped at N82°49'10" E105°10'25" which means we have 802 kms to go until we arrive at the North Pole. It's great to see that we are gradually getting closer to the Pole. We'll sleep this evening and expect we will drift 2 km north throughout the night. Sleeping is virtually impossible in these temperatures but at least we'll have more peace of mind tonight!

When I do sleep I am dreaming about eating those chocolate coated marshmallows - not exactly sure what they are called, but give me a dozen and I promise I eat them straight away! Borge is longing for blueberry pancakes and sour cream - must be a Norwegian thing! After being deprived of normal life for a while it's funny what you start thinking about when you are out here in this harsh environment.

We are still hoping for milder temperatures. It surely can't get any colder than this! Both my thumbs have a touch of frost nip. It's nothing serious, just a little painful. We are still taking every precaution possible - you must in these conditions."

12.02.06
LIFE ON THE SEA ICE…
Borge explains what life is like walking and living on the sea ice: “We did our job and walked for nine hours today. I must admit we felt tired after only sleeping half the night. It’s difficult when temperatures are extreme. At night, we’re trembling in our sleeping bags and not getting much shut-eye. We are both hoping that temperatures will soon creep above –30°C; that’s much more pleasant.

The coldness is not a problem when we keep moving, but if we touch anything in the tent with unprotected hands, whether our toothbrush or a vitamins jar, it’s so cold that it actually stings. The cold is a nuisance; we have to wear mittens en be extremely careful at all times.

After having been on the move for three weeks, we are happy to report that everything is working well, equipment and routines, and from day one our cooperation has been excellent.

We divide our tasks, for instance making breakfast every other day. We start by firing up the stove and making meltwater. While the stove is going, we scrape frozen condensation from the inside of our tent. When the water is warm, we fill our thermoses, make two portions of oatmeal, and enjoy our breakfast close to the warm stove. Afterwards, we have to dry these fantastic plastic bags that we use as a condensation barrier between our bodies and sleeping bags; they become rather most inside in the course of the night. Then it’s time to put on our clothes and get going.

All in all it takes three hours from the time we get up in the morning, until we have skis on our feet and are ready to pull the packed bulks further northwards. Naturally the morning is the worst time, because of the cold. After we’ve walked for an hour, we’re fine. It’s now three weeks since we started – but it feels like we’ve been out here for an eternity...”

11.02.06
DAY 21 : PICKING UP SPEED AT LAST!
Mike calls at 15H30 sounding very happy. “ We had a great day. We walked our average 9.5 hours and advanced 17 kms. The winds have calmed down and are now from the North East. We have unfortunately stopped our northward drift for the time being, but this is okay as long as we are not drifting southwards!!!

It’s now exactly three weeks that we have been walking, and as we expected on the 82°latitude, the ice is finally getting better. There is still a lot of pack ice but we are managing to find our way around it rather than having to go over it. We are also coming across some open areas. After these few days of very cold weather the leads are completely frozen and are solid enough to walk over without the fear of breaking through. Also with the more food we eat and the more fuel we burn our sledges are also slowly but surely getting lighter.

We are now beginning to see more during the day. There are several hours of twilight in the middle of the day, and the moon is almost full. Behind us is a magnificent glow on the horizon, which unfortunately, we are walking away from. We are beginning to distinguish the contours and contrasts in the ice well enough to choose a good path.

My fingers are pretty painful in this extreme cold and are my main preoccupation at this time. I have changed my gloves, am taking aspirin daily to thin the blood and an occasional vasodilator to help get the blood circulating. This seems to being helping for now.

Would love to send you some photos but with this temperature it is not only the hands that don’t want to work but also the equipment. Everything tends to stop working around – 40°C.

I’ll have to keep you up to date with my phonecalls for the time being. Luckily the phone works still!

Best regards to you all!”

