Cancelled flight to ice base

Yesterday our scheduled flight to the ice base was cancelled due to maintenance work on the plane; and since then we are standing by. That is part of the life here...waiting for good weather and readiness of planes. Within one hour we could be gone though. Everyone of us are ready and can wait to head out on the ice. Waiting evolves in a rollercoaster of anticipation and disappointing news.

Despite the coldest day since our arrival, I jumped into my Arctic suit and headed out this morning. As a dog lover I put my tele zoom on my Olympus camera for good shots of the sledge dogs around Resolute Bay. It seems they have very different lifestyles among themselves. Nevertheless they share the same character with the dogs we know from home and neighbourhoods...the best friend of man.

Calm but vigilant

                                    

                                  Remarkable adaption to the extrem cold

                Hauling tells you about the close origin of the sledge dog - the wolf

                                        Did someone knock on my door?

Please wake me up at lunch time !

Despite the disappointment of cancelled flights, I certainly enjoyed capturing the life of our best friends in Resolute. I hope sending the next news from the ice base. 

Imminent Take-off to the ice base

Within the next 1-2 hours we will depart from Resolute for the flight to the ice base. The weather is clear and sunny, -34 deg Cels. I just came back from the local store and the cold is biting on the skin. I even got my last minute things at the store...cans of lighter fluid for a table-top torch to seal glass ampoule for the safe storage of water samples. I am ready...Thank God for getting things back on track with restless days wondering where my luggage was. Thanks to all my friends for their thoughts and prayers.

The Explorer team of the expedition took off this morning to be dropped off at the geographical North Pole for their adventure walking south to Greenland...pulling their sledges over the ice for hundreds of miles. They went through the rollercoaster here in Resolute waiting for good weather and ice conditions at the Pole...many cancelled and postponed flights reached an emotion hard to imagine.

I had some troubles to get access to this blog site...please be patient, I will try to update it as often as I can. I shall report again tomorrow with a report of the landing on the ice and arrival in the base.

Good news...

This morning I received the news from the CatLin Headquarter in London, that my luggage made it on the plane from Ottawa to Iqaluit, and later in the afternoon further to Resolute. At 7.30 pm I picked up my luggage from the airport after more than 3 days of tracking, arranging and chasing United Airline. Claire from the headquarter played an important role by having a contact from FirstAir in Ottawa loading my luggage on the plane.

It is still uncertain when we fly on the ice. There is a chance that it may happen tomorrow. It is a complicated interaction of different factors including talking to pilots, ice conditions for landing, and weather forecasts for Resolute and the ice camp site. Furthermore, CatLin plans also to drop their explorer team at the geographical North Pole from where the team of four walk back towards the Canadian Archipelagos pulling each a 80 to 100 pound heavy sledge. If the weather over the North Pole is good, the explorer will be dropped first meaning the ice camp team have to wait for 1-2 days.

Having my luggage now I spend the night of checking gear and sewing a furl on the hood of my new Montane suit. The whole team is now very excited to leave Resolute to our final destination 78°45’N 103°30’W. Latest report of actual temperature: -29 deg Cels.

First hike testing gear

In the morning we spend time to settle our personal gear - better my teammates did and I kept chasing United Airline to deliver my luggages to Ottawa. After receiving information that my luggages will arrive in Ottawa in the afternoon on flight 7697, my attention was quickly drawn to the fact that this flight depart from Chicago. After a few other calls it was confirmed...United sent my luaggage from Washington DC to Chicago, but I know now that they got it back on track to Ottawa where it arrives this afternoon. New challenge is to ensure United transfer it on time to First Air for tomorrow's flight to Resolute.

Despite my missing gear, I joined the team for a moderate afternoon hike to the top of a hill which protects Resolute Bay from northern winds. Jamie passed me some of his clothing for the time I wait for my own to arrive. However, it was a nice afternoon with a temperature of about -20 deg Cels and we were warming up quickly climbing up the hill. After we reached the first plateau, a light wind gave us a little chill but our new Montane suits did a great job.

                              Fig.1: Our first hike leading to the top of the hill

                                 Fig.2: Hiking up the hill

I will spend the evening trying to find out if United passed my luggage to FirstAir as it is a crucial step to get hold on my gear in time. My wife has taken over the job to call the airport of Ottawa getting any information which might be useful. Hopefully by tomorrow I have good news.