Getting organized... again

This morning at 10 am we were expected at the warehouse to organize the sleds.
Coming outside was a quick wake up call. -25C and windy. The cold cut in our face but the warehouse is only 100m from our lodge. We were happy to get into the shelter, realizing that once we are on the ice, we won't have that anymore... First task we had to fullfill: cleaning the sledges. During transportation the cargo company put our brand new sledges full of stickers and they had to be removed. Dixie and Troy bought aceton and scrapers so the whole team put all their strenghts on the scraping. It took us from 10.30am until 1pm to finish this Titanus job. After that, Ruud and myself tried out our kitchen, meaning make the stove work in a decent time. This action went very smoothly. We got 1 hour to go for a lunch. Together with Boudewijn, Jo and Ruud, I visited the same place where we all ended yesterday. In the meantime, Wim had arrived. Coming back to the warehouse by 3 pm, the tents were erected, skis and boots tried on again and some brave ones even erected their tent outside. Within 15 minutes one of the guys nose became white of the cold. First sign... And knowing that currently we are only at 79 degrees North and at 90 it's now -39C, exceptionally cold for the time of the year!
Last repairs on the sticks and tents poles, cords attached to the sleds and other material checks were executed. After that, we went to Dixie's place to distribute the food: 25 kilo per tent (2 persons) for 10 days. The organization, traffic and excitement there looked like a real supply chain center. After that, everyone was ready to get a good diner. And that's were I'm off to right now!

A relaxing day in Longyearbyen

Overslept this morning. Forgot my husbands birthday... Good way to start the journey. But these little hickups didn't have any effect on my mood. On the plane from Oslo to Longyearbyen, we met the doctor of the base station in Barneo, and other polar travellers. Nice chats, and even more better views from the plane. Approaching Spitsbergen, it was clear where the name comes from. Breathtaking views on the land, with gletsjers ending into the sea.
On the plane I also met Douglas for the first time, one of the Americans joining us. Great sense of humor, I discovered afterwards in the bar.
In Longyearbyen, Dixie, Troy and Perry, the last "unknow" and Nestor of the group, wecomed us. Great to have the team complete. Only Wim is behind, but will join tomorrow.
Temperature in Longyearbyen app. -20C, but felt really OK, even with only 1 long sleve T-Shirt and a goretex jacket. Dixie told us the temperature at the North POle is currently -39C, cold for the time of the year; the temperature is without the wind factor. After putting our bags in our lodge, we went for a walk in the small town. We ended in the bar, as expected.
Dixie and Troy picked up the last sleds, and put them in the warehouse. Tomorrow, we have a working day, reorganising the sleds, and another practice with our equipment.
Currently we are receiving a briefing from Dixie, so I better stick to the lesson.

What a day!

Bad sleep... early morning...finalizing packing (6 bags for the kids, 3 bags for Ruud and myself)... daughter exams. A bit too much honestly. For the first time, I heared Ruud saying "I'm having stress"... Just in time ready to leave for the airport. Our daughter decided not to join us, still a lot study work to do.
We were welcomed by family and friends in Zaventem. It was emotional to leave our son behind. But once we passed customs, we came into the real adventurous mood, the jacket got attention and we felt real adventurers. Flight to Oslo went smoothly, and arriving in the snow and fresh air made us already very excited.
A filmcrew of the Belgian commercial TV station VTM covered our departure. The news item was broadcasted at the 7 o'clock news today.

Our US team members in the Oklahoma News

Two Oklahoma City physicians prepare for rigorous hike to North Pole | NewsOK.com
Perry and Douglas gave an interview to the News OK.
Read the full article by clicking the link above.

And to see Perry live, talking about his walk to the North Pole: Videos | NewsOK.com - A walk to the North Pole

The North Pole - 100 years ago

Today a package arrived. My husband Ruud ordered THE book, a book that was already on his wishlist for some time. First edition of the North Pole by Robert Peary. Peary is - there is some debate on this fact - the first man that explored and discovered the North Pole. He wrote a book on his adventure, 1 year later in 1910, exactly 100 years ago. Funny to see how they were dressed at these times. A huge contrast with the high tech materials we have and the fancy jacket we will wear.
This book will become now part of our sleeping ritual, a couple of pages before falling in a deep sleep. I'm sure he will take it with him to Spitsbergen.

