The NorthboundQuest

Parker Liautaud comes home from the expedition to the North Pole

2010-04-16T14:25:00.002+02:00

After coming home, we received lots of congratulations for the achievements and encouragements about what we've been through. Personally I was very impressed about young Parker (15 year's old) who did the same thing on his own with his guide Doug. I'm happy to hear that also Doug experienced the conditions we traveled in as exceptional. Disappointed? Slightly, I need to admid this. But for sure happy and blessed to have witnessed the Arctic Ocean in all its aspects!
Parker Liautaud comes home from the expedition to the North Pole

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Last of everything, now last degree

2010-04-01T22:35:00.003+02:00

No more, "we still have to do this, we have to reorganize that", preps done and bed's waiting. Breakfast at 8am, flight at 10 am.

Follow our trip on www.thenorthboundquest.com on homepage for daily updates.

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself", Franlink Roosevelt

Sweet dreams

2010-04-01T10:35:00.002+02:00

Yesterday, the day started with good news: instead of leaving Friday at 4 am, our flight was rescheduled to 2pm. This gave me the opportunity of calling my daughter for her school results. She was soo happy with this news!
After our daily breakfast, we were expected in the warehouse to have the sleds weighted. The average weight is about 45 kilo's, fuel to cook and batteries for filming not included yet. The fuel will be added at Barneo station.
At 2pm, the director of the documentary arrived, and we went picking him up. Short drive to the airport where we say already our little plane that will bring us to the base station. Currently, the base station is located at 89 degrees 32 minutes, meaning that we will be dropped at 89 exact by a helicopter.
In the afternoon, an extra training was scheduled, a walk in the valley, to get used again on pulling the sled on skis. Wind was sharp, the underground was icy both humps of ice and difficult to get grip on it. But, being outside in the valley gave me an intense happy feeling. Breathing in the cold but fresh air provided me with lots of energy .
Shortly after kicking off, I started to suffer from pain in my hand. I lost a couple of times my balance by not being able to put pressure on my left hand. All of a sudden Dixie surpised us. "Hey guys, you now know how to walk, let's put up the tents in this nice windy weather". Good excercise! Ruud and I did pretty will, although the routine is not there yet. But that will come with the practice.
After this excercise, most of us felt extremely cold. No feeling in the fingers, some even experienced pain. But what was comforting was the fact that after 10 minutes of moving, the fingers warmed up.
Back in the lodge I realized I had to have my hand treated. We have the luck to have three doctors in the team, one of them specialized in bones (Doug's a spinal surgeon). Diagnose is clear - same as my doctor in Belgium -, inflamatory artosis, and Doug was willing to go with me to the hospital to give me an injection. After all, it's his specialization and have full confidence. Let's see how that works out.

Getting organized... again

2010-03-30T19:33:00.003+02:00

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

2010-03-29T18:50:00.004+02:00

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!

2010-03-28T22:46:00.000+02:00

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

2010-03-25T20:57:00.001+01:00

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

2010-03-23T23:57:00.006+01:00

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

2010-03-22T23:00:00.005+01:00

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

2010-03-20T20:10:00.001+01:00

Polar travellers back from Haiti

We're getting into the Belgian newspapers

2010-03-20T20:01:00.001+01:00

Wim Smets met ski's naar de Noordpool

Viva the Belgian medical system

2010-03-19T21:15:00.002+01:00

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

2010-03-18T22:56:00.003+01:00

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

2010-03-18T22:42:00.004+01:00

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

2010-03-14T22:45:00.005+01:00

"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

2010-03-12T09:08:00.008+01:00

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

2010-03-08T08:54:00.006+01:00

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

2010-03-07T13:01:00.003+01:00

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

2010-03-06T18:01:00.005+01:00

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

2010-03-05T22:37:00.004+01:00

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

2010-03-04T20:18:00.003+01:00

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

2010-03-02T23:33:00.002+01:00

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

2010-03-01T14:54:00.002+01:00

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 :-)

