2004 Summer Open: Polar Expedition
Follow the steps of the 1909 Polar expedition by Robert Perry and Matthew Henson. Press on through the black Arctic night, temperatures at 50 degrees below zero, deadly open leads of water, pressure ridges and only your dogs to keep you warm! You skills must include hauling supplies across thin ice using your keen understanding of ocean currents and tidal and lunar effects. In the following months you will venture 400 miles onto the Artic Ocean to reach the North Pole.
Your first leg is to reach Cape Sheridan on Ellesmere Island, in Nunavut, Canada. You will battle the slabs of ice using a 1500 ton ship as a battering ram and crushing the slabs by riding up on them, then letting the weight of the ship split them.
The second stage requires you to unload your ship, now locked in the ice and make your way to Cape Columbia, the most northern point of land in the world. Here you must set up a working base camp to prepare for the long journey over the frozen ocean.
Once base camp is establshed, you will carve a trail to within 133 miles of the pole. You will build supply camps ahead of you to make the final push to the north pole and the important return home. Each team will move ahead the main group crossing pressure ridges of 20 to 50 feet, to establish the trial and supply camp. Once they have set the camp they will return back to base camp.
Along the way you must cross "The Big Lead". This stretch of open water
is 100 yards wide and extends as far as the eye can see. Here you will battle your own mental strength as you wait in the bitter cold and wind for six days. As the lead final freezes over you can continue on your journey.
At last you will reach the final supply camp, only 133 miles from the pole. Here the ice is smoother, because the deeper ocean has less pressure ridges. You will make a mad dash to cover the last miles at a rate of 25-30 miles each day. Here you cross your fingers (whats left of them) and hope for good weather. One storm can mean the end of your trip.
Finally you have made it to the pole, or have you? You will need to take good measurements and calculations to ensure you have succesfully reached the pole. Keep good records so you can prove it too! Then you can enjoy a few moments at Camp Morris K Jesup, with 4 views looking south, before making the long journey home.
Eligibility: All Ranks
Format: Unseeded, 2 month per round time limit.
Start date: 1st, July 2004
 IAAPA
2004 Spring Classic Champion: ???
This page last updated June 28th, 2004 by GroeFaZ.
This page is best experienced with the world's best browser --- isn't
it time you started using the software that defines the standards which
run the Internet? Click below to experience the web like you never have
before...
|