Mike

10.02.06
DAY 20: AVOIDING FROSTBITE...
With temperatures as cold as yesterday (Wednesday) Mike and Borge had to set up camp and retreat into the warmth of their tent after Mike started having problems with his fingers. Mike has frozen his thumbs once before and it’s a struggle for him to keep his fingers and hands warm enough when it’s this cold. The thermometer is showing –36°C. Borge lent him his Norwegian woollen mittens, so hopefully that will help!
"The coldness is an ongoing challenge, of course, but all in all we’re managing well. It’s really important to keep our clothing and equipment free of ice and snow, and frost from condensing sweat. Each evening in our tent, we take more than an hour to brush it off of our mittens, our anoraks and face protection. That is vital, really. Especially the mittens, because otherwise they would quickly become icy cold and very dangerous to use. We walked through heavy block ice most of today as well, after crossing a fairly open stretch early this morning. The ice drift is helping us for a change, pushing us northwards – and that is fantastic! According to the weather report, we can expect at least a few days more of this. We need every extra kilometre we can get. Today we walked 12 km, and adding 4 km drift, we are now 861 km from the North Pole. All is well but we’re hoping for slightly milder weather, because our bodies really notice temperatures below –30°C."

10.02.06
IS THE BATTLE WITH THE SOUTHERN DRIFT OVER?...
After 19 days of walking on the sea ice, and still with 861km to go out of 1000, things seem to be finally looking up for Mike Horn and Borge Ousland in their quest to be the first men to walk to the North Pole (unassisted) in the sunless winter months...

Until the last few days, the icecap they are walking across had been drifting south taking them further away from the North Pole – a bit like walking on a treadmill that is sometimes going forward but then occasionally slips into reverse! It is proving extremely difficult for the two adventurers to gain ground towards their goal as they get pushed in the opposite direction. Not only are they dealing with the demoralising effects of such slow and frustrating progress but also with broken ice that reveal open tracts of icy water that can only be crossed one way – by getting into a survival suit and swimming across, floating their sledges behind. Temperatures reaching as low as -37°C are the kind of temperatures where hands without gloves would freeze within minutes. There is considerable danger to the human body and all skin must be covered with masks worn to prevent hypothermia and frostbite. In a previous expedition, Mike was very close to losing three fingers – he removed a glove and stopped for 45 seconds to re-tie a bootlace, a decision he did not take lightly as he knew what the repercussions might be. And his greatest fears were soon realised, six hours later when he took off his glove his fingers had turned to "meat you take out of the freezer". Frostbite had completely cut off circulation and Mike had to go back to Switzerland for surgery, where doctors removed the top of his three fingers.

The extremes of the conditions Mike and Borge are experiencing are difficult to convey, especially in the permanent winter darkness that surrounds them. But they are both experienced adventurers and know what it takes to survive these Arctic elements. And things are improving if not in temperature, then at least in the direction they are going. The pair have approximately 52 days of food remaining and in less than 39 days the sun will rise over the horizon for the first time this year in this part of the world.

08.02.06
DAY 18 : COLDEST DAY YET!
“Quite a rough day today but the good news is that we are advancing. We did 7 hours of walking and advanced 10 kms. We had to plough through very thick snow this morning and encountered a lot of pack ice, which slowed us down a lot.
The winds have calmed and we seem to be drifting NE. This is the direction that we want to go which is great! Our position is N82°09’17.6” E106°25’56.0” so we have 876 kms to go until we reach the pole and we have hit the 82nd latitude. They say it should flatten out now but we don’t see any sign of the ice conditions improving straight away.
We have a little more light than before. We can see the moon and the stars but we must still use our headlights so we can see the bumps in the terrain.
Now the clouds have disappeared, so has the warmth. It’s around –37°C today. The three fingers that I froze in 2002 are very sore. They just don’t have the circulation that they had before. I must be very careful. Whereas I have problems keeping my hands warm, Borge has problems keeping his feet warm.
In these cold temperatures we must be extra, extra careful with our equipment. I picked up a tent pole this morning and it snapped into 4 pieces. Luckily we had an extra but goodness knows what we will do if we break that!
It was strange this morning because we heard an unusual noise. We stopped suddenly in our tracks wondering what the noise was and suddenly realized it was a jet flying overhead. It’s a really weird experience to hear something like that when you are out in the middle of this vastness.
Borge and I are getting along well. It’s a great learning experience for us to be together. Not a great deal of chit-chat in the tent the evening because we are just too tired and there are no days off – not yet at least!
Best regards!”
Mike