Expedition jackets arrived

Today our jackets arrived at our sponsor Telenet. Thanks to our sponsor we have no extra stitching work. They already added the velcro to attach easily the fur, to protect our face a bit against the cold by creating a microclimate in the hat. We opted for a colorful jacket to be sure to be very visible. No way the helicopter will miss us when picking up.

Dixie back from Haiti as Ambassador for Unicef

Polar travellers back from Haiti

We're getting into the Belgian newspapers

Wim Smets met ski's naar de Noordpool

Viva the Belgian medical system

Spent half a day in the hospital for fixing the thumb. Not that the news was that super, but I came out of the hospital with a very good feeling.
My appointment with the doctor was punctual. First his assistante, then the orthopedist who first didn't have a clue what it could be. 'Very rare place to have injuries", he said. "For safety, let's take some X-rays". Same floor. After half an hour this was done. I asked when I could come back for the results, but I could stay for immediate feedback. (OK, the doctor knew I was leaving for an expedition, but still)
Another half an hour later I saw the doctor back. "Age, beginning of artrosis. Can you still cancel your expedition?". He was trying to be funny. "Can this be cured?". "No madam, but we can take away the pain with some medicine and I'll subscribe you a brace". "But I cannot wear a brace, I need to move my hand and fingers". "No problem, it's a special one, made of silicone. You can go upstaires, have a moule made and next Friday, you can pick it up".
Ready to go and luckily we live in Belgium was all I can think of, when I left the hospital more than 3 hours later.

Last fix

Tomorrow at 8 am I'm expected in the hospital. Never had any injuries before, and now, since two weeks, I have pain in my left hand, around my thumb. Quite annoying when you have to walk with sticks in your hands. I'm hardly capable to move my thumb to the palm of my hand. Luckily it glows, which is according to the nurse that I spoke on the phone a good sign. Probably an inflammation. And easy to treat. Let's hope the verdict of the doctor is the same.

8 Belgians, 2 Dutch men and 3 Americans going to the North Pole

Driving back from the seaside to my home, I received a phone call from my sister. "You're on Teletext" she said. Complete surprise!

Quotes

"That's quite a training, man!"
"You like to make yourself tired?"
"Does this have a purpose?"
"Isn't this tiring enough for you?"
"Going to the North Pole?" BINGO!!
Another, and probably the last, tire pulling training in the mule sand before leaving. In the whole training sceme (running, Pilates, yoga) this was however my favorite one, probably because it comes closest to the real stuff. Can't wait anymore to be soaking into the beauty of the white.

Sleds shipped

Today I received the message that the sleds are picked up by DHL and shipped to Longyearbyen, Svalbard (Norway), the most Northern town in the world.
There will be 4 black sleds, big ones, weighting about 70 kg, the other ones (red) will be appr. 50 kg. Fingers crossed for good arrival of all our stuff!

Preparing sleds for shipment

After having a fun afternoon, back to reality and focus. Appointment at 10 am in Lokeren at Raf's place to unload to truck filled with all the gear we have to pull. Raf and Dixie were already working from 6 am onwards to load everything in the truck for bringing it to Raf's warehouse, where we all gathered. After a last briefing of Dixie, we started to unload the truck, organise the equipment, and loading the sleds. Everything what was put in the sleds had to be noted for custom purposes. The process went very smoothly. The Iceland preparation had been fruitful. As a team we're working together like on a chain. Very efficient.

All this again with the film crew following every action.

Families unite

Saturday, we had the largest - in terms of numbers - get together. Patrick organized for the whole team of expeditionist a relaxing afternoon. Partners and children were invited too. Nice to meet all of them, some were new in the group. The biggest excitement for the children was a film crew interviewing all of us, and them.

Between the team the last tips and tricks were exchanged on clothing and medicine.