Meeting Mieke

2010-02-24T21:08:00.004+01:00

Yesterday Boudewijn, Joost and myself, met Mieke, a lady that did the last two degrees (88°-90°) in 2006. We read an article, in diary format, of her published in a mountaineering magazine. The article was written in such a way that we could truely imagine how the journey would be. By coincidence, a friend of hers was a mutual friend to Joost's girlfriend. Mieke invited us to share her experiences of her trip. It was a very learning evening, we were treated with a slideshow of pictures, and with everyone of them came a story. Stories about the cold you carry with you, about being and staying focussed on yourself and every movement, about the importance of being guided by a pole expert, about the beauty of nature that had a huge impact on her and many more. Eventhough we all three read quite an amount of books on the polar regions, and saw many pictures, we still were impressed about her presentation. The leads we will have to cross seem larger than expected - sometimes 200-400m width- and the pukas used as boats to cross them immersed deeper than we thought. The walls of ice blocks, formed by the collision of two iceplates, are much higher when you see them in relation to a human being than on landscape pictures, and crawling them seemed a very hard and tough job. Some pictures gave us comfort and confidence - after all we're preparing for about two years-, others made us realize we have quite a dangerous and acrobatic event ahead. We were happy to see the picture of her final destination: the Northpole, a view of the GPS screen with 89°59'59'. We kinda had to laugh with the fact that the real Northpole wasn't reached, but Mieke challanged us to come back with a screenshot showing 90°. Knowing that the ice moves fast and we will have to jump around to even get a 89°59'5x', we took the challange and we will not go for less than the 90°. A big thank you from all of us to Mieke, for putting her house open, sharing her experiences with us and sending us back home with an almost impossible mission.

Ready to go

2010-02-22T21:55:00.006+01:00

Received a message from Joost. Last week he was on altitude training period in Serfaus, mainly to ski. It's one of his last preparations before the "real thing". He's looking the challenge straight into the eye.

Les Hivernales

2010-02-08T14:05:00.000+01:00

Sunday, a team activity took place in Brussels. Although most of the people were not able to join, the "hard core" was there: Ruud, Patrick, Dixie and his wife Julie, who's part of the expedition as logistic and organisational crew member. PJ also ran but decided some time ago not to join for the expedition itself. He's however a real sportsman and keeps on following our group, en whenever possible joins the group events.

Most ran 20 km (Patrick 10km) in the neighborhood of Watermaal-Bosvoorde, near Brussels. A very nice parcour, amidst the woods.

Times were very sharp!

Dixie 1:18:55

PJ 1:29:33

Ruud 1:44:08

Julie 1:53:47

Patrick 56:10 (10km)

Unfortunately, I had to give forfait due to soar throat.

Tour and cross country skiing his brains out : PATRICK

2010-02-07T14:12:00.001+01:00

Each of us is scheduling his own training program according to his sports preferences. Patrick went early January to Switzerland to practice tourski, pulling himself up 1000 mt/day. On the way up, he crossed some of the specialists in the field and the world champion is a Swiss guy from Verbier. THE big bi-annual event between Zermatt and Verbier is the "Patrouille des Glaciers" (http://www.pdg.ch/) which takes place on April 21-24, 2010, organized by the Swiss Army (Federation). You need a team of three persons and you can do half of the track, starting half way from Arolla, with a height difference of approx 1500 mt or the full race from Zermatt which is twice 1500mt plus about 50 kms climbing with skis, rope skiing and running. Patrick is dreaming to participate to this after his NorthboundQuest. In the meanwhile, he's building up his condition slowly but surely. Trying to benefit from the exceptional amount of snow (65cm) in the East Cantons of Belgium last week, he did twice the 25K track from Haus Ternell (between Eupen and Monschau(D)).

How to involve your kids?

2010-02-06T16:27:00.006+01:00

Already for some weeks, most of the conversations in our house have something to do with the expedition. Our oldest, Lies, a 14 year old girl enjoying puberty at the fullest, is not that enthoustatic about our adventure. Although she's pretty adventurous herself and loves outdoor life like camping in the wilderness, she's afraid that something dangerous will happen and for sure she now already knows she's going to miss us a lot. It's difficult to get her attention and interest in the whole preparation process, she doesn't want to hear a word about it. Our youngest, Wouter (11 years) is less thinking about potential dangers, and finds it quite "cool" what we are going to do. He's very interested in nature, animals, the earth as part of the universe, so we like to talk with him about all the aspects of the expedition. Last Thursday, Ruud had a brilliant idea. It was his turn to prepare dinner, and as we still had some left overs from the Iceland trip, he prepared for us a full "expedition dinner", a dinner as we will have on the Arctic ocean. The kids liked the idea very much: no fresh veggies - Wouter hates veggies - but prepackaged food! So we prepared together a nasi sate and a goulash dish: heating up the water, open the package, pour the water into the package, let it rest for 10 min, and eating the whole thing. The kids like the food and top of the bill, Ruud could offer them a dessert as a reward: chocolat mousse! (You eat chocolat mousse almost everyday???) We had a great dinner time and above all, we got our daughter interested in what will probably become the most exciting thing we've experienced in our whole life.