07.02.06
DAY 17 : STOPPED DRIFTING SOUTH TODAY !
"Luckily we only drifted 1 km south in the night and it seems that today the winds are changing. We advanced 11 kms today! We needed this - it's a bit demoralising to be moving backwards all the time. Hope to give you some more good news tomorrow!"
Mike

06.02.06
DAY 16 : A CHANGE OF STRATEGY!
Mike and Borge once again affronted the cold Northerly winds today. “ It was cold today! With the windchill it is about –35°C. It is supportable when the wind hits you from the side but when it blows into your face it is not only dangerous but it tends to zap you of all your energy. We had to pitch our tent and get out of the wind today before we froze our faces.
We started this morning with a distance of 897 kms to go to the Pole. When we got into the tent 5 hours later we looked at the GPS and saw that we were 896 km away from the Pole! It was a bit of a shock to see that after all that effort we had only advanced north 1 km because we were drifting south at 1.5kms a hour.
We start each day scouting around to find the best route. It is very hard to find a passage in this darkness.
We’ve decided to change our strategy. It is obvious that if we carry on at this rate we’ll run out of food before arriving at the Pole. We must make our daily food rations a little smaller so we can last a little longer.
Ice conditions are slowly improving. The ice is thicker and the leads are narrower. Once we’re on the 82nd latitude we’ll have better conditions and the going should be a little faster.
Not a lot of life out here!! Mind you the question remains, would we see it if there was?!? We did cross some bear tracks and fox tracks yesterday, but nothing since.
Will get some sleep now – another big day tomorrow!
Regards to you all!”
Mike

05.02.06
DAY 15 : NOT YOUR ORDINARY SUNDAY WALK...
"We’ve been out walking again. It’s icy cold out there, –25˚C and a constant northeasterly breeze. Really cold and miserable! Block ice, strewn every which way, slowed our progress considerably. We’ve been drifting south again with the wind in our faces. Now the drift is carrying us mostly east.

It took us 10 hours to cover 8 km. We’ve now camped at N81˚59’35”, E 107˚03’19” and we still have 894 km left before reaching our goal.

I must admit that this is the toughest “degree of latitude” that I’ve walked. We’re now just a few hundred metres from N82˚. Never struggled with conditions such as these before. Well, I hope somebody up there appreciates our toil and perseverance, and that things will turn. That is our hope."
Mike and Borge

04.02.06
DAY 14: A DAY IN THE TENT!
"We didn't move today. The winds were just too strong and the temperatures too cold. We decided to stay in the tent and take a rest day. It's good to have a rest but while we are resting we are also moving backwards.
Hope to give you a better report tomorrow!"
Mike

04.02.06
DAY 13: MORALE HIGH AFTER GOOD PROGRESS NORTH...
Email from Mike: "Hi there, we had a great day moved up north for 17 km, the wind is from the west but it seems that we have stopped drifting south at this stage. Temperature has dropped and morale is good after a day like today. Regards to all at home supporting us here on the ice." Mike