Artwork from Peter Pan to Wouter

Our son Wouter came home with a nice artwork in his schoolbag. It's friendship week at school, and every day "Peter Pan" (every kid), has to provide something nice for an appointed classmate, who doesn't know who his Peter Pan is. Presents to exchange vary from a piece of fruit, or some candy, to drawings or cards. Wouter had a very thoughful and creative "Peter Pan" on Friday. He/she gave him a decorated frame with the message: "Dear Wouter, this frame is for you. You can use it to put in your parents picture when they are on expedition. Love, your Peter Pan". This weekend he made a drawing and integrated a picture of us. On the pictures you see the before and after. Wouter will keep this frame with him during our absense.

Boots

Today I went to the IPF (International Polar Foundation) to pick up our boots. We hire them from the IPF, an organisation that communicates and educates on polar science and polar research as a way to understand key environmental and climate mechanisms.

The boots we'll wear are handmade and developped especially for expeditions to polar regions and protect against extreme cold. They exist out of two pair, an inner boot which is soft and very comfortable to wear and an outer boot, very hard robust and that you click into the ski's. Most of the boots were in, but some are still on their way from the supplier. Amongst them mine. As I suffered in Iceland from blisters that started to inflame and produce puss as a result of friction - my boots were a bit to big - I don't wanna take any risk. But I'll have to be patient for a couple of more days, together with 4 other expeditionist, whose size was not available neither.

Personal equipment

Here's the volume of the personal stuff we'll take with us for the duration of the whole expedition. About 70% of what you see, we will be wearing the moment we'll be dropped on the ice. To further reduce the volume to fit in the sled, our reserve attire will be packed in compression bags.

The coat isn't the final one yet. We'll receive new ones, all in red - my favorite color.

Leaving the kids

Being the whole weekend in preparation mode, my daughter confronted me with her exam schedule, and the date she'll have her results, which for her is the most important day. April 2nd!, the date we are expected to be dropped on the ice. I explaned her that from that day onwards we would be not reachable on the mobile phone anymore. The tears came in her eyes "But with who other than you can I share this? I want to tell it to you, mom" It was a difficult moment as I couldn't really comfort her. I explained her the situation, that we would have contact every evening with our base station and that via e-mail, messages would get through to her, and vice versa, but it was not enough for her. She wanted to have that personal chat.

Although I know I took the right decision to go for this adventure, that it will bring me an exceptional richness and via me also to her, I felt bad about it. I was happy that I could share that odd feeling with one of my best friends. She will be the guardien, together with other friends, of our children. Our children will go with them to the South of France, and having such great friends and the generous offer they've done towards Lies and Wouter to give them a real holiday, and to us as parents, gave me a warm feeling. But still, leaving the kids behind for almost three weeks, will be for me one of the most difficult parts of the expedition. After all, dad is also joining...

Training weekend

It was a busy work week. Eventough I'm at home on parental leave, still a lot of work needs to be done besides the physical training. Checking out the materials for instance. I try to get used to every single object that I carry with me, or every clothing that I will be wearing. Repetition to make it an automatism. Next to that, still practical arrangements need to be fixed. Sponsoring, hotel arrangements in Oslo, arranging supervision of the kids while we're gone...., more about that later. Ruud continues working and is in a very busy phase in his job, just as Joost from who I received the message that it's the yearly construction fair to which his company participates and where he has to drop by on top of his regular work. This weekend Joost went to the seaside to practice with the tires in the dunes. Whoever thinks that the Northpole is flat - and we also did! - is wrong. It's indeed a plane, but interrupted by iceblocks formed by friction of the iceplates, and we will have to cross them, sometimes up to 3 meters. Walking and struggling with the tires in the dunes is a good preparation for this. Joost practised for two full hours, giving him a lot of satisfaction.

What's so nice on those tire walks are the reactions of the people: "Flat tire?", "You do this for fun?", "You do have winter ones, do you?", or "Hey, you lost your kid!". One lady was almost to the point: "Going to Antartica?". She wished us luck. The admiration and encouraging words of people passing by and interest in our story, give us courage.

On Sunday Ruud and Joost went jogging for an hour, I had to pass, again soar throat and a cold, probably from the airco in the plane. The guys were great, it was raining full buckets out of the clouds but nobody could stop them. Deep in my heart I was jaleous that I couldn't go with them. I was too scared that I would have to spend the rest of the week in my bed.

In the meantime I have stopped drinking any alcohol, just as some of the other expeditionists. Physically a good case, and mentally a stretch :-)