Super Jo

2010-02-05T11:53:00.005+01:00

This summer Jo Van Gorp, another expedition member, trained for the Zwintriathlon. The Zwintriathlon is a competition with 1000m swimming in the North Sea, 45km biking and 10km running. His goal was to finish this competition. More than that he had a very good time, both in running and biking. On the video you can see Jo near the arrival, still fit like he went for any easy walk and with the speed of light. Jo's a real champion!

Jo's detailed times, changes included:
swimming - 37:07
biking - 1h28:41
running - 54:36

Joost like in Toast

2010-02-03T14:06:00.003+01:00

The date of departure is coming closer for all of us. All team members are fully focussed, mainly on their physical condition. This is the only parameter we have full control of, and which is the basic condition to start such an adventure. Yesterdag I received an update of Joost. As CEO of a construction company, he has a very busy life, not only professional but also social, so managing his agenda to build in physical preparation time is key.

Last week, he has really kicked off with a full training schedule.

Four days in a row, Joost swam, biked, ran and trained his abdomen muscles.

Last weekend, he set up for the first time the tent we're taking to the North Pole. He enjoyed laying inthere, dreaming already about how it would be drifting on the Artic ocean.

He also started to use the fitness room he has in his company. Most of his Friday evenings he uses the room for extra exercises to increase his overall muscle strength under supervision of his sportscoach. He's currently reading a book about surviving after extreme exhaustion.

Like most of us, Joost has lost some weight and adapted his lifestyle - less fat, less alcohol :-) - to be in the best possible shape. We can hardly wait to enter the plane!

People asking questions about the title of this post: it's a gig. Troy, one of our guides and American US, had difficulties in pronouncing Joost, a typical Flemish/Dutch name. Looking for any resemblence with an English word, I came to toast. From now on Joost is called by the group Toast or Toastie.

Training with tires

2010-02-01T12:10:00.006+01:00

Sunday was a very beautiful day. Sun was shining, and as we have quite some nice places to walk in our surroundings we decided to go for a good walk, as training excercise for the expedition. To simulte pulling a sled, Dixie, adviced us at the beginning of our 2 year preparation to pull a tire, attached to the harnas. And that's what we often do. The walk was quite though. Most of time we had to pull our tire through the loose sand, which is typically for the Kalmthouse Heide, the park where we went. Luckiliy there were some places where we still had some ice which made the resistance of the rubber on the soil much less. Both Ruud and myself enjoyed the training, but realized our journey will not be a piece of cake.

Next weekend, Joost will strenghten its bond with his tire, on the Belgian coast.

Personal Equipment

2010-01-30T15:43:00.006+01:00

Some days ago we received the final amount of weight we can carry along on the expedition. Personal being clothes, medication and toiletries: 7kg! Luckily boots not included - their weight is about 2,5kg. We will be wearing them on the plane.
Our personal bag, which is only part of what we will pull in the sled or pulka, will contain: underwear (2 slips and 2 long sleeve shirts of merina wool - luckily the label says "no stink"), 2 pair thermal long pants, 2 thin fleeces (100), 2 thick fleeces (300), fleece pants, GoreTex coat and pants, 2 pair of anti-friction socks, 2 pair of thick socks, thin gloves that dry fast, thick gloves, down mittens, pair of surgery gloves - to be put on bare skin to keep the rest of the hand layers dry - and for our head and face: thin balaclava, thick balaclava, snow mask, neck gaiter, hat, gletsjer glasses and snow glasses. As toiletries the list is quite limited: small toothbrush and paste, small light weight towel, sun cream, multipurpose hydrating creme, lip cream, compeed, anti bacterial creme, analgestic cream, and our personal medication. This all put together in a small waterproof bag. Clothes packed in seperate compression bags to reduce volume.
Rest of the sled will be stuffed with common equipment and other gear that is provided by our expedition leader Dixie. More about that later.

Cold Water Swimming

2010-01-18T19:36:00.017+01:00

Many people, when telling that I'm member of the ice bear club, asking me if I'm crazy and telling they think they would freeze to death. I can assure that it's very healthy and when coming out of the water you get a glow from the inside of your body that makes you feel warm and very good. The first dive I did was last year on Jan 1st. 2009. We were in the Ardennen and it was one of the coldest days that year. As in plenty of cities and villages, they organized a new year's swim in the lac de L'Eau d'Heure. As I decided already some time before participating the expedition to the North Pole, I wanted to give it a try. First a 5 km run, and then into the water. Outside temperature was about -10C, water temperature 4C. As there were not that many participants and I stayed a bit longer than the rest in the water, I was interviewed by a camera crew of RTL and the item was broadcasted in the new of 7 o'clock.