02.02.06
DAY 12: SOUTHERN DRIFT EATING UP THE MILES...
Although ice conditions are improving, Mike and Borge are still working hard against the northwest winds and southern drift, waiting patiently for the icecap to change direction and take them north: "This is Borge and Mike from the Arctic Ocean – still pushing hard towards the North Pole. Today has been not too bad, we actually had quite good ice conditions, the ice is getting older and smoother and better to ski on. Also thicker ice which means safe ice for us to camp on. Temperature is not too bad, it’s warm -15°C and the glide is good on the sleds so everything is fine, and everything works perfect when it comes to the equipment. The only big, big problem is we have the wind constantly from the west/northwest which push us to the east, and south. And half the distance we do during the day is actually eaten up by the drift during the night, but it has to change someday, spirits are of course good, but we wish and need this southern drift to stop and become just like normal, which is actually drifting north. So crossed fingers, and be with us, follow our trip, it’s a great adventure, and it’s great to be out here! All the best, from Mike and Borge." (Listen to full audio below)

01.02.06
DAY 11: "LOOKING FORWARD TO BETTER DAYS..."
Phonecall from Mike (listen to latest audio below):
“One of our worst days today...after 4 hours of walking, Borge’s ski boot sole came off, and we had to urgently set up tent for him to repair his ski boot. Added to that, very strong winds from the west and very, very low temperatures couldn’t make it possible to move, and we are currently in our sleeping bags waiting out the storm. Borge has fixed his sole, and hopefully it will last the rest of the trip. The problem would be that basically the strong winds from the west would keep on blowing us south, and if that continues for the next week or two, we’ll definitely be in a little bit of trouble. But at this stage the morale is still high, although the temperature has dropped dramatically, hopefully we are looking forward to better days. Well that’s all the news for now...from a very cold tent in the middle of the North Pole on the Arctic Ocean, best regards, Mike"

31.01.06
DAY 10: BEWARE OF THE BEARS...
Email from Mike: "We have had very strong winds and cold temperature today with broken ice and arctic water. 907km to go. One of the photos I have sent shows the polar bear trip wire we set up (see photo below). It is connected to a gun, so if the bear sets off the gun I hope we will wake up before it is too late. We're still drifting to the south east at 0.8 km/h. When will our luck turn...Best from a cold tent, Mike"
Please note: this polar bear warning device is intended to deter polar bears if they come prowling around their camp, the trigger system is set up in such a way to avoid any harm.

31.01.06
VIEW MIKE PROMO VIDEO & IMAGE GALLERY...
Check out the new links below where you can view all images Mike and Borge have sent back, and watch Mike's promo video showing footage of his three major previous expeditions: Arktos, Latitude Zero and Amazon Solo...

30.01.06
DAY 9 : MOVING SLOWLY BUT SURELY...
Mike calls at 15h00 Swiss time (1400GMT): "We're moving slowly but surely," says Mike. "Today we are experiencing very strong winds of around 10-12 metres per second (22mph) from the west and the temperatures have once again shot up to about -10°C. We have moved onto older ice which is good but when two masses of this ice hit together under pressure, huge mountains of broken ice appear and make it very hard for us to get our sledges over.
We advanced 12 kms today, swimming over one lead and doing some ice hopping over another.
We have travelled about 50 kms now and with our calculations have 919kms to go before we arrive at the Pole.
We just hope that the weather conditions will settle. There has been bad weather since we started. With the temperatures going up and down it is difficult to adjust our clothing so we need to stop frequently to put clothes off or on.
Borge and I are being very cautious - you need to be in these conditions.
Southerly winds are predicted for tomorrow. That'll be good!!!!
Regards from Borge and me!"
Mike

29.01.06
DAY 8: ICE MORE STABLE BUT DRIFTING SOUTH AGAIN...
Email from Mike: "We made okay progress today - the wind that was supposed to help came more from the west rather than south west, so we are drifting to the east south east. We were hoping for a drift to the north but only time will tell. Today was the first day that we did not swim. The ice has become more stable and a little thicker up to 60cm. It is more stable and travelling will hopefully become less dangerous. We are eating well and burning up to 6000 calories a day in 9.5 hours walking. At the end of the day Borge and me can not wait to get into the tent to have our food and sleep. We are using our petzl headlamps with 14 diodes all day long and have been living in complete darkness since the start of the expedition. After 8 days we are slowly finding our feet and hope to get to the north pole in 60 days time. That is if we have no problem with equipment.
Best regards, Mike and Borge"

