North Pole Speed Record

Eyes on the Prize

Posted on 02^nd April, 2008 By Ben Saunders ~ 25 comments

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The wind did a complete one-eighty during the night, so it was the lower set of cheeks that got the full benefit of the windchill today, but it made navigating much easier. And the ice, dare I say, is looking a bit better up here near 84 degrees.

A record mileage today, which is good, though I did reflect briefly that it seems a bit of a shame to be bashing along at high speed, headphones on, head down, pausing only to stuff my face, scream foul obscenities at the sledge or look over my shoulder for polar bears. This train of thought was triggered by a beautiful chunk of sea ice, about the size of a dinner table, sticking up out of the snow. It must have been the sunlight catching it at a certain angle, but it shone such a vivid blue that it looked fake, almost like an abandoned prop from a low-budget superhero film; a lump of kryptonite, glowing away. I should have taken a photograph, but I decided I didn't have time, and that I should keep racing north. I've rushed to get inside my tent in glorious sunsets, and I've stormed past wind-blasted snow sculptures that would have Henry Moore shaking his head and looking woefully at his chisel.

There's probably a good metaphor about life in there somewhere: it's all too easy to live at 100mph, chasing the glittery prize at the end. Time is money. You snooze, you lose. Yet sometimes it's good to stop and make sure the best bits aren't passing you by.

Today is dedicated to my mum. By the time she reads this (2nd April) it'll be her birthday. Her strength of character, her resilience and her positive outlook on life have influenced me profoundly, and I still feel guilty about the stress these extended camping trips put her through. Happy birthday mum.

Thanks to everyone sending text messages to my satellite phone - clearly I can't reply, but receiving them is one of the highlights of my day (even the abusive ones from Tony!)

Lastly, I'm cooking up an idea for a competition for the schools following this expedition. More soon, once I've figured out exactly how it might work. And what the prize is, of course.

Comments

1. 

   By Simon Jones on 02^nd April, 2008

   You’re Mom is going to be thrilled with that Ben.

   Keep going mate!

2. 

   By Tom Gurnee on 02^nd April, 2008

   Happy April, Ben!  Happy Birthday, Ben’s Mum!  Happy Birthday, Alli (to my friend here in San Diego)!

   Glad to hear things have smoothed out a little for you.  Very positive.

   So I found a nice little website that’s nice and colorful and shows the Pole region’s countries.  If you have small kids (or if the big kid in you cares to), you can give them a nice little geography lesson on what things look like looking down upon the Pole.  What’s also nice is you can click on various weather stations around the map to get a fairly updated weather report Ie: “Alert\” weather station, which is fairly close to where Ben began his travels at Ward Hunt Island.  Provided the station logs in w/ its information, this could be fun (at the time of this writing, “Alert\” had no temperature info posted.  Bummer.) Here’s the link:

   http://www.athropolis.com/map2.htm

   Thanks Andy for the updates on your end!

3. 

   By Moki Kokoris on 02^nd April, 2008

   Prize? You need an idea for a competition prize? Uh, Ben? What might be sitting in a very honourable place just to the right of my polar shrine, I mean shelf? One of the expedition boots - the broken one to be specific - from your previous excursion to the North Pole. What better prize could there be than a boot that’s autographed by a record holder? Unless, of course, you must return them both to Borge. In that case, I suggest the foofy mitts.

   Keep the wind nipping at those “cheeks”!

4. 

   By Alison Lowndes on 02^nd April, 2008

   Wa heyyyy .. I was so beaten by Simon, Tom AND Moki !
   What an ungodly time zone you’re in up there time, Ben .. I’m reluctant to tell you exactly what time it was when I fell asleep here for fear of being labelled a complete cyber-stalker but its now beyond late, real late & become very early so am back off to sleep now !
   I just want to wish you well today, Ben & and another Mummy-inspired, tail-wind-driven, top-distance day.
   Happy Birthday to your Mum but also to Moki, too
   Best Wishes for the Happiest Birthday x

5. 

   By Alison Lowndes on 02^nd April, 2008

   P.S. Tom, you have a time-zone advantage I realise, Moki has less of one but still got 5 hours on me .. but Simon .. OMG? I fell asleep at almost 4 ??
   Ben, what is the time difference ? when are you uploading ? (give an English girl a chance).

   P.P.S. You could also run a competition for us adults so that winners get Andy emailing them the elusive sat phone number.  Maybe I’m borderline stalking now .. must .. get .. sleeeeeep ;-)

6. 

