Greenpeace Project Thin Ice 2006, Save the Polar Bear  
 
Life on the Ice Polar Bears Extreme Expedition Global Warming What You Can Do
 
     
Live Progress
Podcasts
Read Blog
Explorers Blog

Polar Explorers Lonnie Dupre and Eric Larsen send daily dispatches during their unprecedented four-month journey to the North Pole and back. The expedition team will pull and paddle specially modified canoes across nearly 1,000 miles of shifting sea ice and open ocean. Their objective is to complete the first ever summer expedition to the North Pole and to highlight the growing issues surrounding global warming.
Explorers Blog

Life on the Ice


Previous << | List All | >>Next

Cheese Saves the Day

May 09, 2006
sunny, 9 F
If we could only start every day like today: a 9:30 wake up, casual breakfast in ... sleeping bag, and a 12:45 canoe-sled time. Sound relaxing? Well, it was - more than you can possibly imagine. We were so incredibly tired after a relentless week of arctic toil that it was all we could do to just set up the tent last night.

We considered today a double vacation day because, one, we got to sleep in, and two, we had to drag canoe-sleds over the Arctic Ocean for only four hours.

Once harnessed up, part II of our 'rest' day was everything but restful. The reason for the hard going was a wide swath of multi-year pressure ice scattered haphazardly across the ice. Behind, in front, to the side, below, just beyond, around (and every other preposition in the book) each ice chunk was a huge snowdrift. Some were hard packed, others soft. We had to haul our sleds up one side and then they would come crashing down wrenching our backs on the other if we were not careful. It was either get pulled backwards by the weight of the sleds on the way up or get run over on the way down.

Navigating through this mess was tedious, spirit draining, energy sapping work. We felt a bit shafted being dealt such a raw deal on this of all days. After two hours it was break time. We didn't know if we could go on.

Then, like a manna from heaven, a small bag of WISCONSIN cheese curds was produced. Suddenly the day didn't look so bad. Instead of just crackers, we were having CHEESE and crackers. It was such a small thing, but one that helped us make it through the day.

All in all we are doing better then anticipated and our spirits are high. Our half day slog yielded nearly 5 nautical miles or 10 kilometers or 6.2 statute miles.

Word of the day: precarious - today found us both in dangerous spots in the heavily drifted terrain.

Upgrade Flash

You need flash 8 or greater to view this part of the site. Click here to get the latest version of Flash

 (C) 2006 Greenpeace USA
702 H Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20001 (800) 326-0959

One World Expedition
Project Thin Ice 2006 | Save the Polar Bear (home) Greenpeace