28.01.06
HAPPY MESSAGE FROM MIKE !
We've had the best day since we started! We've done 17 km in the right direction!

The weather is still very bad and the temperatures have dropped drastically to around -30°C. It has snowed all day long with cold winds coming from the south. Later in the afternoon the wind turned to the SW and brought even more snow. The snow rapidly covered all the leads and turned the icecap into a potential minefield. In the dark we cannot distinguish the differences in the colour of the icecap so have to test it with our ski poles by tapping the ice in front of us before placing our feet. Borge narrowly escaped disaster when the thin ice started to give way under his weight and the weight of his sled.

We swam 3 times over open leads today while the ice was moving and quickly closing up. We are still on very thin ice and hope to make rapid progress to more stable ice soon.

Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to live while you can! Life is very short so each minute is important!

28.01.06
NORTHWARDS DRIFT !
Wonderful news! The wind has turned! Mike and Borge drifted 2 km northwards during the night !

Borge called at 01.45am our time. They were just about to start their day.

Temperatures are dropping fast!

More news this evening.

26.01.06
DAY 5: THE BATTLE AGAINST THE DRIFT CONTINUES...
Email from Mike: "Very difficult day, a lot of open water and small pieces of ice floating around, temperature slowly getting colder -16°C. We had to cross about 15 leads and our progress is about 700m/h. We are still battling against the drift. The darkness has a big influence on our progress. The biggest piece of ice we had been on must have been 400m diagonal. It took hard work and concentration not to go into the drink. We will be drifting south again tonight so I better get some sleep. Mike & Borge"

25.01.06
DAY 4: A BETTER DAY TODAY - MOVING NORTH AT LAST!
Mike and Borge stopped earlier today: "We've been working hard to regain our lost ground", says Mike. "The good news is that we have actually moved 12 kms north today and are almost back at Cape Artichesky. We have a southwards drift of only 12° which is a lot less than before. We are travelling on beautiful young ice. (Young ice is classified as first year ice which has a varying thickness of 30 to 200cm.) There is still a lot of open water but we are managing to jump over it. There are no more massive leeds like we encountered a few days ago."

"Once we are another 80-90 kms north we will be getting onto the older, thicker ice so the drift should be less and the terrain more stable. Our plan is to do an average walking distance of about 15 kms a day. If the drift is in our favour we might be able to move 20 kms north in one day."

"The weather conditions are relatively mild, the food is great, we are both strong and are getting on well together. All in all, everything is going well for now!"

24.01.06
DAY 3: MIKE & BORGE PUSH NORTH DESPITE SET BACK...
Phonecall from Mike: "We moved another 10 kms down south today. It's a bit demoralising when you are walking non-stop north for two days only to find that at the end of the day you are 18kms further south of your starting point. Normally we should be moving towards Norway and Greenland but instead we are moving towards Alaska!!! We are now situated 18kms south and 50 kms east of Cape Artichesky! Heh, it's not so bad! There's nothing else to do but to hang in there! Soon the ice cap will turn and change it's direction.
It's still snowing with winds of 5-6m per second and a temperature of around -14°C (without the windchill factor).
The ice is like a broken mosaic. We swam across one leed today and the rest of the time we were ice hopping - a favourite pass-time when I'm with my girls - but not here on the pole!!! No bears around or at least they haven't come close enough for us to see them! Borge and I stay very close together when we walk. It's very dark and it would be easy to loose each other. All I can see is his headlight next to me.
We're going to sleep now - the terrain is very uneven and it's really hard work pulling these sledges!"

