Season Wrap-up

Wow! It's hard to believe that the 2013 North Pole season has ended. We had an incredible group of people from nine different countries make up our five North Pole teams. They were an inspiring crew and together we had a lot of fun. We experienced remarkably good weather despite a 24 hour delay for our two last degree teams and Chinese ski team. Despite the short set back everyone made good progress on the ice.

Our dogsled expedition had the most challenging ice conditions with a lot of water in the first few days that hampered progress. They persevered and managed to put in some long days to make up the miles. Only 2 miles from the Pole they encountered a game-stopping lead that would have prevented them going further BUT with the luck of the Arctic on their side the lead closed before their very eyes. That's good ice karma!

All our team members are now homeward bound and eager to share stories with families and friends. Our guides are wrapping up the season's logistics and will be heading home in the next few days.

Our attention will now turn South towards South Georgia Island and Antarctica. We hope you will continue to follow our blog as we explore "the other half" of the world in the months ahead.

We look forward to traveling together again soon, either by ski, dogsled, ship or "armchair".

Take care,

Your friends at PolarExplorers

Polar bear tracks near the pole.
The bears once again have the ice all to themselves.
Photo by Mr. Li

Hot showers & fine dining

Our teams awoke around 9 AM to cloudy skies, blustery winds and the possibility that the weather might prevent a return to Longyearbyen. They were told to leave their tents up until they had confirmation that the plane could in fact make a landing. There was nothing left at Barneo. When the plane did land, the reloading was a bit chaotic as everything, including all our kit, our dogs and the remainder of the Barneo Basecamp, was loaded on to the Antanov for the final flight to Longyearbyen.

When the plane touched down in Spitsbergen everyone was transferred to the Radisson for the final night of the expedition. Everyone enjoyed hot showers (ahhhh!!!!) along with clean clothes, access to internet, phones, etc. A celebration dinner offered (no dehydrated food!) and after dinner drinks gave people the first chance to relax and reflect on their experiences. A good time is being had by all.

The expedition officially ends tomorrow morning but not everyone is going home right away. Some people will be staying on to explore Spitsbergen, while others will begin their homeward journeys.

We will have one more blog posting tomorrow, but in case you don't check back we want to thank you for following all our 2013 North Pole teams. It has been our pleasure sharing their adventures with you.

Our next expedition will be the Shackleton Crossing of South Georgia Island in October 2013. This expedition was just named of of Outside Magazine's 50 Trips of a Lifetime, so be sure to follow along.