Even if my sleeping bag was nice and warm I couldn’t sleep all night. I don’t feel well and it’s hard to get out of bed.

By 10.30 camp is down and we are ready to start our day on the skis. One of my feet is cold and I try all I can to get better circulation by continuously moving it inside the boot and by skiing as fast as I can…. This is not always the best solution as you then start to sweat… After an hour I don’t feel my toes any longer so we decide to stop to warm them up. I put my bare foot on Nancy’s belly… skin on skin is the best. It feels soooo good… but the rest of my body is cooling down so, I quickly put on my socks and boots and we are back, on the road again!

After another hour I feel great discomfort again … I can’t feel my feet at all, there is no way to move them. We start the same procedure… one foot on Nancy’s belly and one on David’s… The toes are totally white… no circulation whatsoever…

After five minutes my hand and fingers start to freeze… it  hurts deeply!

Another two minutes and I start shivering like crazy… my body is cooling down at an impressive speed. It’s incredible… Hypothermia is like a monster that starts biting your feet, takes your hands and in a moment you’re devoured.

The brain starts to slow down and it is hard to speak… there’s no way to react I’m totally powerless!

Nancy and Ryan’s reaction is fast and determined. Tents have to be set up and without even realizing it, I’m lying in a sleeping bag with David trying to warm me up.

It takes a full hour before I slowly start coming back. A rich hot chocolate, some nuts and my bare feet on Russ’s belly, help me to recover while we are awaiting the helicopter to pick us up.

The team is given the possibility to have an air-lift closer to the Pole and then stay overnight there… only two of them are brave enough to challenge this cold!

I’m happy to get back to Base Camp where the doctor is carefully examining my condition… only one of my toes is still deadly white and the tip of my nose has a small frost bite… so nice to spend the evening in a warm tent!

Many thanks to David, Nancy, Russ, Ryan and all the team to have taken care of me!

YOU HAVE BEEN GREAT GUYS!

We spend the day shooting the various activities around Barneo Ice Camp. 

We join Sasha by snowmobile to collect the fuel drums that were parachuted when camp was set up. 

The organisation of a one month drifting Ice Camp is not an easy task and takes a full year of preparation. There is lot of paper work to be filled in especially for the permits concerning the construction and use of the airfield. By mid March two Taimyr Airline MI-8 helicopters take off from Norlisk (the northern most city in Siberia) and after various refuelling stops on Dikson Island, Sredny Island and Arctic Cape, finally they are over the frozen Arctic Ocean in search of the right ice floe for the airstrip.

With the help of satellite ice images they look for a stable one-year-old, 1.5 meter deep and fairly big ice floe. Experience is essential and only the best ice pilots are part of this operation! Once the ice floe is chosen then the big operation starts. Tractors, barrels of fuel, tents, equipment and food are packed and air-dropped with parachutes along with a couple of tractor drivers who will prepare the airstrip for the Antonov to land with the other staff and equipment needed; in good weather conditions the airstrip and the ice camp is ready to welcome the first visitors in less than ten days. AMAZING!

Passenger flights begin only after the ice airfield has been checked and approved by a special technical commission. To ensure smooth running of all the activities and for the safety of all the expeditions two MI-8 helicopters are always on standby ready to take off within an hour.

Two big mess tents, a kitchen, and several 11-bed sleeping tents compose Barneo Ice Camp. The temperature in the tents is nice and cosy with a temperature between + 15 and + 25 °C (59/77 °F).

The wonderful Chef Galina Paramonova serves three hot meals a day! Tea, coffee and cookies are available 24h a day. Of course a bar with soft drinks, beer as well as stronger alcohol is run at the camp.

The day before the departure is really busy. Last control of the equipment to make sure everything is working well and last shopping if needed.

At 4.00 pm we all meet at the warehouse for the final packing of the sledges.

Weighing the sledges

Ready to load on the plane

At 6.00 pm final briefing.

We are informed that for the last few days a high pressure has been over Barneo Ice camp; this means good sunny weather but also very cold temperatures… which for the last couple of days were around – 35° Celsius…  A very cold season this year!

I’m on assignment for VICCAR agency and famous polar Explorer and good friend Victor Boyarsky (www.northpolextreme.com)

Every year since year 2000 during the month of April, Barneo Ice Camp is established around 89° degrees of latitude North. It’s a huge operation costing several million dollars and involving more than 50 people, engineers, pilots, cooks, expedition leaders, assistant expedition leaders and a doctor.

The Ice Camp is the base for roughly 200/300 guests during the entire season; a different range of personalities with a common sense of adventure:  tourists willing to set foot at the North Pole, more adventurer skiers willing to ski the last degree to the North Pole, athletes willing to run a full 42.5 km marathon and this year for the first time in history the first handicapped person in a wheelchair and a marriage! Not to forget the various scientists coming to study global warming with very sophisticated scientific equipment, recording water temperatures and salinity, collecting samples and setting drifting buoys that will record this data for the rest of the year.

For sure April is the busiest time at the North Pole…How exciting and what a privilege to be able to take off for such a great adventure!

We depart Milan for Oslo our first stop on our way to the North Pole.