23.01.06
MIKE & BORGE DRIFTING SOUTH BUT SPIRITS REMAIN HIGH...
In a phonecall to their team, Borge and Mike update us from Cape Artichesky (hear full audio below): "We started two days ago and we are on the ice. We have a few difficulties with the conditions here because the wind and currents are pushing us south and we have drifted to east side of the Cape and we’re actually 7km south from where we started, which is of course not good, but spirits are high. We have used our suits for swimming five times a day already and we’re pushing north but we can’t do anything about the drift. So, hopefully the wind will change and we will be drifting northwards instead of backwards, which is a little bit depressing but we know things change very quickly out here.”

23.01.06
DAY 2: TOUGH TIMES FOR MIKE AND BORGE...
Email from Mike: "Thing are not going too well...we are drifting south at 1.4 km/h, but walking north we are moving south at great speed. One of our sleds fell down in to a hole in the pack ice - it is very heavy and difficult to get them out of these holes and takes a lot of energy. Very strong winds are breaking up the ice and there is a lot of open water. We had to swim 5 times over open leeds - ice is very broken up." (Jargon Buster: Open leeds = big canals of open water). Below is an image Mike took of Borge in the Arctic Ocean. All images Mike and Borge send back during this expedition are very low resolution due to their limitations in battery power and sending capacity.

22.01.06
MIKE AND BORGE AT LONG LAST ON THE SEA ICE!
It was an excited Mike that called today (Sunday) at 1530hrs GMT. He was very happy to say that he and Borge had now left Cape Artichesky and were travelling on the sea ice.

They woke up early in the morning to find that north-westerly winds had blown overnight, blowing the ice to the land on the western side of the Cape. They quickly went out to determine whether or not they could set off and saw that the ice was solid – a big thick stable plate of ice – giving them the perfect opportunity to head off, say goodbye to the land and at long last start their expedition.

Mike and Borge worked hard today. They walked for six and a half hours non-stop against strong NW winds blowing horizontal snow at 7-8m a second. On two occasions they came across open water and needed to use the inflatable rafts to get across. With the strong water currents the ice was moving quickly so they needed to move fast before the ice separated them completely. Luckily both these occasions went without mishap.

Mike and Borge are thrilled to have finally left the land and to have started their expedition. When they rang today they said that they had walked 19kms but with the south-easterly drift of the ice they only advanced 2km in the right direction.

Goodness knows where they’ll wake up, but in any case the guys are happy, and sure that they made the right decision to leave the land.

We’re looking forward to hearing from them tomorrow and to follow their progress.

21.01.06
POLAR BEAR WATCH CONTINUES...
Message from Mike: "A curious polar bear circled our tent during the night looking for something to do. We hope he doesn’t return with any of his friends. Fortunately, we have seen no sign of bears the last eight hours, but we have had to repair a rubber dinghy that the polar bear ripped apart during the night." See latest image below sent back from Mike and Borge earlier today, of polar bear tracks outside their tent. Conditions on the ice are still unstable, more news on their departure soon...

20.01.06
MIKE AND BORGE NOW AT CAPE ARTICHESKY!
The good news came today that the wind conditions had calmed. Mike and Borge left their lodgings at Golomiyanniy, the helicopter motors were heated, and now at long last, they were on their way to Cape Artichesky, the starting point of their expedition.

Conditions were not what they were expecting. The region seems to be experiencing what we could almost call ‘A Siberian Heatwave‘. Warm temperatures of –5°C had struck the region, never before seen in this area at this time of year.

Another surprise soon became apparent, the recent westerly winds had blown the ice close to land. Mike and Borge were able to walk immediately onto the sea ice – almost too good to be true!! The courageous team waved goodbye as the helicopters flew away. Now they are alone on the ice, far away from any civilisation or shelter.