   By Oliver Corbett on 02^nd April, 2008

   Ben - glad things were better today, and fantastic progress.  Alison - I logged on at half past midnight BST and was too early!  Good luck today Ben.  Oliver

7. 

   By Cas on 02^nd April, 2008

   Happy Birthday to all and to myself in 2 days time :-)

   Talking about time , what time zone are you in Ben. ?..I’m having trouble working that out . Are You UCT ( ie Canada ) or AKDT ( ie Alaska. ) Reading up about it , it doesnt seem all that obvious. Specially once you are at the North Pole...I take it theoretically if you walked in a circle you should be in a different time zone after every step...if you get what I mean

   Tom , thats a great map you posted there
   Andy , would it be poss to follow Ben on Google Earth?

   Keep going Ben

   Cas

8. 

   By Chris Martin on 02^nd April, 2008

   I shouldn’t worry about missing the photo of the ice block. They’re like buses and another will be along in a minute. (although probably late and smelling a bit strange!) Still the important thing is that you noticed it. If you had just raced past without seeing it, that would be much worse. Going well buddy.
   Chris

9. 

   By Alison Lowndes on 02^nd April, 2008

   I just figured it out .. DOH!
   UK(GMT) isn’t running at UT (universal time) right now because we’ve just put the clocks forward 1 hour for daylight savings .. so GMT is now UT + 1. Now the time in Nunavut, Canada is currently GMT-7 hours (was -6 till last weekend) so I’m reading late last night (this morning) .. and propping my eyelids open .. and seriously reflecting not on the incredible drawing power of what Ben’s doing, but on my new-found obsessive behaviour LOL !

   I think I fell asleep somewhere around 3.45am GMT and there was no update by then .. so, Ben, you’re staying up till at least 9pm which is way too late & I’m gonna tell your Mum !
   (damn it, I bet you posted your journal 5 minutes after I fell asleep!)
   Are you operating on Nunavut time, or literally by sunset/ sunrise ?
   Is there sunset ? I remember Moki said that April 19th till August 23rd (2004) was 24 hour sunlight in Longyearbyen over on the Svalbard side ?

   Interesting fact for the kids out there .. the worlds time zones meet at each of the geographic Poles so you can easily “walk around the world” once there. However, nature won’t let you put an actual marker up to mark the North Pole ‘cos of the ice drift .. so the US’s NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) has to reposition this webcam every spring: [http://psc.apl.washington.edu/northpole/LatestPhoto.html]

   Another interesting fact is Earth actually has 4 North Poles :
   North Geographic Pole. 90 degrees north latitude, all longitudes. (northern Axis of Earth’s rotation).
   North Magnetic Pole. 76 deg., 06 min. N.; 100 deg. 0 min. W. (Point that north-seeking ends of compass needles point to).
   North Geomagnetic Pole. 78 deg. 30 min N, 69 deg, 0 min. W. (Northern end of Earth’s geomagnetic field).
   Northern Pole of Inaccessibility. 84 deg. 3 min. N, 174 deg., 51 min. W. (Arctic Ocean point most distant from land).

   I’d better leave some room for everyone else now.

10. 

    By Alison Lowndes on 02^nd April, 2008

    I just figured it out .. DOH!
    UK(GMT) isn’t running at UT (universal time) right now because we’ve just put the clocks forward 1 hour for daylight savings .. so GMT is now UT + 1. Now the time in Nunavut, Canada is currently GMT-7 hours (was -6 till last weekend) so I’m reading late last night (this morning) .. and propping my eyelids open .. and seriously reflecting not on the incredible drawing power of what Ben’s doing, but on my new-found obsessive behaviour LOL !

    I think I fell asleep somewhere around 3.45am GMT and there was no update by then .. so, Ben, you’re staying up till at least 9pm which is way too late & I’m gonna tell your Mum !
    (damn it, I bet you posted your journal 5 minutes after I fell asleep!)
    Are you operating on Nunavut time, or literally by sunset/ sunrise ?
    Is there sunset ? I remember Moki said that April 19th till August 23rd (2004) was 24 hour sunlight in Longyearbyen over on the Svalbard side ?

    Interesting fact for the kids out there .. the worlds time zones meet at each of the geographic Poles so you can easily “walk around the world” once there. However, nature won’t let you put an actual marker up to mark the North Pole ‘cos of the ice drift .. so the US’s NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) has to reposition this webcam every spring: [http:// psc.apl.washington.edu/ northpole/LatestPhoto.html]

    Another interesting fact is Earth actually has 4 North Poles :
    North Geographic Pole. 90 degrees north latitude, all longitudes. (northern Axis of Earth’s rotation).
    North Magnetic Pole. 76 deg., 06 min. N.; 100 deg. 0 min. W. (Point that north-seeking ends of compass needles point to).
    North Geomagnetic Pole. 78 deg. 30 min N, 69 deg, 0 min. W. (Northern end of Earth’s geomagnetic field).
    Northern Pole of Inaccessibility. 84 deg. 3 min. N, 174 deg., 51 min. W. (Arctic Ocean point most distant from land).