This dive was the trigger to become member of an outdoor swimming club, the Deurnse IJsberen. Every week on Tuesday, between 6.30 and 7pm we swim in an ecological pond in a gorgeous park, where it's oh so silent and the smell of the trees and the fresh water make you high. Last week, the oldest member - she's 85 years young - stopped. The darkness in the park and the slippery paths made her insecure.

New Arrivals

2010-01-14T19:51:00.004+01:00

Today I could pick up the last gear I needed. My third layer of mittens and the second - thick - balaclava. I'm soo happy with my new stuff! My friend Gert was so kind as to bring them from the US where this brand is much cheaper than in Europe. The balaclava is fleece with a windstopper TM layer and above a much thinner one, it will protect us from temperatures of -40°C. It can be put open if you want to have more air, but in extreme windy conditions it protects the nose from freezing off. My mittens are the best you can find! OR Alti Mitts for expeditions to the world's coldest, most extreme places. Although I will regret this statement in 4 months, but now I can't wait to experience the cold!

Schedule

2010-01-12T17:02:00.005+01:00

Today we received our preliminary scheme.
All flight have already been booked for a while - most of the team is flying on March 28 to Oslo, and on March 29 form Oslo to Longyearbyen (Spitsbergen) - and arrival on our homebase for the expedition is foreseen March 29 in the evening.
Vicaar, the Russian company that is taking care of us dropping on the ice (yes, the Russians control the Artic) promised us that our team would be the first to be on the polar ice in 2010. What a privilige!
Thursday, April 1st at 17h30 we will be receiving a briefing in the Warehouse of Longyearbyen. Luggage check in at 18h30.
On Friday April 2, we will have an early flight at 4am to Barneo Ice Camp. This is the base station from where all expeditioners start. During of the flight is app. 2,5h. After arrival and unloading the plane, there's another meeting. If weather permitting, we will start on our adventure right after the meeting. Otherwise, waiting... waiting on the right conditions to start. And as experienced on our preparation expedition in Iceland, next to a good health, right mindset, you need a lot of patience...

Food shopping

2009-11-11T15:16:00.009+01:00

Last meeting we had with the team, about a month ago, I volunteerd for putting together the menu. I'm difficult when it comes to breakfasts, and during the pre expedition in Iceland I barely could eat the prepackaged muesli. I'm not a muesli eater and prefer bread, but that's hard to find during expeditions. Luckily in Iceland we brought roasted biscuits and with the cheese, it was a nice alternative. During the Last Degree however, I'll have to look for an alternative of the alternative. Cheese will become ice cubes because of the extreme cold.

Anyway, my first shop stop is at Adventure Foods, where we bought most of our diner dishes for Iceland as well. The offer doesn't look that bad: meatloaf dish, goulash, spaghetti bolognese, nasi, chicken curry, ham/cheese pasta,... all great and teasty when it's cold, or when you are hungry. Also the dessserts like chocomousse, vanilla dessert, abricots and apple cumble seem very appealing. The breakfast however: 2 choices, muesli and cereals. After some advice and talks with friends, I found what I could eat: porridge! And it seems very healthy too.

To come to our 6000 kcal diet, we'll eat plenty of nuts, raisins and choclat in between. Also cookies with cereals and some sugar are welcome as snack. Off course the good heavy breakfast and dinner which contains approximately 2000 kcal, are the mean meals of the day. Soups will be drunk to warm us from the inside. Tea and coffee can be taken along to refill the lost sweat during the day.

Quote of the day

2009-07-09T09:08:00.002+02:00

Everyday I receive a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt and today's quote was a quite inspiring one for all people that might read this blog. I couldn't said it better.
"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience. "

Heartwarming

2009-06-18T21:14:00.005+02:00

Today, I put our website online. I sent out an e-mail to my a bunch of colleagues at work. Some of them knew already that I was going to the Northpole, others I just wanted to inform as I thought they might be interested in such a thing.
I was very surpised however that one colleague that I didn't know very good, came very excited to me, really surprised of me facing that extreme cold. She knew that I was part of the Deurnse Icebear Club, but walking that far and in that cold...!? She was so excited she wanted to organise kind of a benefit, a party to raise money,... all nice ideas came out. Her enthousiasm and sympathy makes her for me the colleague of the year!