The excitement was high! Mike and Borge put on their skis, attached their heavily laden sleds onto their harnesses and started walking across the sea ice. Unfortunately the good luck did not continue...about 600 metres further on they decided to turn around. The ice was not stable, almost sludge in places, broken and moving fast in the current. The only option for them was to turn back to land and hope for better conditions tomorrow.

Now is time to put words into practice, to start getting into routine, each person with a specific chore, with the hope to get the tent up in as little time as possible. They were settling comfortably in the tent and then the next surprise came - their first visitor - a polar bear!! They weren’t expecting that on their first evening on the ice! The bear put his paw in the door of the tent, stood on and broke the zipper, sniffed around a little, and then turned backwards to the sled. As Mike and Borge got out of the tent they saw that he was walking off with a bag of food in his mouth. They set off a flare, the frightened bear dropped the food and ran onto the sea ice. As Mike said on the satellite phone, 'We managed to get rid of him for the moment - hopefully he will not come back...'

They certainly won’t be sleeping much tonight! One of them will need to stay on bear watch – not so easy in the dark, as Mike explains, 'You can’t hear the bears come close to the tent because the wind is blowing too hard.'

The broken zipper is now fixed and they are once again comfortably installed in their tent.

Although the start of their expedition is delayed another day, Mike and Borge have no regrets being where they are. They are in high spirits and want to get moving. Let's hope the temperatures will now drop, the northerly winds will appear and the ice will start freezing once again.

19.01.06
MESSAGE FROM MIKE
Dear all,
Borge and I are still standing by to leave to the starting position. The weather and temperature has not been too great, strong winds and very high temperature. We have inflated our rubber boats and hope to leave today. The visibility is not good enough for the pilot to fly so we have been stranded at Golomiyanniy for two days now. The race against the rising sun is on. We have only 65 days of food to make it north before the sun will rise. Very thin and broken up ice will be our bigest challenge. The first couple of days will be very interesting. Another problem will be to find drinking water on the salty sea ice. There are many unknown factors at this stage but we are ready and waiting for mother nature to decide our time to leave, we will be in the starting blocks. The dark polar night are making a difficult task a little more difficult.
We will keep you informed.
Mike

18.01.06
YET ANOTHER DAY OF WAITING!
Mike called at 23h45 local time on Sredny Island (1645GMT) to say that the weather had once again taken control. The helicopters were unable to fly. They feel positive that tomorrow will be the big 'D' day and they promise to send news as soon as they land on Cape Artichesky!

18.01.06
FLYING TO CAPE ARTICHESKY TODAY!
Mike rang at 3h30 local time to say that in just a few hours the helicopter would take them to Cape Arctichesky. Mike and his expedition companion, Norwegian explorer Borge Ousland planned to leave Sredny Island at 10am local time with an expected arrival at their start destination, Cape Artichesky, later today.

Mike says, "Conditions are not so great! There are strong southerly winds (8 - 9m/sec) and this has broken up the ice around the Cape. We have been told that the broken blocks of ice are drifting up to 82°N so it'll be tough going at the start. The temperature is only -20°C and it is snowing outside - far too warm for the ice to form properly. A thick layer of clouds cover the Cape and it is dark outside - pitch dark 24 hours a day!! - you cannot see a thing!!!"

Sleep was the last thing that Mike and Borge wanted to do this evening. They were packing their equipment (yet again) thinking of every last meticulous detail. We are looking forward to receiving a phone call from their first camp on the ice, when we hope to find out more details on their departure. They will only know this themselves once they are out there.

Landing at Cape Artichesky will signifiy the imminent start of Mike and Borge’s North Pole Winter Expedition as they attempt to be the first men to walk the 1000km to the North Pole in the sunless Arctic winter, unassisted by machines or dogs, in the darkness and extreme conditions with the average temperature expected to be -50°. As Mike says, “Obstacles are as big as you personally make them…” More news from Mike soon...