    I’d better leave some room for everyone else now.
    (If this posts twice it’s because I forgot to put spaces in the link and Akismet spammed me !)

11. 

    By Simon Campbell on 02^nd April, 2008

    Glad you are making better progress mate. All the best from the Erskine Design team…

12. 

    By Alison Lowndes on 02^nd April, 2008

    Simon (Campbell) .. thanks so much to you all for this wonderful medium / website / comment facility & sorry I keep forgetting about links and asking you to moderate my entries
    *blushing*

13. 

    By jessica on 02^nd April, 2008

    good luck !!!!!
    I hope you packed that extra pair of boots.

    Alfie and Rowan And I shall be logging in daily,

    regards

    jessie

14. 

    By Nikki on 02^nd April, 2008

    Happy Birthday, Ben’s mum!!  You must be extremely proud of your son!  He is an inspiration to us all!  :-)

15. 

    By Simon Jones on 02^nd April, 2008

    Yes it’s true, I go to bed far too late. But then I don’t have to be at work until a time of my choosing so I don’t really get up too early either. I’m off to India in a couple of weeks tho, so I will struggle to keep up with progress from there, but I’ll do my best.

16. 

    By Helen Haile on 02^nd April, 2008

    Happy Birthday, Brenda!  Regards to Rob. Great to see that Ben is doing so well - brings back so many memories of 2004.

17. 

    By Paul Bower on 02^nd April, 2008

    Ben
    no funny comments today, not that they were intended to detract from your achievements in anyway. Well done, keep it up, we are all behind you the daily fixes from your Journal are riveting. I went to a Business meeting this morning and a prominent speaker actually asked about your visit to North Yorks so the word is out in these parts.
    Good luck.

18. 

    By Antony Jinman on 02^nd April, 2008

    Message for Ben,

    Just a quick one to say thanks for all your support to our expedition and the use of the solar panel mate. The expedition didn’t go according to plan but when does it? lol. It was however a great success and massively rewarding.  Just hoping a big thank you can be passed on to you.

    Sounds like your having a awesome time out there all the best and good luck mate.

    AJ

19. 

    By Rachel Hanley on 03^rd April, 2008

    I imagine the sunsets you see while rushing to set up tent put mine to shame. If you have to rush, and have to set up tent, I say let it be with an amazing blazing sunset in the background. Maybe we’ll get a picture of one ?

    Thanks for taking the time to blog all this and for writing as well. For a brief moment, I almost felt i was there! what progress you’re making.. keep it up!

20. 

    By Kenny MacLeod on 03^rd April, 2008

    Wotcha Ben.  Keep the faith.  Watching your progress here in the office, and sparked off a debate about how you navigate your way to the Geographic North Pole when magnetic compasses would point to somewhere in northern Canada.  So what equipment do you use to find out which way to go when you get up in the morning?

21. 

    By Elaine Eagleton on 03^rd April, 2008

    Can someone answer a couple of silly questions about the technology that Ben has with him?
    1) Ben thanked everyone for sending text messages to his satellite phone but said that clearly he couldn’t reply - is that because:
    a) the technology he has will only allow him to receive texts and not reply;
    b) because as he is supposed to be ‘unsupported’ it is against the rules; or
    c) his fingers are too cold to press the little buttons?

    2) Can Ben actually see any of these encouraging messages or will he only get to read them when he gets back?

    If you can read this Ben - Keep it up - you are fantastic!

22. 

    By David McQueen on 03^rd April, 2008

    Dude it’s my birthday on Monday. While you fight through the snow and stuff find a bit of black ice (irony) and write “happy birthday big dave” . Now that would be a story to tell in my schools!! Just kidding.

    Keep up the good work man. Proud of you.
    A glass of wine awaits you on your return.

23. 

    By George Tricker (Hilary's son) on 03^rd April, 2008

    I hope you will make it in time to beat the record.  My school (and friends) are following you.  We think you are the best polar explorer ever.
    From George Age 8

24. 

    By clive on 03^rd April, 2008

    brilliant

25. 

    By RObb on 05^th April, 2008

    happy birthday mum, congrats on the record distance Ben!

Day’s Statistics ~ 02/04/08