Shackleton inspires

2009-06-17T21:59:00.008+02:00

Boudewijn sent me today this video.
Inspiring story of a true hero!

Brainstorming with the team - Ardennes (1)

2008-10-25T18:01:00.000+02:00

Yesterday after work we drove direction Ardennes (Redu) for our first brainstorm weekend. One of the goals of this weekend was to meet the whole crew again, and get to know the new people interested to join our group. Until now the team existed of Joost, initiator of this adventure and father of my husbands godchild, Jo who we met already during our first prep in the Alps, Raf, friend of Joost and chocolatier which made him from the first start very popular to me as I love chocolats (on top he deliveres his chocolat to my favorite delicatesse shop in my home town), Wim, a mutual friend that joined the wine trips Joost and my husband use to organize and an experienced mountaineer, Koen, friend of Joost and Ruud, my husband. The weekend was organized by Boudewijn, a friend of Koen, not able to join the Switserland prep.
Boudewijn hired a magificant house in Redu, plenty of space, a cosy living room where the brainstorm session would take place. We all have received our tasks upfront. Some in charge for cooking, others for supplying groceries, again others for inviting externals to feed us with additional information.
When we arrived in the house, we made acquintance with Patrick and Pieterjan, new potential expeditioners. The spaghetti, prepared by Raf and Joost, was stuck in the traffic jam, together with the guys transporting the most important thing at that moment. After a long day at work, plus a drive at rush hour, this was what I was waiting for...
One after the other popped in, the spaghetti - prepared by Raf's wife (thank you, Kristel!!) - was delicious and after a couple of bootles red wine, the atmosphere was going to the right direction. During our the evening we enjoyed a movie from Dixie "In the trail of de Gerlache", a boat trip to the Antartics where Pieterjan was one of the crew members. Seeing all the beauty made us all very excited about the adventure that soonly would take place and we would be part of.

The Pee Bottle

2008-06-05T17:43:00.002+02:00

On of my biggest concerns at this time about the trip are not the polar bears (oh, many men to protect me agaist those creatures), not the cold (we'll see what "cold" really means once we'll get there), not the deprevation of comfort (I alread didn't wash myself for more than a week), but the pee bottle. Our guide, Dixie had explained us during a first briefing, that due to the cold leaving your warm down quilt at night, isn't a good idea and therefore some exercise in peeing into the bottle wouldn't be a bad idea.

Easy to say, men can do it in their sleeping bag, but as a woman, you have to stand up - meaning you have to leave your sleeping bag anyway - and just do your thing by very well targeting the bottle (diameter app 5 cm).

I see myself already standing up in the middle of the tent, surrounded by 8 or so men that are completely strangers - at this moment - and me doing what I have to do.

I really can't get this image out of my mind

In between

2008-04-02T13:13:00.000+02:00

Between November 2007 and now, time has passed quickly and step by step I got more informed about what we would do. The expedition will be a trip by foot from the 89th degree up to the 90th, somewhere March-April 2010. I will have to prepare intensively and train for that, both mentally and physically, gather and save money - it's an expensive thing - and I will have to leave my two kids behind for three weeks. I will encounter aggressive polar bears, face cold temperatures up to -45 degrees C, possibly swim in ice cold water, but somehow at this point I cannot imagine what that will be. In the meantime I also met some of my fellow "expeditionists" - although the group is not officialized - and it's a diversity of people. Only one thing that appears a bit awkward: I'm the only female in the group! The only concern I have is that it makes me a bit insecure. How come that only men want to do this? OK, they are all 40-ers, but I refuse to link this to the so called midlife crisis where an average male goes through around this age. I'm really wondering why no other woman can be found for such an adventure... Maybe I'm just too ambitious.

How it all started

2008-04-01T13:11:00.000+02:00

It must have been somewhere in November 2007. I was sitting in a wine restaurant, dining with a bunch of good friends, when one of them came up with the idea of going on an expedition to the North Pole. He already had contact with an expedition leader and was looking for people that were interested in joining him on this extraordinary journey. Being quite adventurous - and and that time not knowing what it really meant - I told him I was interested in doing such a thing. Before I knew, I was on a list of "potential expeditionists", not aware of how cold it could be, potential dangers of polar bears, and even not knowing the route that we would take... Totally unaware of what I really committed myself to.