16.01.06
MIKE AND BORGE FLY TO SREDNY ISLAND TODAY (MONDAY)
Mike and Borge have been waiting patiently in Noril'sk ever since the 9th of January. This has given them time to check and recheck all their equipment many times over. They are as ready as they can ever be! The problem is now they must wait for the bad spell of weather to pass so the helicopters can fly.

The news arrived yesterday that they can at long last fly to Sredny Island today (Monday). At around 10am Mike and Borge will be flown in a MI8 helicopter with about 350kgs of equipment and land on an ancient military airstrip on Sredny Island. They will then take refuge in a weather station and await the next helicopter that will take them to the northern most point of Russia, Cape Artichesky. They expect that they will get to Cape Artichesky tomorrow (17th January) and from there their expedition will finally start.

The ice around the Cape is not stable at the moment. Strong winds have recently battered the island and the ice has been broken up and pushed away from the land. Russian pilots reported that the ice was drifting at 10kms/hr around the Cape obviously making it impossible for Mike and Borge to set off. Now the conditions are once again improving, the winds have calmed and the temperatures are once again dropping allowing the ice to form. To help Mike and Borge arrive onto the ice they have with them two rubber dingy's. They may well need them if the temperatures rise again.

According to the latest weather charts the ice conditions will be very unstable for the first 115 kms of their trek. It will not be easy for Mike and Borge but they are well prepared and highly motivated to make a success of this expedition.

We hope for more news tomorrow from Cape Artichesky!

13.01.06
MIKE PREPARES TO HEAD OFF TO NORTH POLE
Extreme explorer, Mike Horn, will set off in the next few days on another extraordinary mission, the type of challenge that sets Mike apart from pretty well any other modern day adventurer. After swimming the length of the Amazon in six months, circling the globe without powered assistance at the Equator starting in June 1999 and finishing 17 months later in October 2000, and then more recently circling the planet at the Arctic Circle, including a winter time traverse of Siberia (2 years, 3 months long), it’s hard to find the right words to describe the quite incredible ability and determination of this modern day Shackleton, Amundsen and Hilary all in one.

Mike’s mission, a ‘training’ event for his Seven Wonders project (to be revealed on his return), is attempting to walk, unassisted by machines or dogs, the 1000 kilometres to the North Pole, in the darkness and extremely low temperatures of a sunless winter (-50C expected to be the ‘average’), to arrive at the top of the planet as the sun rises for the first time in 2006.

13.01.06
MIKE HORN’S RACE AGAINST THE ARCTIC ELEMENTS
Ellen MacArthur’s Offshore Challenges are supporting Mike’s mission as part of the Adventure Team formed in 2005. Ellen’s perspective on Mike, sets the scene for yet another unbelievable voyage...

“An extraordinary person can achieve extraordinary things and Mike Horn is one of those people. In today’s world there are few new boundaries left to break, and yet Mike keeps on doing what seems the impossible.

“He now faces his own ‘race against the elements’ to reach the North Pole in darkness, in extreme circumstances. Conditions will be sub-zero, and sometimes, down to -60 degrees Centigrade depending on the wind chill factor, it will be permanently dark, as the only way Mike can complete this trip from Siberia is this ‘early’ in the season (polar travel is normally undertaken in spring time, just before the ice melts, but after the sun has ‘returned’). The thickness of the ice that Mike must travel over is marginal, and at times he will have to swim through the Arctic waters to reach the next ice pack. To go to the North Pole you are walking on water not land! In these conditions you can freeze to death in minutes once you stop moving. Mike and his expedition companion, Norwegian explorer Borge Ousland, are attempting to be the first men to walk to the North Pole in the sunless Arctic winter. If they succeed, it will be an astounding feat of human perseverance and endurance.

“The duo are aiming to arrive at the North Pole around the 21st March – the first day of the spring equinox when the sun will rise properly for the first time in this region. They have 67 days worth of food and plan to start their expedition imminently – there is no margin for error and there is